#gwenpool from deadpool kills the marvel universe again gets the end

[indigosabyss]

Me: hmmm so we've got distinct flavors of beholding, stranger, web, and lonely for gwen's story. Maybe slaughter? No, that's pushing things too far.

Her:

would this be slaughter or desolation? Bc its murder all the same, but when choosing between a bomb and a sword, she goes bombs all the way, so its interesting...

[multiverseofmiracleshq]

AVENGERS V X-MEN STAGE II : ROUND I : QUICK STATS 

MATCH-UP → gwenpool v kid omega LOCATION → wakanda WINNER → draw CASUALTIES → kid omega switches sides

QUENTIN: Namor was being dramatic again-- no shock there. And as he talked to the crowd, Quention made his way over from off to the side, feet carrying him towards blond hair tinted pink. “Surprise seeing you here.” Quentin crossed his arms and stopped when he was a few feet away from Gwen. He sounded unamused. “Come to join the fun?”

GWEN: While the rest of the Wakanda response team headed down to face the Aquaman with the bad brows Gwen had trudged up the stairs so that she could occupy the roof of one of the city’s incredibly tall buildings. Pulling her gun out, she loaded the weapon and perched it on the edge of the roof and trained her sights down below. Not that she was planning on shooting anything for a second. Wakanda was lit even if she hadn’t made a Black Panther sighting yet and it looked like a hurricane had passed through. With her stomach flat against the concrete and one ankle crossed over the other, she bobbed her head back and forth to the music that rang out from inside her mind. “Why? This is, like, the best part of the story. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Rolling over, Gwen stared up at the sky through pink tinted goggles. “I am the fun. You’ve come to join me.”

QUENTIN: Quentin rolled his eyes, hearing the chatter in his mind grow louder as he tuned into the crowd below them. “Looks like the party is starting without you.” He gestured over towards where the mutant and Avengers side were starting to get riled up. “You and that-- dinky gun of yours--” With a flick of his fingers, Quentin moved Gwen’s gun a few inches with a jolt of blue energy. His gun was way cooler.

GWEN: “I’ll live.” Her limbs sprawled out as if making a snow angel there in  the dust and grime of the rooftop. “See, once I go down there I’ll inevitably no longer be able to talk to you and my romantic subplot needs this time. But -- HEY!!” She shot upright when he touched her gun. “Do not touch the Reverend Al Sharpton. That’s my holy gun.” Her brows furrowed as Gwen jumped to her feet so they were standing nose to nose. “What’s up with the bad attitude, huh?”

QUENTIN: “I don’t have a bad attitude! This is how I always am!” He yelled back at her, arms widely gesturing out from his sides. Not a complete lie. Quentin was on edge lately because of his powers, but his classic asshole demeanor was a constant. A few long seconds ticked by as the two of them stood like that-- close together, but not touching. And then he dove in, crashing his lips against hers and grasping her face with both hands.

GWEN: “THEN YOU’RE A LIVING BAD ATTITUDE.” Gwen hollered back. He was only slightly taller so while they weren’t eye to eye she was very close to his lips and then -- yep. There it was. The Phoenix was literally slapping the shit out of her friends and Gwendolyn Poole ( of no relation to one gwen stacy ) was very passionately making out with the enemy. She wrapped her arms around him as well, kissing him until she pulled away with shining eyes. “Hey, I like you. Outside of I need you to stop myself from fading from existence kind of like you. Trippy, right? So wild.”

QUENTIN: When Gwen finally pulled away, Quentin was practically seeing stars. His eyes were locked on hers as she was speaking and it took a long moment for him to realize what exactly she was saying. And when he did, he took it with a grain of salt. “Are you serious?” It was both a question of disbelief and confusion. After all this time, and this weird thing between them, she was talking about feelings now? But he didn’t back away from her, even with the doubt he was feeling.

GWEN: Rapping a fist against his temple, Gwen nodded. One arm was still hooked around his waist but she made no moves to let go. “Do I seem like the type to lie to you? We polled our viewers and the answer is a resounding yes. Hurtful, but true. You’re never going to understand how my head works,” she told him honestly. “And that’s for the best. You don’t want to see in there. It’s like Deadpool on crack. A bunch of empty spaces crammed too full. BUT. I know a lot. Like, a lot a lot about everything and everyone. I know that I like you. Maybe it started off as a scheme to get attention so I wasn’t a side character, but now I’ve missed the big bad fight and that has to mean something. Am I making sense? I think I’m making sense? God, I’d kill for a thought bubble right now or some nice exposition.”

QUENTIN: “You never make sense.” It made Quentin chuckle, even it annoyed the hell out of him sometimes. “But, I kinda like it. Keeps things interesting.” His draw to her was inexplicable in a way, but with the amount of times they ended up lip-locked he was inclined to believe that maybe it was worth exploring. Quentin had never been boring, and Gwen certainly wasn’t boring either. It could work. But she was right-- he would never understand that head of hers. He was a telepath-- and a good one at that-- but it was a complicated and weird place in there. “As stupid as this sounds.. I like you too.”

GWEN: Aw, this was nice. Cute. Totally irrelevant and taking from the main story. It was late !! People needed to go to bed !! ANYWAY - she was, believe it or not, happy. A bit confused which was rare but happy all the same. A boom rocked the building then, the whole structure shaking. Something j-u-i-c-y was happening. Abruptly dropping her arms from him, Gwen ran to the edge to grab Al Sharpton so he didn’t fall over the edge. Another rang out then and the buildings structure began to fall. The part underneath her began to crumble ( which was honestly so on brand ) and then Gwendolyn Poole dropped like a stone from the top of a  very high building towards the street below.

QUENTIN: Were they having a moment? In the middle of a battle they should have been fighting in? Apparently they were, and Quentin questioned the weird warm feeling in his gut as he looked at Gwen and almost smiled. That’s when the battle-- whatever the hell was happening over there-- took a turn and the solid structure beneath their feet started to not be so solid anymore. When it crumbled, Quentin’s instinct kicked in and he managed to catch himself before falling too far. But as he hovered in midair, hands outstretched to create a forcefield between him and any falling debris, he watched as Gwen fell and hit the pavement beneath them. ”Gwen!” He called out to her but was unable to catch her-- his powers were weak as it is, it was a miracle he even caught himself. As quickly as he could go, Quentin lowered himself down to where she fell and when his feet hit the broken concrete he ran over to her.

GWEN: A good long fall never got old. Well, it never got old once you woke up from said fall and got over the bump in your head. Sure, sure. Gwen fell for fun because a girl named gwen falling off of stuff in the marvel universe??? Literal classic. Plus, y’know, there was the fact that she always tended to live. Her admission to Howard the Duck that she jumped off of things to see how far she could go wasn’t a lie. Everyone had to have hobbies. For a little bit everything was dark and her mind recalibrated itself to where she was, who she was with and whatever version she currently was. There was a rock in her mouth that she spit out before Gwen moved some debris around and sat up. “Man, not having super powers is the worst.” She jabbed a finger onto the knot that was forming on her temple and then winced in pain. Yep, still regular ol’ flesh and blood. “Hey -- where’s Al Sharpton?”

QUENTIN: Gwen sat up and Quentin skidded to a halt. She had just fallen how far off of the roof of a building and she was.. Fine? He watched as she spit out a rock. He watched as the girl with supposedly no super powers survived a fall she should not have survived-- right after they talked about their feelings. He stood there, a good few feet away from her, stunning and mouth hanging open. “What. The. Fuck. Just happened..? How are you alive?”

GWEN: “Because I’m not dead. Duh. This, dear readers, is where you say aw at the cute omega telepath who doesn’t understand how I don’t have powers. Which, I do. Sometimes. But not these kind. I’m Special K.” She stopped chattering and looked down at her pinned legs. “Hey, homie, can you move that rock? Kinda pinning me down and I can’t go all 127 hours because I won’t regrow.” Wiggling her feet under the rocks, Gwen debated trying to eat through the rocks herself. “A) how bad do you think they look under there? B) Do you still like me? C) Are you glad I’m not dead?”

QUENTIN: “Yeah, of course I’m glad you’re not dead--” He sounded frustrated but it was because he could barely comprehend what was happening. With his telekinesis, Quentin moved the rock off of her legs and then slowly took a few more steps towards her. “And I still like you. I think. I don’t know, this is.. Weird..” He crouched down next to her when he was close enough. “So you do have powers then? You lied to me before?”

GWEN: While she waited to be freed Gwen picked up a rock and weighed it in her hand before  tossing it as hard as she could towards a building. The sound of broken glass was like music to her ears. “No. Not really. I don’t have powers. Not a mutant, not an Inhumans. I’m... different. It’s part of my gig, like why I’m here. So what I can do is very limited and based on that, and it depends on what run and setting I’m in. West Coast Avengers Gwen is the pretty version of me that everyone likes and I was super held back. When I’m solo and not a supporting character or team member I can do more. You’re going to think I’m Crazy with a capital C, Quintavius. It’ll blow your mind and concept of reality. I can’t really say I have powers. It’s more of a being sort of thing. Other than the falling kink. I’m a good faller, as you can tell. I can’t even tell if anythings broken. Just got this cool knot on my head.” Again she poked it. Even though her legs were free Gwen made no move to get up since he was already on her level. Instead she just wrapped one ankle over the other. “Hey, I met your girlfriend Idie the other day as well. Did I mention that?” It wasn’t a deflection on purpose and her tone remained light. “She’s nice. Hit me in the face, but nice. Does any of this changing you liking me? I don’t want a new love interest.”

QUENTIN: Too much information. Gwen was going a hundred miles an hour and saying things that, once again, made no sense, and it all ended with her talking about Idie. His stomach twisted at the name. He tried not to think about her. For a while he tried to get her back and after her gave that up it was a chapter of a book he tried to close forever. And now-- “She punched you?” That was all he could manage to say after that huge dump of info. “Listen, can we just.. not? Clearly I like you and the fact that you’re not dead is still freaking me out. So please--” He stood back up and then held out a hand for her to grab so he could pull her to her feet. “--can we get the fuck out of here now? I’ve had enough emotions for one day.”

GWEN: “I may have been goading her - which is totally part of my charm - but yeah. Turned her fist to ice and knocked me into a wall. Not that I minded. Told her that she’d find someone better to love her and bought her a pizza. No offense of course. We needed to get the fledgings and Trauma was being creepy af. You can read about it in the chat log.” Taking his hand, Gwen pulled herself to her feet and shook out each leg. Yep, still working. The good ol’ Poole fall routine had worked again. She was thanking her writers for that. “I’m pretty hard to kill, and there’s always another version of me. It’s headache city, trust me.” Without dropping his hand Gwen yanked him to where part of her gun was protruding from the rocks. Unearthing it, she cast a sad look over the ruined weapon before tossing it back to the ground. RIP to the Reverend. There was another waiting at home. Naming it would be fun at least. “Sure. As long as you aren’t all Phoenix team and raid my crib I’ll take you home with me. Innuendo intended and not intended.” Dragging him through the rubble of where a fight they hadn’t participated had clearly been completed, Gwen flashed him a smile. “I missed you, Q squared. Don’t worry. We’re almost at the end.” And they were, for better or worse.

[aion-rsa]

When Spider-Man Becomes Venom

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If being Venom was like being in the Beatles, then Peter Parker would be Pete Best. His stretch of time in the late-80s wearing his living, black costume is a staple of his history. Before it turned Eddie Brock into a box office giant, the symbiote made for a badass variant look for Spider-Man that still holds up to this day. It’s the ultimate story of how we can lose ourselves to power, even if a loved one beat you over the head with lessons about responsibility.

Over the years, Spider-Man did rejoin with the symbiote a few times, usually in the name of heroism. In Venomized, a Venom symbiote from another reality bonded to him for a little while. At the end of Dan Slott’s lengthy Amazing Spider-Man run, Eddie Brock let Spidey borrow the symbiote so he could fight the Red Goblin (Norman Osborn as Carnage). These days, Parker and his former tights at least have an understanding.

This April, the team of Chip Zdarsky and Pasqual Ferry will be doing a four-issue take on Marvel’s What If? by giving us Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow. The idea? Spider-Man not only never gets rid of his hungry ooze pants, but he embraces his hungry ooze pants!

Yes, we see Peter Parker intentionally bond with what would have been known as the Venom symbiote and keep on keeping on with the crime-fighting. What happens when such a pure-hearted hero goes all-in on wearing clothes that constantly tell him to bite people’s faces off? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Then again, Peter holding onto the symbiote is an idea that’s been visited time and time again. Not only has it popped up in issues of What If?, but also in other forms of Marvel media.

WHAT IF THE ALIEN COSTUME HAD POSSESSED SPIDER-MAN?

In the fourth issue of What If?’s second volume, Danny Fingeroth and Mark Bagley jumped onto the then-recent introduction of Venom by doing an issue about what would have happened had Peter Parker taken too long to figure out what the deal was with his black costume. He couldn’t get in touch with the Fantastic Four, so he instead met up with Dr. Connors, which was a fruitless venture. By the time Reed Richards was able to investigate, the symbiote was already bonded to Spider-Man and wouldn’t be removed so easily.

Puppeting Parker’s body, the symbiote escaped captivity and hid in the city for several days. Spider-Man eventually came across a rampaging Hulk, which convinced the symbiote to leave Spider-Man for this upgrade of a host. Abandoned, Peter Parker appeared as an old man due to how much the creature sucked him dry. Using his final hours to design a sonic gun that could destroy the symbiote, Peter’s body finally gave out.

The symbiote eventually left Hulk for Thor. Interestingly enough, Banner was left cured of being the Hulk while the symbiote claimed what happened to Parker was a mistake. Whether it was telling the truth or not, it still took over Thor’s body and tried to hide out in Mount Rushmore. Luckily, Reed Richards had Black Bolt’s epic voice on speed dial and that took care of that.

Well, except for Black Cat getting the kill shot thanks to that aforementioned sonic gun.

SECRET WARS: 25 YEARS LATER

The final issue of the second volume of What If? took a look back at the original Secret Wars event and wondered what would happen had the heroes and villains been stuck on Battleworld for a generation. This Jay Faerber/Gregg Schigiel collaboration had Galactus and the Beyonder kill each other, meaning that all the survivors were stranded. Much had happened in those 25 years, but for the most part, the heroes and villains put their differences aside. Sure, there was something in there about Dr. Doom shacking up with the Enchantress, only for her to leave him for Thor and Doom killing her because of it, but otherwise you had the Wrecking Crew chilling out with Hawkeye and She-Hulk like old friends.

The stars of the one-shot were the offsprings, like the daughter of Captain America and Rogue or the son of Human Torch and Wasp. Spider-Man only had a couple moments, but they were incredibly interesting. He seemed colder to everyone and there was a curious debate over whether anyone had seen him eat anything.

During the climactic battle, Klaw blasted Spider-Man with some sonics. The symbiote pulled away to reveal nothing underneath but Peter Parker’s skeleton. This turned out to be far from a surprise to the heroes as Human Torch saved him and moved on without a second thought.

THE ANIMATED SERIES FINALE

Straying away from the Venom symbiote, there was a time in the comics where Ben Reilly – back when he took over being Spider-Man – was the host to the Carnage symbiote for a few hours. Nothing really happened with it, but he looked rad as hell and it made for a cool cover image.

The 90s Spider-Man cartoon ended the series by doing its own prototype version of Into the Spider-Verse. The final two-parter took place in “I Really, Really Hate Clones” and “Farewell, Spider-Man.”

In an alternate reality, a version of the Clone Saga storyline happened, only in this one, Peter was more of an asshole to Ben Reilly instead of treating him like a brother. When Peter found out that he was possibly the clone, he got extra pissed about it right around the time when the Carnage symbiote was nearby. He became Spider-Carnage and created a plan to destroy the multiverse.

A team of Spider-Men from different realities came together to stop him. After visiting a world where Spider-Man wore armor and was successful and happy in every way, the cartoon’s main Spider-Man realized that Uncle Ben was probably alive in that universe. That Uncle Ben confronted Spider-Carnage and got through to him. Although the man within wasn’t strong enough to expel the symbiote, he was able to sabotage his own multiverse-destroying plans via sacrificing his own life, all the while begging for forgiveness for all the horrors he committed.

WHAT IF? THE OTHER

Peter David and Khoi Pham did a one-shot where the Venom symbiote returned to Peter at the absolute worst time. The Other was as storyline where Spider-Man seemingly died, but survived in a cocooned form. After getting in touch with his inner spider, he was reborn with more primal abilities that unfortunately didn’t last too long. This alternate version had Spider-Man refuse the rebirth. Everyone already mourned him and he didn’t want to have that happen all over again. He remained in his cocoon, choosing to let nature take its course over time.

Read more

Comics

We Are Venom: The Many Characters Who Wore the Symbiote

By Gavin Jasper

Comics

Venom: Riot and the Life Foundation Symbiotes Explained

By Gavin Jasper

At that time, Mac Gargan was Venom’s host and the symbiote could sense Spider-Man’s situation. Knowing Peter was ripe for the picking, the symbiote left Gargan and consumed the husk of Peter Parker. With the symbiote in full control, he was neither Spider-Man nor Venom. He was Poison.

Poison confronted Mary Jane and Aunt May, but realized they wanted nothing to do with him. Poison instead left and spawned a new symbiote child in order to bond with and reanimate the corpse of Gwen Stacy.

Yeah, lot of laughs going on in that story. Sheesh.

WHAT IF? AGE OF APOCALYPSE

Age of Apocalypse was already a bizarre alternate universe. Rick Remender and Dave Wilkins made it even more batshit insane by having Legion accidentally kill both Xavier and Magneto. In this reality, Nate Summers joined with a superhero resistance team to take out Apocalypse and there’s all sorts of crazy stuff going on.

At one point, the team came across a nest of Peter Parker clones engulfed in a giant black web of symbiote. A horrified Captain America (wielding Mjolnir) had them destroy all the brainless Spider-Man clones before moving on to the next big challenge.

WEB OF SHADOWS

Back in 2008, Activision decided to go all in on the whole symbiote thing by making a Spider-Man video game based entirely around a symbiote invasion and symbiote-possessed versions of different heroes and villains. A fight with Venom led to Spider-Man getting some of the goop onto himself, allowing him the option to become Symbiote Spider-Man. Venom’s symbiote started expanding and latching onto hundreds of other New Yorkers, overwhelming the city with chaos.

After teaming up with and/or fighting lots of Marvel characters, Spider-Man took on a kaiju version of Venom and convinced Eddie Brock to fights its influence. Depending on factors, Venom would either die from heroic sacrifice or Spider-Man’s hands.

There are various endings based both on how much time you’ve used the symbiote and how much of an overall dick you’ve been. Too much of the black costume could at best cause Mary Jane to break up with you. At worst, it could cause you to conquer New York as leader of the symbiotes.

VENOMVERSE

Since Marvel did the Spider-Verse comic event, Cullen Bunn and Iban Coello did a natural knockoff of sorts called Venomverse. While it had no real connection to the Spider-Man story, the gist was similar: various Venom hosts from the multiverse had to team up to face a threat that was hunting them down.

The mainstream Venom was the only Eddie Brock host involved as the rest of the crew included the likes of Mary Jane, Captain America, Dr. Strange, Rocket Raccoon, Deadpool, Gwenpool, and so on. There was also a Spider-Man in there and while they didn’t go too far into his background, he was the only one who seemed to recognize Eddie and harbored unexplained resentment.

The threat came in the form of Poisons. These tiny, white creatures on their own didn’t seem to be much of a threat, but when one would make physical contact with a symbiote and its host, it would engulf them and completely take over. The Poison, the symbiote, and the host would turn into some kind of white, armored creature permanently.

Spider-Man was one of those to fall victim to the Poisons. This led to a rather cathartic fight to the death between Venom and Poison Spider-Man that Venom won.

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Now, you might be saying, “Didn’t you JUST talk about a story where Spider-Man was a symbiote monster called Poison already? Isn’t this confusing?” Yes. Yes it is. So confusing that when they released a Marvel Legends figure for Poison Spider-Man from Venomverse, the profile information on the back of the box described the story from What If? The Other instead. Whoops!

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[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 September 2017

Just one favourite this week: Ninjak #0 by Matt Kindt and Francis Portela (with MJ Kim, Khari Evans, Roberto de la Torre, Sija Hong, and Juan José Ryp). Published by Valiant.

Ninjak #0 provides a capstone to Matt Kindt’s run with the character, giving both an encapsulation of Ninjak’s history to date and one final mission to propel the series further into a more in-depth exploration into the Ninja Programme and legacy, before handing the character off to Christos Gage and Tomás Giorello for their new Ninja-K series.

I very much like how Kindt plays with time in this story. After firing an arrow on the first page in the present, the book’s pages are bisected by that arrow’s path, with the top telling of the events immediately leading up to that first page--illustrated by Francis Portela--and the bottom offering snippet’s of Ninjak’s history--illustrated by MJ Kim, Khari Evans, Roberto de la Torre, Sija Hong, and Juan José Ryp. (You can see an example above). It’s an interesting and effective way of delivering a lot of simultaneous information and narrative at once and I was particularly impressed by everyone involved.

As time on the top converges with the arrow, the structure reverts to a standard one timeframe narrative as it leads into a teaser for the new Ninja-K series from Gage and Giorello.

Like with the previous recent zero issue offerings for Bloodshot Reborn and Divinity, this serves as an excellent primer for people interested in the character and in jumping into the Valiant Universe.

Quick Bits:

All New Wolverine #24 wraps up the��“Hive” arc guest-starring the Guardians of the Galaxy and Leonard Kirk’s tenure as artist on the series. This arc was fun, with Tom Taylor delivering some very nice and heartfelt interactions between Laura and Gabby, as well as continuing to present some strong characterization with Rocket and Groot.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #32 is a single issue story of Norman Osborn trying to reclaim his Green Goblin persona. It’s an interesting look into Osborn’s drive and potential, with some absolutely beautiful artwork form Greg Smallwood & Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Birthright #26 provides a jumping on point as it begins a new story-arc. It’s fairly exposition heavy, but Joshua Williamson still makes it feel interesting, even to old readers since there’s a bit of a shift since the last issue. As always Andrei Bressan’s art is beautiful.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Deadpool #36 is a transitional issue from Deadpool working for “Stevil” Hydra Cap and the forthcoming Despicable Deadpool, closing out some old plot threads and sending off the remaining supporting characters, while setting up Wade’s new status quo of reluctantly working for Stryfe. As usual Gerry Duggan mixes in humour while ultimately making Deadpool a tragic figure. 

| Published by Marvel 

Doctor Strange & The Sorcerers Supreme #12 is a fitting send-off to a series that still feels gone to soon. From Javier Rodriguez to this issue’s Nathan Stockman, the series has been great artistically, and this issue’s sideways widescreen format is well appreciated. Robbie Thompson also brings it back full circle to how this excursion started in last year’s Doctor Strange Annual by closing on the “Not So” Ancient One’s journey.

| Published by Marvel

Grass Kings #7 is still an inscrutable beauty. Part crime drama, part mystery, part family drama, part treatise on loyalty and community in an extremely independent society, Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins have something special here. This issue adds another layer to the problems that they’ve been having with Cargill, while more explicitly breaking open the mystery of a potential serial killer and giving us some more details on what happened in Bruce’s past that led him to coming home to the Grass Kingdom.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Gwenpool, The Unbelievable #20 is going to mess with your head. In a good way.

| Published by Marvel

Hulk #10 brings Mariko Tamaki’s second story-arc to a conclusion. I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I did the first, but there have still been some entertaining moments. The character interaction between Jen and Patsy being particularly strong. 

Also, like the previous issue, the art shift part way through detracts. Both artists, Julian Lopez and Francesco Gaston, are good, but their styles kind of clash. Lopez uses a thick line and somewhat realistic style similar to Jesus Saiz, whereas Gaston has a thinner line and a bit more angular, stylized character composition--much like Georges Duarte, who started this arc. 

| Published by Marvel

Kill or Be Killed #12 pushes Dylan further into darkness, even without his little demon friends whispering not-so-sweet nothings into his ears. As always, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are creating a compelling, nuanced story month in and month out. There’s also some good development in Dylan and Kira’s relationship, but, as per the original dissolution, I’m expecting the other shoe to drop sometime soon. 

| Published by Image

Mech Cadet Yu #2 brings Yu and his adopted Robo back to the Sky Academy, where he’s officially accepted as one of the cadets. The story beats are pretty standard coming of age, living through adversity by being a fish out of water, ruffling the feathers of the establishment-type thing, but Greg Pak never allows it to feel old. Yu and his Robo are just too likeable characters to not enjoy seeing their advancement and acceptance. It also helps that Takeshi Miyazawa’s artwork is wonderful. 

Despite not being published under one of their more all-ages imprints like Boom! Box or kaboom!, this series remains something that I think that kids would get a lot of enjoyment out of as well.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Old Man Logan #28 is a work of art. I don’t know who made a pact with the devil in order to consistently get this level of artwork out of Mike Deodato Jr., but whatever they did since at least the Jeff Lemire Thanos series, Deodato has been producing some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, and compelling work of his career. He’s been a great artist for more than twenty-five years in the industry, but his work lately has been absolutely next level. His shading, page layouts, character designs & staging, and panel transitions are practically a masterclass on the art form.

| Published by Marvel

Pestilence #4 unveils some secrets as we head towards the conclusion. This has been a fairly bloody and brutal tale of knights vs. zombies from Frank Tieri and Oleg Okenev and it’s not letting up. It delivers a nice satisfying crunch.

| Published by Aftershock

Redlands #2 jumps the series ahead to modern day, fleshing out the sisters’ characters and the world that they live in, having pretty much taken over Redlands, Florida following the bloodbath back in ‘77. We’re still left a lot of details out, but we’re given a better look at some of the things going on, as a game of murderous cat and mouse between the sisters and an unknown potential blackmailer unfolds. Jordie Bellaire and Vanessa Del Rey are creating something interesting here and I’m definitely hooked to see what happens next.

| Published by Image

Retcon #1 is...something, I’m not really sure what. Interesting, though, certainly, and something I’ll continue to read for a bit. Ostensibly this is about a team of supernatural beings working for the government, but the interview in the back and the title suggest something else. If anything, the artwork from Toby Cypress is worth the price of admission alone. Still not sure what to think of the story.

| Published by Image

Sacred Creatures #3 again challenges me to decide whether or not I like Pablo Raimondi’s mix of traditional comics art with photography. I’m leaning towards yes.

| Published by Image

Secret Warriors #6 kicks off a two-part arc with the members of the Warriors back on their own. The bulk of the issue is devoted to Daisy tracking down who murdered Coulson and it leads to some humorous exchanges. Who would have known that life model decoys are anatomically correct?

| Published by Marvel

Spy Seal #2 feels even more like a European funny animal book than the first issue. To me it feels like Rich Tommaso is doing a take on something like Tin Tin, but with an anthropomorphic seal, and it’s just wonderful.

| Published by Image

Transformers: Lost Light #9 gives a kind of closure, or at least a transition, to the Natuica/Velocity/Skids character and story arcs. It’s kind of bittersweet when you consider the implications and I expect that James Roberts will undoubtedly revisit this somewhere in the future. Also, the reveal of who the “Grand Architect” is at the end of this issue is pretty epic.

| Published by IDW

Uncanny Avengers #27 is a pretty straight-forward conclusion to the team’s confrontation with Graviton. It’s mostly action, but there are some character moments cementing that this team can still work together fairly effectively. The artwork from Sean Izaakse again is very nice.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Babyteeth #4, Black Science #31, Clue #4, Curse Words #8, The Damned: Ill-Gotten #4, Defenders #5, Dread Gods #2, First Strike #3, Genius: Cartel #2, Ghost Station Zero #2, Harrow County #25, Hellboy & BPRD - 1955: Occult Intelligence #1, InSEXts #13, Jane, Lumberjanes #42, Mage: The Hero Denied #2, The Realm #1, Riverdale #6, Rocket #5, Rose #6, Runaways #1, The Shadow #2, Shadows on the Grave #8, Slam!: Next Jam #1, The Sovereigns #5, The Spirit: The Corpse Makers #4, Star Wars #36, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #12, TMNT Universe #14, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #24, Venomverse #2, War for the Planet of the Apes #3, Weapon X #8, Winnebago Graveyard #4, X-Men Blue #11

Recommended Collections: Britannia - Vol. 2: We Who Are About to Die, Elektra: Always Bet on Red, Kingpin: Born Against, Saucer Country, TMNT - Vol. 17: Desperate Measures

d. emerson eddy believes that uptown funk is going to give it to you. Don’t believe him? Just watch.

[putris-et-mulier]

Those of you who want to start reading comics but don't know how to start

comixology is doing a BOGO sell on Marvel comics, specifically the most popular ones. Quick overview and recommendations for those who might be overwhelmed with the choices. But the word "Marvel" in your promotion code when you check out.

I'm going to try to just give you one sentence or a panel to recommend all the X-Men ones, because you know I'm recommending all of the X-Men ones. But I will let you know what's in it, vaguely.

I'll add more panel examples but I need to do something and the sale ends on the 13th

"Recent Jumping On Points!"  

Moon Knight Vol. 1: Lunatic – I love this series. Moon Knight is a lot like Deadpool and Legion in that they are all mentally ill characters that no one really seemed to know what to do with but Jeff Lemire got the series and he's been doing an amazing job. It will be confusing but it's confusing even if you have read the old comics, the whole thing is kind of his perception of reality so… If you like mentally ill Jewish male protagonists that need to be protected, you'll like this

Gwenpool, The Unbelievable Vol. 1: Believe It – she's a recent Deadpool spinoff I haven't really started to get but I will soon so if you do get this I'd like to hear your opinion

X-Men '92 Vol. 1: The World Is A V – this is a continuation of the 90s cartoon but it jumps ahead in the story so even people who have seen the cartoon know everything you and it's written with the expectation that you probably haven't seen the cartoon

and there is Jubilee

Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 1: Isn't It Bromantic – now everyone who says "I wanted to read that" can. It's as ridiculous as everyone says it is. More so, actually.

Deadpool: World's Greatest Vol. 1 – if you want to start reading the most recent Deadpool comics just start with this

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Vol. 1: BFF – it's comic book about a little girl and a dinosaur, it's adorable

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 1: Berzerker – this is what the movie Logan is based off of

Spider-Gwen Vol. 1: Greater Power – what if Peter Parker died and Gwen became a superhero and was in a punk band with Peter's ex girlfriends: best premise ever

All-New Wolverine Vol. 1: The Four Sisters – you might also want to check this out if you like Logan, currently the Wolverine in "old Man Logan" is in the 616 but Laura has just become the official Wolverine

All-New X-Men: Inevitable Vol. 1 – okay, so the original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl Jean Gray, Archangel, Iceman, Beast) travel forward in time so right now in the 616 we have adult versions of those characters, the ones we've always had, and now the teenage version of those characters which are technically the same characters but taken out of time when they were teenagers and just formed the X-Men, before everyone died a bunch of times. The book isn't as confusing as the explanation but I think some of you might like it because when Iceman traveled to the future he outed his older self as being in the closet and in this book we see his teenage self, straight from the 70s (pun intended,) try to figure out how to live like a gay guy in this century.

Also, baby Cyclops

Extraordinary X-Men Vol. 1: X-Haven – this is about the school refugee children in the X-Men put in Hell (Limbo) because the Earth is too dangerous. Also a genius premise

Uncanny Avengers: Unity Vol. 1: Lost Future – I've talked about this one a ton, it's the one where Rouge, Deadpool, Cable, and Quicksilver (and Captin  America, and blah blah blah) are working as Avengers

"Recent #1's"

Death Of X (2016) Issue #1 – Cyclops died (yes, he will be back eventually and there is still the teenage Cyclops running around hating himself)

IvX (2016-2017) Issue #1 – a lot about X-Men is about bigotry and eugenics and this one is another angle on that. What if two nearly extinct races have to exterminate the other to live?

Deadpool: Back In Black (2016) Issue #1 – this is about Deadpool and Venom hooking up for a while

Jessica Jones (2016-) Issue #1 – if you haven't seen the Netflix show, you should and if you have seen it and liked it you need to read this. Jessica just got released from prison and is separated from Luke and hiding their child and you have to read a few issues before they start to tell you why she went to prison and all that other stuff

and look at her shirt

Civil War II: X-Men (2016) Issue #1 – skip it. It's not bad, it's just boring

"Popular Marvel Collections"

Avengers vs. X-Men – the X-Men find a way to save their race and the Avengers try to exterminate them again. This is the series I always mentioned when people say that Captain America isn't a racist

House of M – what of Scarlet Wtich cast a spell that mutants should disappear and then Magneto becomes king and everyone was happy, kind of

X-Men: Days of Future Past – this is what the movie was based on but it's good and they didn't give all the leading roles to Wolverine. I love this book, a friend and I would act it out when we were kids which was probably pretty alarming for the adults

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe – I'm the only one who didn't like this series so based on statistics you will like it. Eh it wasn't that bad. You get to see an alternate universe Deadpool shoot an alternate universe Spider-Man in the head and this was before he did it those last two times in the 616

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1: Gifted – Cyclops tries to make the X-Men good guys again… With Emma Frost. She was that chick that always dressed in white in Days of Future Past but, again, she's actually cool in the comics. I think some of you would really like her, her character is like "what if a girl had the dream of becoming a school teacher but she was born as such a marginalized and targeted race so she grew up to teach in a segregated community in a school for child refugees of your race" and tack on "what if a girl was so conventionally attractive that no one took her serious despite her being very intelligent so she learns how to use her sexuality and her passing privilege to manipulate people"

Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1 – no unless you have nothing else to read

X-Men: Second Coming – it's about Deadpool's ex-husband's daughter that Cable kept strapped to his chest 

X-Men: Battle of the Atom – read this after all new X-Men, at least the first one. Now a mutant group from the future travels back in time to take out the teenage versions because every future is a dystopia and everyone believes the only way to is to murder yourself in the past

and we get a bunch of new teen mutants and their parentage… Is very X-Men. Look how cute Shogo is meeting his mother's teenage past self 

Guess who this dude belongs to

If you ship Xavierine you have to read this

X-Men: the Complete Age Of Apocalypse Epic Book 1 – this is an alternate universe story so I'm not sure if you want to read it but the art isn't as bad as the cover makes it seem

Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon – this the series in which they actually keep Hawkeye deaf and integrated wonderfully into the story

All-New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday's X-Men – the teenage X-Men travel to the current timeline and meet their older selves.  

Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy – Runaways is always cute. It's about a group of kids who all had evil villains for parents and they ran away from their homes and tried to be heroes 

"Marvel Women of Power"

I think you guys know what you want in this category but the Spider Woman one is the one in which she tries to fight crime while she's pregnant. Thor is Jane Foster (she is the current Thor because Thor is in a timeout) while she's at the last stages of terminal cancer. She Hulk is a lawyer. Ms. Marvel is the girl that was in the news for taking over the legacy name AND being Muslim and it's actually made by Muslim women.

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga – everyone has read this. Even people who have never read comics. Through osmosis. Don't be the last one…

X-Treme X-Men Vol. 5: God Loves, Man Kills – Also read this

X-Men: The Complete Onslaught Epic - Book One – if it sounds good read it but I don't think is very applicable to anything that's going on right now in the comics or movie

Wolverine: Weapon X – if you can stand looking at Wolverine any longer

X-Men: Inferno – This one is going to be pretty confusing to be one of the first things you read but if you know about Jean Gray and Madeline Prior in all that you'll enjoy it 

New Mutants Epic Collection: Renewal – remember in Deadpool that character Negasonic Teenage Warhead? She is a new mutant, they are the mutant students that graduated and are trying to be X-Men. There's going to be a TV show based on this but I'm not sure if it's going be based on anything specific. The first members are Karma who is a psychic lesbian who eventually becomes an amputee raising her younger siblings as a kind of single mother, Sunspot is a Brazilian guy that kind of explodes a lot in all senses of the word, Moonstar is a young woman from the Cheyenne nation who is eventually a VIP and gets a flying horse, Cannonball is an innocent country boy that is "pretty much invulnerable when Ah'm blastin" 

It is like One Tree Hill if one tree Hill was about racism and general bigotry… and blastin'

Keep in mind that this is the beginning so these characters are adults now and the New Mutant lineup changes (obviously they have to eventually graduate to X-Men)

Wolverine By Claremont & Miller – this is what the movie "The Wolverine" was kind of based on so if you like it when Wolverine pretends to be Japanese you should pick this up 

Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 1 – if you want to start from beginning but want the ease of reading the collections

the Max stuff is the 616 Marvel characters in an R-rated universe

Journey Into Mystery Vol. 1: Fear Itself – this is when Loki was a teenager and they don't usually read these books but I really got hooked because they were better than I thought they would be 

Substance"> Young Avengers Vol. 1: Style > Substance – remember the series about a teenage Avenger group and no one turned out to be straight? This is the beginning of that

no to all the Ultimate stuff

Read all the X Factor and X Force! Uncanny X Force is the one with Deadpool and it's my favorite Deadpool of all time. I've talked about X Factor little before, that's when Rictor and Shatterstar finally get together. If you saw Logan you saw the first appearance of Rictor who is going to be in new mutants

this is the kid that plays him, Jason Genao

he is the kid at the table and this is from a Law and Order because I thought maybe it would be more familiar to everyone. So since we are starting with him as a kid I really hope if/when we see Shatterstar they do a throwback to his old hair and make a kid wear an extremely long blonde mullet wig on

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1289

Monday, November 25, 2019

 I understand why there has to be ads in comic books but the ones in recent DC comics are super annoying. There's the two page ad for Snickers candy bars and another one for Me TV. They are both comic book pages and disrupts the flow of my reading. I hate them. I don't mind the single page ads for other DC comics but those two page ads are a pain in the ass.

 Gwenpool Strikes Back #4 - Christopher Hastings (writer page 2) Leah Williams (writer all the other pages) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). We get down to the final challenge for Gwenpool's comic book life. Find out who she faces on the last page. It's a shocker.

 Batman Superman #4 - Joshua Williamson (writer) David Marquez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) John J. Hill (letters). This is the issue that puts the good guys on the brink of defeat after a valiant effort to stop The Batman Who Laughs and his infected followers. The art in this issue was noticeably good.

 King Thor #3 - Jason Aaron (writer) Esad Ribic (art) Ive Svorcina (colours) Das Pastoras (art & colours pages 5-9) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This is it. The God Butcher near triumphant. Can King Thor bring life to the Necroverse and save the entire universe? I sure hope so.

 Punisher Kill Krew #5 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Juan Ferreyra (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This story ended in typical fashion with the good guys killing the bad guy and returning to Earth. I liked this finale for showing a softer side of Frank Castle.

 Conan the Barbarian #11 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Conan meets Crom. I loved how Mahmud used one of Frank Frazetta's paintings as a model for Crom. You'll recognise the headpiece if you're a Frazetta fan. King Conan is dead. Long live King Conan. This will make sense when you get to the last page of this issue.

 The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage #1 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Denys Cowan (pencils) Bill Sienkiewicz (inks) Chris Sotomayor (colours) Willie Schubert (letters). I always thought of the Question as being a darker more serious version of Will Eisner's the Spirit but this opens with him acting more like the Riddler. I don't remember him asking the bad guys questions before. I thought the name had more to do with who was behind the faceless mask and finding the answers to solve a crime. I wasn't thrilled with the occult element to this story either. I didn't like how almost all of the faces were static and expressionless throughout. I wanted to like this, but I didn't.

 Heart Attack #1 - Shawn Kittelsen (writer) Eric Zawadzki (art) Michael Garland (colours) Pat Brosseau (letters). X-Men fans will find this future where some people are born with special powers very familiar. In this book they're called Variants. It starts off with a Variant graffiti artist named Nona being tazered and dragged away by cops who look like the judges in Judge Dredd. Cleary the bad guys. Nona's friend Charlie witnesses the rights violation and goes for help with a group called the Freebodies. Here we meet Jill, a social media influencer and when she meets Charlie, sparks fly, or people do more accurately. Jill has tactile telekinesis powers and Charlie is a power booster. Along with similarities to Marvel's mutants I also felt like this could have been the beginning of Cloak and Dagger. The art is lovely so if you're looking for something new to try I recommend this.

 Scarab #1 - Dennis Hopeless Hallum (writer) Freddie E. Williams II (art) Jeremy Colwell (colours) Thomas Napolitano (letters). If you've been wondering what Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle has been up to find out here in this "Year of the Villain: Infected" one shot. It isn't pretty. The Batman Who Laughs gets his claws into the teenager and now he looks like Ambush Bug and can't control the Scarab attached to him. This explains how Jaime shows up in Batman Superman #4.

 Deadpool #1 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Chris Bachalo (pencils) Wayne Faucher, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Jaime Mendoza, John Livesay & Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The stalwart names in the credits made me pick up this latest number one of Deadpool's to read. I was not disappointed. Deadpool is made King of Monsters on Staten Island. That's really dumb and insane but this is Deadpool so totally expected. I think I'll stick around for the fun this time around.

 2099 #1 - Nick Spencer (writer) Viktor Bogdanovic (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This intro to the latest Spider-Man mega event is as clear as mud. There's just too much going on to try to figure out what the point of the story is. I'm assuming this takes place in the year 2099 where Doctor Doom has Uatu the Watcher keeping an eye on things for him. So old Doc Doom rules the world yet again. We get a glimpse of five 2099 tie-ins with Conan, Ghost Rider, Punisher, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man 2099 all making brief appearances. The creative teams on them will determine if I'm going to read any but my interest is low right now. Fans with extra time and money might be more inclined to check them out.

 Something is Killing the Children #3 - James Tynion IV (writer) Werther Dell'Edera (art) Miquel Muerto (colours) AndWorld Design (letters). I am waiting for the action when Erica Slaughter confronts the monster that is killing the children. I am also wondering how some of the adults of the town are going to interfere. This horror show has me hooked.

 Batman #83 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I love the use of two Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems in this issue while the voice of Alfred soothes Bruce's grief. This is where Bruce finds Alfred's dead body and prepares to face Thomas Wayne. This is an issue that I would give to someone who doesn't read comic books as an example of what a really good comic book is like. I think that they would be pleasantly surprised.

 Annihilation - Scourge Alpha #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Juanan Ramirez with Cian Tormey (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The bug is back but this time Annihilus has come from the Negative Zone not to conquer but to ask for help. Death is spreading in the Negative Zone and nothing can stop it. You know it's bad when Annihilus teams up with Blastaar and both bad guys lose. It's a tough time to be a Marvel Maniac when two mega events hit the racks at the same time. This one spins off into four one-shots featuring Nova, the Fantastic Four, Beta Ray Bill and the Silver Surfer ( before Silver Surfer Black I'm assuming). If you're a fan of little used characters, you'll like who the Big Bad is. The same deal applies for whether I read any more of these as with the 2099 books.

 Once & Future #4 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Dan Mora (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Ed Dukeshire (letters). We're in the thick of the story now as the bad guys get closer to the Holy Grail. I love me a good Arthurian story.

 Loki #5 - Daniel Kibblesmith (writer) Andy MacDonald (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Half of this issue is a tale from the old west where Loki hunts down some bank robbers with the help of a young Logan you know who. The other half is a present day Loki explaining to someone his raison d'être. It's one of those get to know the star of the book deals.

 The Marked #2 - David Hine & Brian Haberlin (writers) Brian Haberlin (art) Geirrod Van Dyke (colours) Francis Takenaga (letters). There is cool magic in this book and I love the art. Not sure who the good guys or the bad guys are but that's okay because I'm sticking around to find out.

 Fantastic 4 2099 #1 - Karla Pacheco (writer) Steven Cummings (art) Chris Sotomayor (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Jeepers, the end of this 2099 one shot was totally unexpected and shocking. It's obvious that H.E.R.B.I.E. is trying to reunite the 4 in 2099 and they are totally different from the familiar family that we know. He gets help from the cyborg bounty hunter from the 2099 Alpha book and she's successful in finding the 4. It's an okay story with some neat futuristic concepts but there won't be an ongoing FF 2009 book later.

 The Amazing Mary Jane #2 - Leah Williams (writer) Carlos Gomez (art) Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I do not like this portrayal of Mary Jane. She's more like an old school Archie Comics character than the modern woman we've seen in other books. I had high hopes for this new series but this is where I call this one a wrap.

 Marauders #2 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Matteo Lolli (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I like how they've matured Kitty Pryde in this new book but the art isn't nice enough to keep this on my must read list.

 The Immortal Hulk #27 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering & Sean Parsons (inks) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Hulk's war on Roxxon starts here. The first battle has the Hulk attacking a data centre and fighting Roxxon's enhanced human security guards. This is powerful stuff and classic Hulk Smash. I love it.

 Excalibur #2 - Tini Howard (writer) Marcus To (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I'm not keen on the writing but I love the art. There's just too much teleporting for my taste. I'll stick around as long as Marcus is drawing this book.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #34 - Nick Spencer (writer) Patrick Gleason (art) Matthew Wilson, Dee Cunniffe & Chris O'Halloran (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Doctor Doom was centered in a sniper's sights at the end of last issue and (spoiler alert) is shot at the start of this issue. Boy, does that ever piss old Doomsy off. Meanwhile Spider-Man 2099 finally finds the Amazing Spider-Man but all he can do is tell him that the multiverse is screwed? How anticlimactic. Now Peter has to figure out what will cause that catastrophe. It's pretty obvious to me given the major clue in this issue.

 Avengers #26 - Jason Aaron (writer) Dale Keown (pencils) Joe Weems, Cam Smith & Craig Yeung (inks) Andrea Sorrentino (art pages 18-19) Jason Keith with Erick Arciniega & Jay David Ramos (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's the origin of the Starbrand. I love Dale's art.

 Absolute Carnage #5 - Donny Cates (writer) Ryan Stegman (pencils) JP Mayer & Jay Leisten (inks) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Uh, what? This didn't turn out to be one of those stories with clear cut winners and losers. Eddie Brock and his son are still alive so that's a win for him. Knull has been (spoiler alert) awakened so the bad guys win too. The changes to certain characters will interest Venom fans (Eddie kills Cletus and absorbs the Carnage symbiote and his son Dylan kills a symbiote by making it explode) so there's that. I noticed that Scream was in the group of heroes coming to the rescue and that makes me want to read more about her in SCREAM CURSE OF CARNAGE #1 hitting the racks November 27. I should get a No Prize for explaining that Peter carries an extra face mask because on page 6 half of it is ripped off but he's got a full one on page 21. Either that or editorial didn't notice the boo-boo. It was fun catching up with Eddie and Venom but this story didn't make me more inclined to keep up with this character regularly.

[indigosabyss]

Honestly; I didn’t mind the ‘Doctor Who’ regeneration-esque approach ‘Strikes Back’ took to its Gwen — it was like what she did to Doctor Doom in ‘The Unbelievable GwenPool’ but to herself — explaining how those other ‘earlier’ versions could die paradox-free. The real question is whether they’re still out there or not — the original miniseries never definitively answered this, and it would be a killer concept for a fic — ‘variants’ without being variants, ‘clones’ without being clones — something better, like ‘Star Trek’ and its transporter duplicates or ‘Westworld’ and its other Doloreses. The follow-up (and potentially for an ‘All-New All-Different Dark Gwen’ alongside the main one) is fascinating.

Anon when I say I'm obsessed with the implications of the Gwen Hive that is an understatement. The thought of them haunts me. The stories that could come from them, the existential crisis that comes from finding yourself in a world you are told is just a few weeks older than you are and yet you are unrecognizable (in personality, at least)

I've talked about the Doctor Doom thing before, and came to the conclusion that this was essentially time travel she was doing. And the Gwen Hive is the result of her going back in time when she was still being written by writers who characterized her in certain ways and making copies of them to bring forward.

For the fic that I'm planning, personally, I'm taking where Gwen is at the end of the Bullseye Cut (previous fic in the same series) i.e. has no idea that the fourth wall is crumbling, even as she picks up on the fanfiction aspects of her reality and has been shown to manipulate them. This one has her work with a few Gwen Hive members (tho she isn't the one who's brought them out) and interestingly: her other Gwenpool variants across universes (Gwen from Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe Again, Gwen from Into The Venomverse, and other such variants). The goal is to get her to grapple with her own existence. How can she be transported from the real world if there are more of her???

But yeah it's not really a concrete idea yet.

[aion-rsa]

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Deadpool: The 15 Best Non-Deadpool Deadpools

Who would have guessed that this character, who is basically an amalgam of preexisting heroes, would become such a cultural phenomenon? Then again, there is no denying that his voice is a unique take on the cape and cowl genre. Regardless of how you see it, the gutter-mouthed, juvenile anti-hero known as Deadpool is the king of the world right now. Or is that… multiple worlds?

RELATED: 15 Darkest Versions of Superman 

With Marvel’s multiverse acting as an infinite… pool… of alternate Wade Wilsons, there’s plenty of the Merc with a Mouth to go around; almost too much, in fact. Thats why we’ve decided to put together a list of our 15 favorite alternate universe versions of the Regeneratin’ Degenerate. Because, as the movies and the comics have shown, one universe just can’t seem to contain all that is Deadpool.

FUTURE HORSEMEN DEADPOOL

Not to be confused with Deadpool, Horseman of Apocalypse, who appeared in “Cable & Deadpool” #46 (2007), the Deadpool we’re talking about here debuted in “Extraordinary X-Men” #8 (2016) as one of Apocalypse’s Horsemen. Presumably, he became “Death” in Apocalypse’s equation more than a thousand years in the future. This issue was part of the “Apocalypse Wars” crossover, which followed Colossus and a group of Jean Grey School students as they were accidentally transported into the future. Colossus is separated from the youngsters when they run into The Horsemen. When they finally meet up with Piotr again, he has somehow become Apocalypse’s new Horseman, War.

The initial line-up of this version of the Horsemen included Moon Knight, Venom, Man-Thing and Deadpool. During the second battle between the X-Men and these future Horsemen, it is revealed that Deadpool’s mouth has been sewn shut (an homage to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” perhaps?). When Iceman makes a joke about it, Pool cuts open the stitching and breathes out a swarm of winged insects.

GWENPOOL

Visually, Deadpool is basically Spider-Man if you turned up the contrast and lost the webbing, a fact that isn’t lost on anybody. It has been played up again and again in everything from Deadpool covers homaging classic Spider-Man covers, to the popular comic series starring the two as a duo. Spider-Gwen, on the other hand, is Spider-Man, just from a parallel universe. On Earth-65, Gwen Stacy became Spider-Woman while Peter Parker died tragically. This character was initially introduced as part of the Marvel’s huge “Spider-Verse” crossover event, but was so popular, she got her own series by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez.

Here’s where is gets interesting: in 2015, Spider-Gwen’s popularity warranted having Gwen Stacy variants of all 20 titles that dropped in June of that year, one of which struck a chord with fans: the Gwen variant of “Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars” #2. This gender swap of the Merc with a Mouth sports his familiar costume but in a pink/white color scheme, a look that was immediately adopted by the cosplay and fanart communities, and this momentum granted her a backstory in the 616, and even her own series in 2016 by writer Christopher Hastings and a rotating who’s-who of artists.

DEAPOOL THE DUCK

This brand spanking new character currently stars in his own miniseries written by Stuart Moore with art by Jacopo Camagni, the first issue of which hit newsstands in January 2017. He is not to be confused, however, with the Deadpool the Duck who debuted (and then died) in the “Deadpool Kills Deadpool” (2013) miniseries, this Deadpool the Duck is a literal mash-up of Deadpool and Howard the Duck.

The story goes that Deadpool is hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture a “high profile E.T. rampaging across the High Plains.” When he tracks the target down, it’s Rocket Raccoon and he has contracted space rabies. Rocket has also crash-landed his ship into Howard the Duck’s car by complete coincidence. A battle ensues, and when Rocket bites into Pool’s teleporter, Howard and Pool are somehow merged because of their close proximity. He may have just been introduced but the Merc With A Bill is already one of the most noteworthy Deadpools ever!

NEW BROTHERHOOD DEADPOOL

In Brian Michael Bendis’ “All-New X-Men” run, he not only brought Professor X’s original students to the current 616 continuity, he also gave us a look at the future that would now occur due to the original X-Men being time-displaced. In “X-Men: Battle of the Atom” #1, we were introduced to a team claiming to be X-Men from the future, who brought a warning that if the past X-Men did not go back to their time, it would lead to the end of the mutant species.

This team was made up of Xavier II, a female Xorn, an all grown up Molly Hayes, a more beastly Beast, Ice Hulk, Katherine Pryde and Deadpool. However, it turns out they are actually the New Brotherhood, but that is not their only deception. Pryde is actually the shape-shifting son of Mystique and Professor X, Raze, and Xorn is past Jean Grey. On top of that, Xavier II is mind-controlling all the members, sans his half-brother. This version of Deadpool appears without a mask, yet has the black eye-markings from his mask now on his face.

CANADAMAN

The year 2009 saw Marvel release the mammoth 104-page special “Deadpool” #900, followed in 2010 by the also over-sized “Deadpool” #1000. Neither were anywhere close to the official “Deadpool” issue count, but that was the whole point. This was a jab at DC’s practice of relaunching titles, but also keeping a running issue count so they can tout their milestones.

These two issues each featured a number of fun short stories by various creative teams that celebrated the Regeneratin’ Degenerate. Of the many versions of Deadpool in these stories, Canadaman was our favorite. A company in Toronto going by Canadacorp wanted to sponsor a Canadian super group with a big name hero heading it up as Canadaman. They pitch Deadpool, but he isn’t interested in the slightest… until he sees the pay check, that is. The rest of the team includes Moositaur, Beaver, Puck-Man and Ms. Puck-Man. Their transport is a red, Maple leaf-shaped jet. Pool quits on their first mission upon being told Wolverine and Northstar were offered the Canadaman position first, but turned it down.

DEAD MAN WADE

This Warren Ellis and Ken Lashley spin on Deadpool first reared his ugly head in their “X-Calibre” (1995) miniseries. This was part of the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline, and like many AoA versions of fan-favorite characters, Dead Man Wade was a darker take on the Merc with a Mouth. Instead of the side-splitting (literally and figuratively), fourth wall-breaking prankster of the 616 Universe, the AoA Wade was despondent and clearly brain-damaged. At one point, Apocalypse mentions that Wade was part of a eugenics program that deeply traumatized him.

In this alternate future, Apocalypse did not only have his staple Four Horsemen, he also had armies of Infinites, the Madri cult, the Brotherhood of Chaos and his assassins, the Pale Riders. Dead Man Wade was one of three Pale Riders, with Danielle Moonstar and Damask rounding out the crew. Both ladies seemed to hate Wade and each other, and they all took great pleasure in either torturing or killing.

ULTIMATE DEADPOOL

In 2011, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley introduced Wadey Wilson in “Ultimate Spider-Man” #91, which was the first part of a four-part story aptly titled “Deadpool.” In the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610), though, Deadpool seems to be an amalgamation of Wade Wilson and Donald Pierce. He has a costume and arsenal very similar to Deadpool, but instead of Wade’s familiar scarring under the mask, this Pool is a cyborg who has had his nose, the skin on his face and part of his skull removed, and covered in a hard transparent casing. He is the leader of a squad of soldiers with cybernetic enhancements known as The Reavers, just like Pierce of Earth-616.

Wadey’s anti-mutie rhetoric is very Pierce as well. However, these Reavers are the stars of a reality TV show produced by Mojo where they hunt down mutants. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Mojo does pretty much the same thing in regular continuity. In the “Ultimate Spider-Man” animated series, there was an episode in Season 2 dedicated to Deadpool. While it was titled “Ultimate Deadpool,” the appearance and portrayal of the character seemed to be that of regular ol’ 616 Deadpool.

DEATHSTROKE OF THE ANTIMATTER UNIVERSE

There is no denying that Deathstroke The Terminator, who was introduced in 1980, influenced the creation of Deadpool, introduced in 1991. In fact, his co-creator, Fabian Nicieza, openly acknowledges the similarities. Their names are Slade Wilson and Wade Wilson, and both underwent secret experimentation to make them the ultimate mercenary. Plus, there may be a color difference, but Pool’s costume bares a striking resemblance to The Terminator’s.

Writer Joe Kelly played on this “creative borrowing” when he wrote “Superman/Batman Annual” #1 (2006) and gave us the Antimatter Universe version of Deathstroke. The Antimatter Universe is the reverse of our own (eg: good is bad), and this Deathstroke is an exact replica of Deadpool, but in blue and orange. He has a katana, a healing factor and manic dialogue that might as well have been pulled right out of Pool’s speech bubbles. In his single comic appearance, he is contracted by Mister Mxyzptlk to protect Owlman.

EVIL DEADPOOL

Evil Deadpool may be an “on the nose,” almost silly name, but he is a great concept. During his lengthy four-year run on “Deadpool” (2008-2012), Daniel Way sent Pool to the loony bin in jolly ol’ England at one point. Then he revealed that one of the psychiatrists, Dr. Ella Whitby, was obsessed with Wade and broke him out, ala Harley Quinn and The Joker. Well, maybe she is a tad more twisted than Harley, as we find out she collected and froze the pieces of Wade that were chopped and shot off over the years. The bits of flesh and body parts even all have different costumes!

When Wade discovers her selection of choice Deadpool cuts, he pukes… then proceeds to track her down. Later, he circles back to her apartment to dispose of his scraps in a dumpster. Problem is, even Pool’s pieces have his healing factor, and once combined, they regenerate into a whole new Pool… Evil Deadpool! Other than his patchwork look, Evil Deadpool’s most defining feature is that he has two right arms, and is really damn evil.

AGENT X

The original run of “Deadpool” ended with #69 in 2002… sort of. It was replaced by the “Agent X” series, which started with the same creative team as the last arc of “Deadpool” (Gail Simone, Alvin Lee and Udon Studios), and continued where the prior ongoing had left off. It was a big mystery who Agent X was, as he arrived on the scene with amnesia. He had Deadpool’s healing factor, most of his skill set and bits of his personality, but at the same time, he had refined tastes that were very un-Deadpool. X also had scarring all over his body, but not nearly as severe as Deadpool’s.

In “Agent X” #14 (2003), it was revealed that powerful telepathic assassin Black Swan had swapped parts of his, Deadpool’s and Agent X’s minds, as well as their powers, when an explosion threatened to kill all three. Agent X was actually a Japanese merc named Nijo but he had gained the abilities and personalites of Swan and Wade.

LADY DEADPOOL & THE DEADPOOL CORPS

The Deadpool Corps is full of awesome parallel universe Pools, and we would feature them all if this was a “50 Best” list. We will at least mention the initial line-up, which consisted of Deadpool, Lady Deadpool, Headpool, Dogpool and Kidpool (not to be confused with Kid Deadpool or Deadpool Kid). The Corps was also brought together by one of the Elders of the Universe, The Contemplator, to combat a cosmic threat known as The Awareness. The Corps later bolstered its ranks to stop the killing spree of the Evil Deadpool Corps. Some of the hilarious recruits included Veapon X, Motorpool, Grootpool, Chibipool and the ferocious Pandapool.

However, our focus here is sometimes leader of the Corps, Lady Deadpool, aka Wanda Wilson of Earth-3010. She first appeared in “Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth” #7 and was created by Victor Gischler and Deadpool’s co-daddy, Rob Liefeld. On her Earth, she had joined a group of rebels fighting a fascist government led by Captain America. She defeated Rogers in their first showdown, as well as their rematch… although she did have help from Deadpool and Headpool in both instances.

MASACRE

Put simply, Masacre is the low budget, Mexican Deadpool. He is a former Catholic priest who, after hearing Deadpool’s confession, decided he needed to take a more pro-active role in making the world a better place. Masacre’s first appearance was in “Deadpool” #3.1 (2015), which was an issue focusing on this violent vigilante’s exploits. Donning a badly stitched together imitation of Deadpool’s costume, he goes about cleaning up Mexico. Masacre uses machetes instead of katanas and a good ol’ fashioned shotgun rather than Deadpool’s fancy selection of automatic firearms. He also has a pet jaguar named Justicia that has her own Deadpool-inspired costume.

Masacre’s ultimate goal was to team up with his hero, Deadpool, and after eliminating one of Mexico’s major crime bosses, he set off to do just that. Traveling by motorbike with Justicia in the sidecar, he headed to the U.S. Upon arrival, he quickly joined up with Deadpool’s newly formed Mercs For Money organization in “Deadpool” #5 (2016).

WATARI

Acclaimed writer Peter Milligan wrote an under-appreciated five-issue miniseries in 2011 called “5 Ronin.” Each issue told the story of a different Marvel hero, but in the context of 17th Century Japan. The series came out for five weeks consecutively, starting with Wolverine, followed by Hulk, Punisher, Psylocke and finally Deadpool.

This realm’s Deadpool is named Watari and like all the stories in this series, his is about revenge. He was once the most dangerous samurai in the land, but was betrayed by his friend in the heat of battle and left for dead. When he dug his way out of a pile of dead bodies, he had lost his humanity, but was intent on retribution. His friend had gone on to become a ruthless Daimyo, who had also wronged Butterfly (Psylocke), Monk (Hulk), The Ronin Who Cannot Die (Wolvie) and Punisher. However, out of the five, it is Watari who manages to get his vengeance.

ZOMBIE DEADPOOL (HEADPOOL)

If a character has been around for long enough and a number of writers have put their stamp on his/her history and personality, continuity tends to get muddy. Well, Robert Kirkman’s creation, Zombie Deadpool, may have only been around for five short years, but his story, development and death played out cleanly without need of a single retcon.

When Earth-2149 was overrun by a zombie plague, Deadpool turned out to be the Prime Carrier. He somehow reached Earth-616, where the extra-dimensional security agency known as A.R.M.O.R. orchestrated his capture. His body was torn apart in the battle, but they still took what was left of him back to HQ for safe keeping. His head then manages to escape with the help of Golden Age hero, Zombie. At this point, he is renamed Headpool and continues his adventures without a body. This Deadpool is a founding member of the Deadpool Corps, and is the first Corpsman to die at the hands of the Evil Deadpool Corp. Say that three times fast.

DREADPOOL

This version of Deadpool is from Earth-12101. In this universe, the X-Men committed him to the Ravencroft Asylum to deal with his psychosis. The plan backfires because the head doctor at the asylum is actually classic villain Psycho-Man in disguise. He manages to quiet the voices in Wade’s head, but also awakens a new voice that instructs Dreadpool to kill everyone.

Dreadpool was created by Cullen Bunn, who gave him the name, even though he has never used it in a comic. This is the Deadpool that killed all the superheroes in “Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe” (2012), then all the characters from classic tales like Frankenstein and The Jungle Book in “Deadpool: Killustrated” (2013), and finally decided to hunt down every last Deadpool in the multiverse in “Deadpool Kills Deadpool” (2013). For that last and most ambitious mission, he started the Evil Deadpool Corps and recruited the most foul Pools he could find. Of course, Evil Deadpool was one of the first members, as was our #10 entry, Dead Man Wade.

Which alternate universe version of Deadpool was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

The post I Can’t Believe It’s Not Deadpool: The 15 Best Non-Deadpool Deadpools appeared first on CBR.com.

http://ift.tt/2j61eYT

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1227

Monday. August 27, 2018

 I noticed that the leaves are starting to change already. It seems early this year. Change is on the horizon and it's the only constant if life as they say. I seem to be more anxious as I get older when my comfortable routines are disrupted. I'm okay if I get fair warning to prepare myself but find that I freak out a little when something gets sprung on me. I used to be able to just go with the flow but avoiding even minor annoyances is what I most desire now. Maybe I'm turning into a clam. Thank god for family and friends who get me out of my shell.

 Silencer #8 - Dan Abnett (writer) Patrick Zircher (art) Mike Spicer (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). Hell-iday Road part 1. Honor's mission to kill Talia runs into some unexpected resistance. I love the surprise department of Leviathan that pops up to complicate things and the Freaky Friday twist. It's rare that a brand new character strikes my fancy and this one does.

 Old Man Hawkeye #8 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Eye For An Eye part 8. This issue features a stupendous battle between Bullseye and the Winter Soldier. It sets up the face to face next issue for Clint and Bullseye that I've been waiting for.

 The Life of Captain Marvel #2 - Margaret Stohl (writer) Marguerite Sauvage (art flashbacks) Carlos Pacheco (pencils present day) Rafael Fonteriz (inks present day) Marcio Menyz (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). There's a lot of family drama to slog through before any action happens. Next issue should be more exciting with the super powered alien landing on Earth and going on the hunt. I'm guessing that Carol is the prey.

 West Coast Avengers #1 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Stefano Caselli (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Please welcome the latest team of West Coast Avengers to the racks with a big hand of applause. I liked this a lot but it's not quite standing ovation material. Kate Bishop assembles a team of super heroes to keep Los Angeles safe and they sure are a fun bunch. The core is made up of Kate/Hawkeye, her boyfriend Fuse, America and part-timer Clint/Hawkeye. The new members are Gwenpool and Quentin Quire ex-X-Man. I'm glad that Stefano Caselli is back on the racks. I was a big fan of his art on Ultimate Spider-Man. This book centered around Hollywood means that there are major media and pop culture references which makes things fun. It's the attack of the fifty foot woman as a giant sized Tigra menaces Santa Monica. I can't wait to find out more about B.R.O.D.O.K. next issue. I'm adding this to my "must read" list.

 Sandman Universe #1 - Neil Gaiman (story) Simon Spurrier, Kat Howard, Nola Hopkinson and Dan Watters (writers) Bilquis Evely, Tom Fowler, Dominike "Domo" Stanton, Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara (art) Mat Lopes (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Man, how I've missed these characters. Lucien the librarian, Mervyn the pumpkin-headed janitor, Matthew the raven, Tim Hunter the boy magician and all the other fascinating inhabitants of the Dreaming. I don't remember Dora so she might be new. This $4.99 US anthology will introduce you to four new comic books based on Neil Gaiman's wonderful creations. The Dreaming #1 hits the racks on September 5. House of Whispers #1 on September 12. Lucifer #1 October 17 and Books of Magic on October 24 which Ottawa's own Tom Fowler will be illustrating. Sandman fans should be very pleased.

 Die Die Die #2 - Robert Kirkman (writer) Scott M. Gimple (co-plot) Chris Burnham (art) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Rus Wooton (letters). I haven't read a comic book with this much explicit violence since The Boys. It's a sign of a good comic when you can tell the origin story of three maybe four identical brother assassins in two pages. There's a lot of sibling rivalry which makes this story very interesting.

 Punisher #1/LGY #229 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Szymon Kudranski (art) Antonio Fabela (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). World War Frank part 1. Frank has gone through many changes recently. He's the Cosmic Ghost Rider now for instance. My favourite incarnation has always been the gun toting vigilante going after the bad guys and surviving every single attempt to stop him from killing. Matt brings back that bad ass to the racks and I'm happy. Frank fights Baron Zemo, Hydra and the Roxxon Corporation in this relaunch and it's just as bloody good as Die Die Die. The death of a major super villain here was a big surprise.

 Action Comics #1002 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Patrick Gleason (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) Josh Reed (letters). Invisible Mafia part 2. I like a good mystery thrown into a comic book to keep me interested and this issue has two. The cloudy demon is one because Superman is vulnerable to supernatural things. The surprise reunion on the last page is the other. This is the first time that Brian Bendis has given me that gotcha feeling in his DC work.

 Avengers #6/LGY #696 - Jason Aaron (writer) Ed McGuinness & Paco Medina (pencils) Mark Morales & Juan Vlasco (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). "Planet of Pathogens" will give you a hint as to how the Avengers cure the Earth of the Horde infestation and defeat the Celestials. Boy, that was a close call. Next issue promises the origin of the Spirit of Vengeance, the very first Ghost Rider. I'm not a fan of Ghost Rider being on the team. I also don't like the new version of She-Hulk either. If it wasn't for the awesome art I would bench this book.

 Mr. & Mrs X #2 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Love and Marriage part 2. The newlyweds team up, albeit reluctantly, with Deadpool to protect the egg. First of all, how did Deadpool wind up in space? Never mind, it's a comic book. They have to keep the egg out of the hands of Technet, a team of bad guys. How do they just happen to be out in space too? I love Oscar's art so I'm going to ignore all these silly coincidences and find out how this story ends.

 Amazing Spider-Man #4/LGY #805 - Nick Spencer (writer) Ryan Ottley (pencils) Cliff Rathburn (inks) Laura Martin (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Back to Basics part 4. One look at the cover and I was thinking "didn't Marvel learn from the Clone Saga?". That was one of the most panned Spider-Man storylines and here they are doing it again. I am happy to report that this split isn't going to last as long and hopefully the Isotope Genome Accelerator will be mothballed for good after this. If they merge Spider-Man and Peter Parker back together in a dumb way I will not be very forgiving.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 8 January 2018

Quick Bits:

Astonisher #4 gives us some nice quiet moments, as Magnus “convalesces” in a hospital filled with meteorite infected staff and patients, having been trapped there by his brother.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Avengers #675 kicks off the sixteen-part weekly “No Surrender” event, with Earth getting stolen off to somewhere, much of the planet’s superhero population being frozen in stasis (save for, it seems, the Avengers, and the X-Men members who pull double duty), and a lot of destruction occurring due to the shift. It’s a lot of moving parts, and like the just concluded “Worlds Collide” arc, it begins with the heroes randomly trying to save people with all of us left in the dark as to what’s going on, but it’s a decent start.

What is unquestionably great about this issue, though, is the artwork from Pepe Larraz. With David Curiel providing colours, the artwork on this book is just stunning. Larraz has really stepped up his game.

| Published by Marvel

Barbarella #2 is full of more wonderful artwork by Kenan Yarar. His style reminds me a lot of Moritat and, when combined with the somewhat subdued colours from Mohan and rectangular word balloons from Crank!, gives the book a nice European feel. Mike Carey also introduces who’s probably going to be my favourite character, a nameless furry little Vix.

| Published by Dynamite

Bloodshot Salvation #5 brings a kind of closure to the present day arc involving Magic’s “Daddy”. Although not unexpected, it’s kind of abrupt and I’ve kind of got mixed feelings about it. I trust Jeff Lemire, though, that this is far from the end of this particular thread. Also, the “soon” arc manages to get even more insane.

| Published by Valiant

Coyotes #3 gets stranger. Even as we get more beautiful art from Caitlin Yarsky and explanations as to what’s going on from Sean Lewis, the story takes a dramatic turn to the weird. It’s pretty glorious.

| Published by Image

Dejah Thoris #0 is a nice tease for the new series from Amy Chu and Pasquale Qualano. The set up for finding a fabled lost city that was trying to preserve the old Mars is an interesting one.

| Published by Dynamite

The Despicable Deadpool #292 begins the next stage of Stryfe’s orders for Deadpool to kill people with the first part of “Bucket List”. The second kill is expedited fairly quickly, which is somewhat disappointing. I’m hoping that ultimately there’s something more to it that what we’ve seen.

| Published by Marvel

Grass Kings #11 brings a kind of ending to the inquiry into Jen Handel’s death, but as it explains out Archie’s affair, it raises even more questions about what’s been going on in the Kingdom. Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, and Hilary Jenkins consistently seem to be outdoing themselves with each issue.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Judas #2 again is a stunning showcase for Jakub Rebelka’s artwork. As Jeff Loveness weaves through Satan’s stories of Biblical baddies to convince Judas of a flaw in God’s plan, Rebelka just continues to blow me away with his art.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Monstro Mechanica #2 gives us more action and intrigue even as Leonardo’s assistant, Isabel, works out some of the kinks of the titular monster. The humour that Paul Allor and Chris Evenhuis inject into the series is delightful.

| Published by AfterShock

Old Man Hawkeye #1 is the beginning of a prequel to the original Old Man Logan story arc. It’s a little light on plot explanations, heavy on atmosphere and brooding, with some very nice art by Marco Checchetto and Andres Mossa. Ethan Sacks has that sad sack, worn out, and put down Clint Barton characterization down pat.

| Published by Marvel

Paradiso #2 reminds me of China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station in that Ram V and Devmalya Pramanik are managing to both push the boundaries of sci-fi and bring a city to life. In Paradiso’s case, this seems to be literal. I’m really loving the characters, the setting, and the art.

| Published by Image

Pestilence #6 concludes what has been an excellent series by Frank Tieri and Oleg Okunev, reimagining the Black Death as a zombie apocalypse. The artwork from Okunev has been kinetic and visceral, perfectly befitting the action and horror of a medieval zombie outbreak, while Tieri has managed to inject a lot of humour into the characters and a real sense of camaraderie among the knights, even in the face of multiple betrayals. I’m definitely going to be looking forward to the second series, and highly recommend the first to any who’ve not tried this.

| Published by AfterShock

Royal City #9 has one of the best silent panels I’ve seen from Jeff Lemire, who has always been very good at conveying a lot in silent panels.

| Published by Image

Runaways #5 gives us the secret of the cats, as Molly and Gert speculate on what’s going on with Molly’s grandmother. Kris Anka again nails some of the tiny details, like Molly’s alpaca stuffie and Old Lace eating out of a giant bowl alongside the cats.

| Published by Marvel

Secret Warriors #12 is the end to a series that I was surprised, but thankful, wasn’t just a mini-series timed to coincide with the Secret Empire event. It’s been a team of Inhumans (and later Magik) who had no real business being a team in the first place, and the series has been funny, heartfelt, and rather offbeat. Such that it’s perfect that this issue is probably the closest they’ve come to being a real team as they fight over a Marvel-themed version of Risk. And neglect Magik, who was really only there for the cake.

| Published by Marvel

Sleepless #2 grabbed me a little more than the first issue. The art from Leila Del Duca has been great throughout both issues, but in this issue Sarah Vaughn gives us a little bit more meat on the characters, the intrigue, and fleshing out some of the culture is very interesting.

| Published by Image

Slots #4 showcases something that Dan Panosian has been great at building in this series, aside from the usual phenomenal art, and that’s character. This issue features the continued budding relationship between Mercy and Lucy, but while it’s doing that, it’s also building up more of Stan’s flawed but somewhat noble half-assed altruism and also further reinforcing that Les is an utter scumbag. Great work.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #26 is the beginning of a concurrent, intermittent side story, set in the “far flung” future with Peter and Wade stuck together in the same retirement home, similar to how Deadpool 2099 ran in the main Deadpool book. Robbie Thompson is still providing a nice humorous story playing up the continued animosity between the two characters, but what really stands out is the artwork from Scott Hepburn and Ian Herring.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Darth Vader #10 is the battle between Darth Vader and Jocasta Nu that you were hoping for, but I’m not sure it’s entirely what you’d expect. The action delivered by Giuseppe Camuncoli art is entertaining and Charles Soule throws a couple twists in the tale.

| Published by Marvel

Sword of Ages #2 reminds me of the best of Walt Simonson and P. Craig Russell. Gabriel Rodríguez is doing something magical here with this mix of science fiction and fantasy, this issue making some of the parallels to Arthurian legend more explicit, even while branching out further into making this unique.

| Published by IDW

Taarna #1 was some unexpected Alex de Campi.

| Published by Heavy Metal

Witchblade #2 has me convinced that this series should be getting a lot more press than it is. This is a very mature reimagining of the series from Caitlin Kittredge, building slowly the characters and world of Alex Underwood’s life, as it feels like a taught mystery mixed with police procedural more than the offbeat horror-tinged superheroics of the original Witchblade. It’s very good.

Also, the artwork from Roberta Ingranata, with colours by Bryan Valenza, is wonderful. Ingranata’s page construction, panel composition, and establishing shots are just incredibly captivating, they go a long way into setting the tone and pacing for the story. 

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Other Highlights: Accell #7, Alters #9, Archie #27, The Archies #4, Black Panther: Long Live the Panther #3, Cable #153, The Damned #7, Daredevil #597, Eternal Empire #6, Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella #4, Mech Cadet Yu #5, The Mighty Crusaders #2, Ms. Marvel #26, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe #1, Old Man Logan #33, Phoenix Resurrection #3, Port of Earth #3, The Punisher #220, Rose #7, Saucer State #6, She-Hulk #161, Star Wars: Forces of Destiny - Rey, TMNT #78, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #28, The Unbelievable Gwenpool #24, Venom #160, X-Men Blue #19, X-Men Gold Annual #1

Recommended Collections: Cowboy Ninja Viking Deluxe Edition, Curse Words - Volume 2: Explosiontown, Descender - Volume 5: Rise of the Robots, Doctor Strange - Volume 5: Secret Empire, Harbinger Renegade - Volume 2: Massacre, Hellboy & The BPRD: 1954, Mech Cadet Yu - Volume 1, Postal - Volume 6, Satellite Falling, She-Hulk - Volume 2: Let them Eat Cake, The Vision Deluxe Hardcover, The Wicked & The Divine - Volume 6, The X-Files - Volume 4

d. emerson eddy would very much like a chariot pulled by cats.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1189

Monday, November 20, 2017

 Ottawa ComicCon put on a special edition Holiday con this past weekend so I went to check it out because it was FREE admission. Still had to pay $8 to park at the EY Centre though. The main reason I went was to pick up the book D&D&D (D)ungeons & (D)ragons & (D)oodles The Tabletop Fantasy Art of Tom Fowler since Tom was there. Much to my surprise Craig Taillefer was sitting next to him on one side and Ronn Sutton was on the other. I spent a happy half hour geeking out and swapping stories with them. After Tom signed my copy and generously drew a sketch inside I walked around the venue checking out the booths. It's been years since I've attended a con and I was impressed by some of the set-ups. Still, the comic vendors looked like the ones that sold stuff 30 years ago. Same tables of long boxes and makeshift walls for the wall books. I saw a lot of old Snail customers that I haven't seen in years. Some I recognized and some that I didn't. They all knew me though. The reaction of some folks was "what is he doing here?" looks that made me grin. I ended my sojourn hanging out with my Jee-Riz partner Chris as he helped at a friends booth. I can't say that I'll go to another con but I'm glad I went to this one.

 Action Comics #991 - Dan Jurgens (writer & breakdown art) Viktor Bogdanovic (pencils) Viktor Bogdanovic, Trevor Scott & Scott Hanna (inks) Mike Spicer (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). "The Oz Effect" concludes with the question of whether Mr. Oz was Jor-El or not left unanswered. Throw in a mysterious super powerful villain and it's more than enough to keep me reading. I liked Viktor's slimmer Superman. He looks more natural than the muscle bound version that Nick Bradshaw & Brad Anderson drew for the cover.

 Runaways #3 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). It's time to catch up with Karolina Dean as Gert tries to get the team back together again. Karolina used to be one hot mess but she's a lot better now thanks to therapy.  I am really looking forward to next issue when the gang goes to find Molly, my favourite Runaway.

 Wildstorm: Michael Cray #2 - Bryan Hill (writer) N. Steven Harris (pencils) Dexter Vines (inks) Dearbhla Kelly (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Michael's first assignment is to kill Oliver Queen. Yep, that Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow guy. His next assignment is to target another well known name. These characters are bad guys in the Wildstorm universe and I think that's cool.

 Spider-Man Deadpool #23 - Robbie Thompson (writer) Chris Bachalo (pencils) Tim Townsend, Al Vey & Richard Friend (inks) Chris Bachalo (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Spider-Man tries to arrest Deadpool and mindless mayhem ensues. So a typical issue of Spider-Man Deadpool. But wait, what's with this lovely art that looks like the old Doctor Strange comic book? Why yes, it's Chris Bachalo. I am so happy and will be ogling the rest of "Arms Race" with glee.

 Star Wars #38 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). "The Ashes of Jedha" starts here. We've got Luke, Leia and Han trying to contact fighters against the Empire on the planet Jedha. That's where the Empire wants to strip mine the planet's Kyber crystals. The partisans appear to not want to play nice though. We'll see how the gang gets out of this fine mess.

 Not Brand Echh #14 - It was difficult finding every issue of the 13 issue run of the original series on the spinner racks back in the late sixties but I bought and read every one that I could. This title made fun of my favourite Marvel comic books back then and this latest issue doesn't spare the House of (sometimes bad) Ideas. It got a couple of genuine chuckles out of me so that's about $2.50 Canadian per chuckle. Here are the comedy sketches and their creative teams. Secret Empire Abridged: Nick Spencer (writer) Scott Koblish (art) Nick Filardi (colours). Better Than Canon: Katie Cook (writer& art). Gwenpool Absorbs the Marvel Universe: Christopher Hastings (writer) Gurihiru (art). Marvel Behind the Scenes: Nick Kocher (writer) Brian Churilla (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours). Love Can Be Nuts: Ryan North (writer) Erica Henderson (art). The Not Next Issue Page: Chip Zdarsky (writer & art). Forbush Man Returns parts 1 to 4: Jay Fosgitt (writer & art). The whole issue was lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles (letters).

 Batman #35 - Tom King (writer) Joelle Jones (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). "Rules of Engagement" concludes with a terrific sword fight between Catwoman/Selina and Talia, Batman's ex. The verbal repartee was great and just as great was the one between Damian and Dick. My question is "where the heck did Holly come from?". I hope that this family adventure theme continues because I really like having Selina, Damian, Dick and Alfred around.

 Maestros #2 - Steve Skroce (writer & art) Dave Stewart (colours) Fonografiks (letters). This is a beautifully illustrated Game of Thrones and Wands with wizard warriors plotting against each other. There's a rekindled romance and a shocking twist that makes reading the next issue a must.

 Champions #14 - Mark Waid (writer) Humberto Ramos (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Worlds Collide part 4. He's no Blue Fairy but the High Evolutionary pulls a Pinocchio on Viv Vision and all seems lost. The heroes fight through but there's still a ways to go to prevent total destruction. We'll find out what happens when Avengers #674 hits the racks on December 6.

 Aquaman #30 - Dan Abnett (writer) Stjepan Sejic (art & colours) Steve Wands (letters). Atlantis Uprising. The revolution starts here. Orin joins the rebel forces and King Rath becomes more unhinged. Meanwhile, Mera is in deep water. I am enjoying this book again. You should give it a try.

 Mech Cadet Yu #4 - Greg Pak (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Triona Farrell (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). It's all-out action as the four cadets and their robos fight against giant alien crabs and orders from their superiors. The General is not pleased. Let's see what happens to keep them in their mechs and not get kicked out of the program.

 Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #2 - Declan Shalvey (writer) Mike Henderson (art) Lee Loughridge (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This issue tells us why the two heroes are teaming up. Makes sense. I like these straightforward good guys versus bad guy stories with witty repartee that don't tax the brain pan too much.

 Superman #35 - Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Travis Moore, Stephen Segovia & Art Thibert (art) Danei Ribeiro (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Hey, I thought Lex's armour was mostly green. The battle for the throne of Apokalips continues with Lois and Jon's lives still hanging in the balance. I still think that Lex will save the day in the end.

 American Gods #9 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art & colours) Rick Parker (letters). This is like reading the novel again but better. The art enhances the story so much.

 Defenders #7 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor & Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is the funniest comic book on the racks for the week. Yes even funnier than Not Brand Echh #14. Brian has a great sense of humour. I'm wondering now if all the great artists that he works with are also going to work for DC. That would be ideal for me because he really clicks with David Marquez and Sara Pichelli. The five page fight scene between Elektra and Iron Fist is the best I've ever seen. Just as good as watching Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.

 Wonder Woman Conan #3 - Gail Simone (writer) Aaron Lopresti (pencils) Matt Ryan (inks) Wendy Broome (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Some sorcery is added to the swords this issue.

 Mighty Thor #701 - Jason Aaron (writer) James Harren (art) Dave Stewart (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I must have missed Mangog's origin story back when Jack Kirby first drew him but Jason recaps it very well here. Mangog isn't the only long unseen character to pop up. The Odinson's best buddy reappears too. This issue is one awesome battle. The visuals are so striking I could feel each punch. What a great fill-in by James Harren.

 Super Sons #10 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Jose Luis (art) Scott Hanna (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). I like the contrast between Jon's youthful enthusiasm and Damian's grim cynicism. The three year age gap feels like decades but each one is subtly influencing the other. This issue sets it up so that the two lads will be spending even more time together learning how to be heroes. This is one of my favourite comic books on the racks right now.

 Amazing Spider-Man #791 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Rain Beredo (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I am enjoying this point in Peter Parker's life where things are going well for him. His relationship with Mockingbird is sweet and chaste. His new job is challenging. The super heroics aren't too over the top and he comes out a winner this issue. I know the good times won't last but I will feel good while it does. My fanboy crush on Bobbi Morse is even bigger now because of the way Stuart and Wade draw her. Sigh.

 Incredible Hulk #710 - Greg Pak (writer) Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Return to Planet Hulk part 2. Hulk has to survive a gauntlet to save lives and he smashes admirably. It looks like next issue swipes scenes from the Thor Ragnarok movie. I am looking forward to that guest appearance.

 Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #297 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Adam Kubert with Juan Frigeri (art) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Totally different Peter Parker. Totally different life from Amazing. The two titles aren't even trying for continuity and that's okay. I just want to read a good story and this one where Peter and Spider-Man are being pursued by the authorities is a good one. Throw in recent revelations involving Jonah Jameson and this fan is anxious to see what happens next. According to the next issue tease T'Challa will come calling.

 Star Wars: Darth Vader #8 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). We are witness to some Jedi rage this issue along with finding out what the stakes are for the good guys. Wondering what Vader is going to do keeps me coming back.

 Weapon X #11- Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers) Marc Borstel & Ibraim Roberson (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The Hunt for Weapon H concludes. Will Hulkverine be a good guy or a bad guy? The jury is still out on that. I like this team and am enjoying their adventures so far.

 Spider-Men II #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Elisabetta D'Amico (inking assistant) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Miles's search for his evil twin takes a terrible turn but he's got the Amazing Spider-Man helping out now. The two webslingers should be able to figure things out but you never know.

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