#johnny blaze vs danny ketch

[vertigoartgore]

2008's Ghost Rider Vol.6 #29 cover by cover artist Marko Djurdjevic.

[rokhal]

Vengeance vs Revenge

Revenge in Felipe Smith’s All-New Ghost Rider has the opposite thematic role as Vengeance in Howard Mackie’s Ghost Rider (1990).

Vengeance, as practiced by Danny Ketch and the Ghost, is a dreadful yet noble mission, like justice but more emotionally satisfying. Revenge, as practiced by Eli Morrow and Robbie Reyes, is petty and corrosive, leaving the readers with a queasy satisfaction at best and creating new problems.

Danny Ketch faces a choice between maintaining his human relationships and submitting himself to the Ghost’s violent yet righteous impulses: “INNOCENT BLOOD MUST BE AVENGED.” The Ghost’s actions are portrayed as heroic, at worst misguided. The Ghost himself desperately wants to save people, protect people, and constantly questions his own actions and the validity of his mission. It becomes difficult for the reader to argue against Danny’s tendency to give in to the Ghost and seek out circumstances that provoke his transformation, because the Ghost is a powerful protector, or at least he would be if he could reliably emerge before innocent people had already been hurt. But Danny is young, full of potential that he is failing to develop by spending so much of his time getting possessed, watching for opportunities to become possessed, and chasing after battles that only the Ghost can fight.

Danny‘s sacrifice becomes a tragic necessity to further the cause of Vengeance.

Robbie Reyes puts his most valued human relationship first and never stops; he lets himself unite with Eli Morrow to avenge his coworkers after a gang shooting, then to save Gabe from a chaotic shoot-out, then to punish his classmates who robbed Gabe, and then he stops transforming for months. The narrative never condemns Robbie for not Ghost Rider-ing, but only after he listens to Eli’s advice and robs a fellow street-racer.

Robbie eventually does begin to Ghost Ride routinely and punish the wicked, following Johnny Blaze’s advice to give his negative emotions a productive channel to prevent potentially-deadly outbursts against people he loves. Problem is, this doesn’t seem to help. Robbie still snaps and attacks Gabe out of frustration in Issue 12, acting and sounding like the Rider. Johnny Blaze has been around the block a few times, and Robbie is certainly star-struck, but he’s not exactly a beacon of wisdom in any other comic, so maybe we, and Robbie, should have taken his advice with a grain of salt.

Before, during, and after this period, Eli, the possessing spirit who fills the role of Noble Kale, pursues his own mission of revenge, using Robbie against his will and manipulating Gabe to kill a mobster who is Eli’s moral equal. Eli doesn’t even fool himself that he cares about the people Yegor Ivanov’s activities may hurt; he is simply angry that Ivanov betrayed him when he was alive. This is not Vengeance, righteous and impartial; this is revenge, petty and personal.

Robbie, also, engages in revenge. Guero and his friends from school steal Gabe’s wheelchair; Robbie and Eli put them in casts, in what had to be a completely one-sided curb-stomp battle. Later, as Robbie watches them hobble into class, he acts and talks like Eli -- as though Eli’s malice is rubbing off on him, or perhaps he is letting Eli drive so he can avoid feeling guilt over hurting them so badly.

This beat-down motivates Guero to join up with Dr. Zabo and become a serious threat to Hillrock Heights as a superpowered henchman and a half-way credible threat to the Ghost Rider. Despite never wanting to kill Guero, Robbie accidentally cripples him in their fight. Under his tough exterior, Robbie is naturally kind. He regrets what he did to Guero and he can never fix it.

Even when Robbie is pursuing actual known criminals who have actually hurt characters we know, as when he half-kills (kills?) Grumpy’s men who shot up Canelo’s, there is no assurance of righteousness and justice that we got whenever Noble Kale administered the Penance Stare. Robbie waited long enough to hear them gloat about about the shooting before he cut loose, but after that they were barely rational: half teenage boy having a rage-attack, half cat playing with a mouse. No Penance Stare to enlighten the wicked, just Grievous Bodily Harm that they could theoretically inflict on anyone.

The word “vengeance” enters the Ghost Rider lexicon from the rantings of Zarathos, the demon possessing Johnny Blaze. “You cannot escape the vengeance of the Ghost Rider!!!! >:D” etc. Here, it’s just a fancy spooky term for “I’m going to kick your ass so hard you’ll be tasting boot leather.” Ghost Rider (1990) introduces Vengeance the righteous mission, as in “Vengeance is mine, saith THE LORD,” which is likely one factor that led to Ghost Riders being re-classified as agents of Heaven rather than pawns of Mephisto. In All-New Ghost Rider, we go back to plain old regular-human revenge, as opposed to forgiveness, the alternative practice espoused by Robbie’s teacher Mr. Wakeford.

Revenge creates collateral damage, binds you to the people you believe have done you wrong, and makes you a worse person. Revenge is petty and disproportionate. Revenge is bad.

This admission is part of what gives All-New Ghost Rider such a good heart and such rewarding psychological realism.

[hexagonsgalore]

Johnny Blaze and the Orange Conundrum and miscellaneous other doodles including GOOD BOY KETCH (amazing parody of Danny Ketch by Spicyyyy)

Don’t ask why on the oranges. A late night doodle on @mrspicydad ‘s DP server

[glapplebloom]

This season I was the Head Researcher for 5 matches. Here are my top Favorites of them in terms of researching. (This does not reflect on my favorite DB Episodes, just the research assignments)

#5 - Deadpool

Deadpool is my least favorite research assignment of the Season, and maybe even the entire show. Early Deadpool was depressing and it took a while to get to the good stuff (in terms of writing) but luckily this was the third time so I just had to go over the series again just to see if we missed anything. And while there were a lot of theories, I was probably better off not reading Early Mask.

#4 - Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)

When I heard we were going to do Captain Marvel Vs Captain Marvel, I thought Marvel’s Marvel was going to be the first Captain Marvel. So I put him high on my list of wanting to research only to find out after the fact it was Carol Danvers Captain Marvel. I skipped her before, only skimming it for her fight with Android 18, but actually reading through it I don’t get why she’s so hated. She has struggles, she works hard, and she does inspire other people. Then I saw Endgame and finally get it: She’s John Cena. Basically shoved so much in your face because Marvel never established a Strong Female Superhero like DC did with Wonder Woman. So when put in the hands of certain people those same attributes I’ve seen reading most of her stuff is gone.

#3 - Avatar Aang

I joined the Avatar Fandom in Book 2. Specifically the episode where Toph teaches Aang how to Earthbend. I can even tell you the exact moment I became a fan: Katara tells Toph that Aang could learn with a gentle hand. Toph understands, and then cut to her being a drill Sargent to Aang. I lead the work to make Toph’s sprites made. I participated in the research for that match, so it makes sense to put me with the Avatar series. It also gave me the chance to watch the early episodes I didn’t see since I jumped in the middle of Book 2. And heh, I was amazed at how far Avatar came. But the series was still enjoyable to watch from beginning to end. And even the comics were fun to read through.

#2 - Green Lantern Hal Jordan

When I saw Hal Jordan was going to be in a DB, he was my #1 pick. Not because I was a big fan but because I was running a Green Lantern blog with only knowledge of the Animated Appearances. I figured, thinking Alien X got it in the bag, that this would help me expand GLAB more beyond those cartoons. Then I researched him and got my mind blown away. He is MUCH more powerful than people believe. The ring was capable of so much and a user was even able to survive the Crisis Event while most of the others were outside its effect. Even the Flashpoint reboot didn’t change much of the GL mythos. I was thinking this episode was going to be an eye opener for people to show just how powerful the two characters are. Sadly, someone lead many people to believe Ben would win which resulted in this match becoming more Disliked than Goku Vs Superman, both of them. They even believe Hal Jordan was being composited despite the fact he basically is the same character from when he first appeared to now. Luckily I haven’t received hate mail for it, which I can’t say for another who got flooded with it and he doesn’t even work for Death Battle. And while that is sad, its not the reason he’s #2.

#1 - Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze

I grew up reading Ghost Rider Comics (granted, it was the 90s Danny Ketch and not Johnny Blaze) and even collected them again later in life. Getting to read the story of Johnny Blaze from beginning to end was a treat. From the beginning where the deal with the devil was made, to finding out it was specifically Mephisto, to finding out he was really an angel all along, to even becoming the current ruler of Hell. Its also surprising to see how much of Danny’s Rider traits weren’t there in the past and were given to Johnny when he got the Rider powers back. I also got to read some fun crossovers like when Johnny was talking with Spiderman only to find out some demon was trying to steal GR’s Bike because he owed him way back then. I am frikkin glad to got to read the story of the Ghost Rider. I also found it relieving to finally see people see him as a literal Demon from Hell instead of a guy in a mask with special effects. And I still love that clip of the Penance Stare on Galactus. Makes me wonder if it would work in the comics.

And those are my top 5 favorite DB Research Assignments. Next week, Ranking the DB matches themselves from least to most favorite.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 30 September 2019

Quick Bits:

Absolute Carnage: The Immortal Hulk #1 is an absolute must if you’re reading The Immortal Hulk, even if you’re not following Absolute Carnage. Though it does deal with how Hulk is working with the rest of the gang in the event, here Al Ewing, Felipe Andrade, Chris O’Halloran, and Travis Lanham elaborate on how Bruce’s alters work, including an appearance from a much-missed old friend, and deals with some ongoing plot points like Betty’s change, Ross’ status, and Jones’ recuperation.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #80 starts the turn for the “City of Bane” arc as John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, and Tomeu Morey come aboard for the art duties, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham. I really like the stylization here, it fits the overall shift in direction and it’s just nice to see Romita and Janson back together.

| Published by DC Comics

Berserker Unbound #3 is another brilliant issue of this series from Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Steve Wands. This one gets to the heart of the existential crisis that the Mongrel King is having in a time that neither he understands or understands him. Though, there are some nice attempts at communication and some great character moments.

| Published by Dark Horse

Birthright #40 is pretty huge as it essentially rounds out the current Mastema arc. Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas, and Pat Brosseau make a pretty dramatic turn here, with some interesting ramifications.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Black Cat #5 delivers a fairly funny conclusion to this heist as Felicia and her crew have to overcome Blastaar. Jed MacKay, Travel Foreman, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado are consistently giving us an entertaining and compelling story here with an ongoing narrative broken into discrete, separate pieces that can ultimately be enjoyed on their own.

| Published by Marvel

Black Terror #1 features a rather unique take on the character, and on superheroics in general, from Max Bemis, Matt Gaudio, Brittany Pezzillo, and Taylor Esposito. This explores what happens when the Black Terror hangs up his boots, self-medicates for his problems, and begins to suffer withdrawal from the superhero business. It’s all rather...disturbing, but still entertaining.

| Published by Dynamite

Breaklands #2 starts building up the cast as Kasa falls in with a number of other people to help and rescue her brother. Though there are elements of familiar post-apocalypse narratives here, what Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern, and Rachel Deering are creating here feels incredibly fresh and different.

| Published by Justin Jordan

Canto #5 is fairly action-packed as Canto and crew bring the fight to the Furies. It’s a different change of pace here, but we still get some intriguing symbolism and advancement of the fable narrative in rather inventive ways. David M. Booher, Drew Zucker, Vittorio Astone, and Deron Bennett are driving us towards the end here and I feel like it’s going to be a big one.

| Published by IDW

Contagion #1 is probably going to get some comparisons to Marvel Zombies and DCeased, running through similar horror territories, but it doesn’t really matter. While the elements may familiar, it’s still an entertaining start to this series from Ed Brisson, Rogê Antônio, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Copra #1 begins a second volume of Michael Fiffe’s previously self-published series, dropping us into the middle of action, picking up where the last series left off. While it is at least initially a bit confusing, Fiffe does include plenty of information, including an issue-by-issue breakdown of the previous series, to get people up to speed. It’s basically ‘80s-inspired superheroics.

| Published by Image

Daredevil #12 is more magnificence. Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Nolan Woodard, and Clayton Cowles continue “Through Fear” as Matt has an...unfortunate confrontation with crooked cops beating up a Daredevil stand-in and Fisk has a meeting with the rich “elite”. I really quite like the parallels of both of them falling back on old/new tricks.

| Published by Marvel

Dark Ark: After the Flood #1 begins the very welcome next chapter in this story from Cullen Bunn, Juan Doe, and Dave Sharpe, picking up on what’s been going on after landfall. There’s also some really interesting revelations about Kahlee’s past.

| Published by AfterShock

DCeased #5 is the big penultimate issue, giving us hope as two sanctuaries are established. And then... Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte give us another chilling story here with some very heartbreaking moments.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #8 keeps the pressure on, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles continuing to hammer at your emotions as they explore the party even further. This one gives us a bit of a deeper look into our Grief Knight, Matt, and it’s amazing that the bleakness is almost oppressive.

| Published by Image

Doctor Strange #20 is kind of a bizarre end to this series as it transitions over to Doctor Strange, Surgeon Supreme later this year. As he searches out ways to implement his newly recovered dexterity, Strange teams-up with Kanna for what feels like one last adventure with her, against the nefarious Cyb(not equal)rdSmPhp (seriously, those symbols may “look” like Cyberdemon, but that’s not what it means) and his master. Great art from Javier Pina and Brian Reber.

| Published by Marvel

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #4 is another weird one as the team travels to Destiny Beach and Flex Mentallo runs into his old crew. Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, Nick Pitarra, Tamra Bonvillain, and Simon Bowland give us an interesting tale of magical muscle mystery here as they try to bring magic back to the beach.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #3 gets to the heart of what caused Rayonde to turn in the future and shows what changed between the party. It gets pretty dark as the “darkened wish” plays out. Gorgeous artwork from Tess Fowler and Jay Fotos.

| Published by IDW

Everything #2 keeps building the mystery of this story, layering on even more strange events and deaths that keep you guessing. Christopher Cantwell, INJ Culbard, and Steve Wands are crafting a weird horror story here that’s rather unique. There are elements here that feel like Twin Peaks and Fargo, mixed with Vertigo, Love & Rockets, Stray Bullets, and the works of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns, but at the same time something wholly its own.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Fantastic Four #15 introduces us to Unparalleled, the heroes of the planet Spyre, in this second part of “Point of Origin”. Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Bob Quinn, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna give us an interesting take on the Fantastic Four here as invading alien monsters, complete with monster dialogue, and it’s neat to see them from a different perspective.

| Published by Marvel

Forgotten Home #1 is a new digital Comixology Original from Erica Schultz, Marika Cresta, Matt Emmons, and Cardinal Rae. It’s a very nice mix of magic and police procedural, hinging on a vast missing persons case, and family drama.

| Published by Vices Press

Ghost Rider #1 is a spot on return for Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, picking up on the recent rumblings throughout the Marvel Universe (though exactly how it fits in with Robbie Reyes and Avengers is yet to be seen), and veering off into wildly interesting new directions. Ed Brisson, Aaron Kuder, Jason Keith, and Joe Caramagna deliver a first issue that should have old school (and oldish new school, I mean Ketch is a 30 year old character now) fans delighted. Even as Danny’s life is a bit of a mess right now.

| Published by Marvel

The Green Lantern #12 is the fairly impressive “season finale” to this series from Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski before we get a three-month break with Blackstars and then the start of season 2 next year. Some very big revelations here as we find out what all of the disparate parts of this story have been amounting to. It’s interesting as to how epic all of this feels.

| Published by DC Comics

Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey #1 puts a big goofy grin on my face. Aside from blips here and there and the Grendel vs. The Shadow mini-series featuring the original Grendel, Hunter Rose, it’s been almost two decades since we saw the ongoing adventures set in this universe, even longer a story written and illustrated by Matt Wagner (the last one part of canon, Past Prime, was a novel written by Greg Rucka with spot illustrations by Wagner). Like the recent third chapter to Mage, this is a very welcome return. Matt Wagner, Brennan Wagner, and Dave Lanphear take us in an entirely new direction as Grendel Prime is tasked to find humanity a new home.

| Published by Dark Horse

Immortal Hulk #24 closes out the confrontation with Fortean and looks like it’s setting up the next phase for this series (in a two-fold way, both in the immediate future and in the far-flung end of the universe). Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering, Roberto Poggi, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to work wonders on this series. This issue is horrifying. And perfect.

| Published by Marvel

Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #5 concludes this chapter from Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Peter Bergting, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins. There’s some very nice Lovecraftian fun here and an ending that sets to fully cap off the upheaval of this series’ status quo.

| Published by Dark Horse

Justice League #33 escalates the “Justice/Doom War” from Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Bruno Redondo, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. The various factions of the League are still fighting across time as Perpetua’s lock on power is looking even more certain. The tension throughout this story is incredible.

| Published DC Comics

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 concludes this trek through DC’s future history, stopping in to check on Booster Gold and OMAC, before getting to the main event with the Legion of Super-Heroes themselves. I really hope that the futures seeded here are followed up on. Gorgeous artwork throughout from Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, rare interior art from Jeff Dekal, leading to Ryan Sook’s Legion.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #4 continues to move at a fairly slow pace, but it’s allowing for some great character moments like Jon discussing going off to join the Legion and Vic and Renee trying to piece together continuity that doesn’t exist any more. The art from Mike Perkins and Paul Mounts is still worth picking up this series for alone.

| Published by DC Comics

Mountainhead #2 turns things up a notch as everything just gets stranger and a bit more extreme. That odd, not-quite-right atmosphere is perfectly captured by the artwork from Ryan Lee and Doug Garbark.

| Published by IDW

The Necromancer’s Map #2 concludes the bit with the Void Sickness, with some fairly interesting reveals, and throws in some tragic romance while it’s at it. I really quite like how this is pacing along, weaving through details and side bits, while developing Bethany’s larger quest. Beautiful art from Sam Beck and Ellie Wright.

| Published by Vault

No One Left to Fight #4 is stunning. Fico Ossio is delivering the most beautiful art in his career. I mean, just look at it. It’s freaking gorgeous. It also helps that the story from him, Aubrey Sitterson, and Taylor Esposito continues to be incredibly captivating. As we get more old friends and the set up of an old villain’s return.

| Published by Dark Horse

Promethee 13:13 #2 continues this excellent prequel series from Andy Diggle, Shawn Martinbrough, Dave Stewart, and Simon Bowland. The implementation of the conspiracy aspect of the invasion is wonderful to see as the seeds of what’s to come are brought to bear. Gorgeous artwork from Martinbrough and Stewart.

| Published by Delcourt / Soleil

Red Sonja #9 sees Sonja seek out other allies in her quest to defeat Dragan in the form of some rather nasty sorcerers. Mark Russell, Bob Q, Dearbhla Kelly, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou deliver another entertaining chapter here, full of magic and more deceit, that certainly makes things a little bleaker.

| Published by Dynamite

Ruby Falls #1 is a wonderful debut from Ann Nocenti, Flavia Biondi, Lee Loughridge, and Sal Cipriano. This first issue introduces us to Lana, her rather unique dysfunctional family, and the backdrop of the tiny former mining town of Ruby Falls. There’s a mix of fallible memories and a criminal past for the town wanting to be forgotten that is very compelling.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Savage Avengers #6 continues Conan’s trek as he and Frank Castle travel across the Savage Land and through ordinary Antarctica, as they try to bring Frank’s family back to America. Gerry Duggan, Kim Jacinto, Tamra Bonvillain, and Travis Lanham deliver a fairly interesting story here, transitional, but still an interesting look at the similarities between Conan and Frank.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #4 gives us hints of possibly what happened to Kadyn in order to make him the way that he is, while his father fights for his life on another hostile alien planet. I really quite like how Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher have been progressing this story, building up the characters, and letting explanations out slowly in what feels like a natural progression.

| Published by Image

Seven Days #1 kicks off this event series from Gail Simone, José Luís, Jonas Trinidade, Michelle Madsen, and Saida Temofonte in grand fashion, developing a new threat to the world behind the “event” that kicked off everyone’s powers and transformation. We get a nice team-up of luminaries Noble, Summit, and Accell before everything goes to hell.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #1 is a welcome return of this Halloween anthology series featuring chillers, thrillers, and horrors around the Star Wars Universe. There’s a framing story illustrated by Francesco Francavilla that sets up the theme and reintroduces a character from the first volume, and a central tale illustrated by Megan Levens and Charlie Kirchoff dealing with post Phantom Menace Maul. Both written and letter by Cavan Scott and AndWorld Design respectively. I quite like this format and these stories are highly entertaining.

| Published by IDW

Strange Skies over East Berlin #1 is a riveting beginning from Jeff Loveness, Lisandro Estherren, Patricio Delpeche, and Steve Wands. It starts off behind the Iron Curtain in the heart of Cold War era Germany, with all of the tension and distrust of Russian-controlled East Germany, and it’s ratcheted up higher as a strange light appears as something crashes behind the Wall. The atmosphere is made even more surreal by the almost impressionistic art from Estherren and Delpeche. A great start to this series.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Young Justice #9 continues the team’s confrontation with their evil Earth-3 counterparts, but also gives us a look at Teen Lantern’s origins. André Lima Araújo’s line art during these sequences is worth it alone, but overall I like how Brian Michael Bendis incorporates this into the overall narrative structure.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Batman/TMNT III #6, Bettie Page Halloween Special, Bizarre Adventures #1, Bury the Lede, Champions #10, Charlie’s Angels vs. Bionic Woman #4, The Dark, Dead Eyes #1, Deathstroke #48, Deep Breaths, The Dreaming #14, Future Foundation #3, gen:Lock #2, Harley Quinn #66, House of X #6, Manifest Destiny #34, Marvel Action: Black Panther #3, Nomen Omen #1, Old Man Quill #10, The Punisher #16, Runaways #25, She Said Destroy #5, Space Bandits #4, Spider-Verse #1, Star Pig #3, Star Wars #72, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #37, Superman: Up in the Sky #4, Sword Master #4, Thanos: The Infinity Ending, Transformers/Ghostbusters #5, Vengeance of Vampirella #1

Recommended Collections: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Volume 1, Giant Days - Volume 11, Immortal Hulk - Volume 1, The Last Space Race - Volume 1, Major X, Mind MGMT - Volume 3: Eraser & The Immortals, Morning in America, Pathfinder - Volume 3: City of Secrets, Stronghold - Volume 1: Primacy, Superman - Volume 1: The Unity Saga - Phantom Earth, The Wicked + The Divine - Volume 9

d. emerson eddy has been trapped by a cat. Please send pizza.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/no-politics-marvel-mcu/

No more politics for Marvel and MCU

More Marvelous Stories, Less Politics “Gone are the days of the man in a bandit mask stealing a ruby from a museum. Now it’s all just supervillains trying to destroy the Earth, superheroes fighting one another for vaguely defined reasons…” -- Van Wayne, Powerless What will you do if you have a roster of superheroes to fill two armies? You make them fight each other of course. It seems like it’s all they do nowadays, especially at Marvel comics. In Marvel comics, they had the first Civil War event which the Captain America: Civil War film was loosely based on, and now they have Civil War II, which was somewhat a cash grab at the Civil War film but with a different story. Then, there’s Secret Invasion where, while technically it was hero vs. hero, except the other side was a bunch of alien impostors. In DC, they have an alternate universe story called Injustice where one universe’s corrupt Justice League fights against the mainstream universe’s Justice League. They also had the great alternate universe story called Kingdom Come where the old DC heroes fight an amoral younger generation of so-called heroes. Usually, it’s all about politics and for the past decade, it’s about heroes fighting heroes or heroes fighting universal omnipotent menaces that are way out of their league. Now in comic sales, DC has recently beaten Marvel for the first time in years with its DC Rebirth program which has been churning out refreshing and interesting stories with more adventure and character development while Marvel’s characters have been mired or dragged into endless political battles that have been boring some of their readers. For the past years, Marvel has given its readers Civil War which put Captain America at odds with Iron Man and severely split the superhero community. They also came up with Avengers vs. X-Men or AvX which put the X-Men at odds with the Avengers because of the impending arrival of the Phoenix Force. Then we have Civil War II where this time, it’s Team Iron Man vs. Team Captain Marvel because of a precognitive Inhuman to be used in implementing a Minority Report-like law enforcement system. Speaking of Inhumans, Marvel also has IvX or Inhuman vs. X-Men. It’s hero versus hero story after hero versus hero story and about politics. Like I’ve often said, when people come together in a group, politics is there to break them up. Many fans also don’t like the direction Marvel has been going with regards to diversity, political correctness and social justice like putting Tony Stark’s Iron Man out of commission and replacing him with a young African-American female. Many fans also dislike the Thor mantle going to Jane Foster. Ms. Marvel is now an Inhuman Pakistani Muslim girl. Ghost Rider is now a Latino kid named Robbie Reyes from Los Angeles instead of a nomadic Caucasian Johnny Blaze or New Yorker Danny Ketch. There’s talk of a Spider-Man movie with Miles Morales in the title role. Marvel has also given Hulk’s powers to young Korean genius Amadeus Cho and is in the process of gender-bending angry Hulk by giving that aspect of the Hulk to formerly easy-going She-Hulk. Oh and they killed Bruce Banner in the comics, so the guy we know as the Hulk on TV and film is gone. The Hulk is now that kid in the Iron Spider costume in Disney’s Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. They might go with that angle soon since we’ve already seen the kid’s supposed mother on film in Avengers: Age of Ultron. We’re not being racist here, but many fans think that Marvel may be overdoing the hero replacement thing for the sake of social justice and diversity and changing well-established and loved heroes for the sake of change. The Marvel universe is already filled with interesting, diverse characters that can be highlighted and not shuffled into established roles such as Black Panther, the mutants Storm, Dust and Sunfire, Misty Knight, Shang-Chi, Coleen Wing and Luke Cage. Some think that Marvel’s efforts run counter to popularizing their comics from the success of the films. Anyone new to comics who jumps into the current issue of Avengers will not recognize the current team. A commenter on YouTube (or was that on Yahoo?) said that it was like going to a favorite restaurant that served steak and burgers and finding out the next day that everything on the menu is vegan. Elsewhere, for the past few years, the X-Men are busier with self-preservation than they are with saving the world. For years, the X-Men and mutants have played the metaphor for social/racial inequality but when the US reached a period wherein social and racial inequality somewhat reached an acceptable balance, that aspect of the X-Men stories no longer sold as much and the mutants ended up getting decimated from millions to a few hundred. The X-Men and many remaining mutants ended up walling themselves in their own state or island called Utopia rendering their fight for equality moot. Charles Xavier has become somewhat irrelevant, compared to a radicalized Cyclops with his current wife and former radical Emma Frost, shadowed by the now heroic Magneto. The Cyclops that we knew is now gone and replaced by his younger self from the past. It’s a bit out there even if you’re into comics. There’s also inter-industry politics involved with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Disney and Marvel Comics have gone out of their way to put the X-Men on the sidelines and completely cancel the Fantastic Four because Twentieth Century Fox wouldn’t give back the X-Men and FF franchises back to Marvel so decent films can be done for them. Therefore, Marvel can’t afford to promote those properties any further than they have to. In the late 80s and 90s, the X-Men were more popular than the Avengers and practically have their own universe. A universe wherein Fox hit the jackpot if they can get their movies right. But Marvel will not get trumped by DC in comics sales, and it seems that they’ve woken up from a long sleep. While their hero vs. hero stories were interesting such as Civil War I, Marvel Zombies (love it) and AvX, people miss their heroes doing heroic stuff. Marvel says no more as they announced that they’re temporarily putting a stop on politics in their comics and focus on hero vs. villain adventures and character building. There is one last hero versus hero story, and that’s Captain America’s Secret Empire. You know, that comics frame which took the world by surprise when he said “Hail Hydra” at the height of his film popularity after Captain America: Civil War. We explained that his backstory was re-written where his ideals were changed in the past yet he’s still heroic at heart. Because we are all heroes from a certain point of view. He so believed that Hydra’s ideals were right that he still qualified for the Super Soldier serum and that his mission was so high up that he had to fight against HYDRA and The Red Skull himself who now happens to be his boss. Sure, some Marvel’s heroes catch a bad guy or a couple of crooks in the first few pages, but it’s often a one-page side story, but there are plenty of heroes or characters in costume that aren’t seen doing that kind of thing. It’s been a while since any of the X-Men got out to catch a crook or save the day for the random person and maybe save the world without mentioning mutant rights. Batman has so far remained street level despite his billionaire status as he fights crime and stops the occasional mugging. Spider-Man does it too, but Marvel changed that as well. Now he’s more Tony Stark as he’s the head of his own company. By the way, Mary Jane is now Tony’s girlfriend, or at least when he wakes up from his coma after Civil War II. But again, Marvel will be toning down on politics for a while. One major event of that sort is their current Monsters Unleashed storyline where Marvel’s multitude of heroes get to save the world again from seemingly random giant monsters. Save the people, save the city, catch the bad guys and fight monsters. That’s what superheroes do. Not fight each other over politics like the Sokovia Accords, the Superhuman Registration Act or some guy who can tell the future. Many folks miss that.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News