By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Rafa Sandoval (Pencils), Roger Bonet (Inks), and Edgar Delgado (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Now that the great Dark Reign shakeup has finally finished, it’ll be interesting to see what Christos N. Gage has in store for the Initiative.

The Story: Tigra, Gauntlet, and some of the New Warriors desperately try to escape one of Norman Osborn’s Initiative teams. When they do, Tigra has a plan to gain some measure of revenge of one person that has wronged her in the past. Meanwhile, Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. officially opens and Taskmaster and The Hood go to work, making sure things are in order. The Hood explains the current situation to some recruits, Taskmaster explains the Penance situation to Trauma, and Trauma tries to get…anything out of Penance.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Writer Christos N. Gage clearly has a lot to tackle in the first true Dark Reign Initiative book. It’s loaded with characters, slightly cluttered, and seems to jump all over the place at times. But you know what? Gage handles the challenge extremely well. The storytelling is fairly tight, the character work is effective (especially the stuff with Trauma and the final scene with Tigra), and Gage will constantly remind readers why they pick up a book like Avengers: The Initiative in the first place; to dive into the giant sandbox that is the Marvel Universe. While it’s still early, the Initiative and Dark Reign look to fit together quite well. I wonder if Gage will be able to make the most of it?

As for the visuals, Rafa Sandoval’s artwork gets the job done in the ways that matter. Characters look distinct, expressions are appropriate, and the action looks decent enough. Note that I said “decent enough,” because the action is probably the weak point of Avengers: The Initiative #26. It seems to lack any sort of comfortable flow and gets overwhelmed by all the characters taking part in the action. Also, what’s with Tigra having giant paws for hands? Is that supposed to be like that? I’m not too familiar with the character so if you know if Sandoval’s take on her is actually how it’s supposed to be, leave me a comment.

Conclusion: Not all that it could be, but certainly good enough, Avengers: The Initiative #26 is a worthy chapter of a series that keeps on moving forward at a nice pace.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Like the Asthma Monster the Tzin are bad guys who Captain America can fight to show kids how to live a healthier life…unlike the Asthma Monster, the Tzin have Peter David going for them, so that already shoots them up to all sorts of cool.

And yet, they haven’t made a mark on the Marvel Universe yet – what gives?

Background:

As stated, the Tzin were introduced in one of those free give-aways intended to teach kids right from wrong. In this case, that means Captain America Goes to War Against Drugs, the aptly named book co-sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

That’s right, the FBI produced a comic book about finding aliens hiding among us causing our nation’s ills. Mulder was right!

Ah-chem… anyway, the PAD-written story featured interesting alien conquerors who (despite the promising comic title) Captain America never actually battles!

The story:

In the story, unseen Tzin scouts observe Earth from their ship. While they hope to conquer humans for slave labor, they worry that even if the world’s military might and super-powered protectors can be defeated (not really a big concern for them, it seems), they might face a greater threat in the long run if human slaves eventually cause a destructive uprising or kill themselves off in a futile battle for freedom. It seems the latter problem affected the “Halvings of Origi III” who were obliterated after resisting an unsuccessful enslavement attempt. A fairly reasonable concern actually.

To test human suitability, they decided to test “four special individuals who have the potential to be major contributors to mankind.” As in, children who could be something important some day if they don’t screw themselves over with the transgressions of youth. If at least two of the four fail, Earth should be considered a prime candidate for attack.

What better way to test this than with free drugs?

Cap gets involved when Teen Brigade member Keith Wilson wrote him a letter expressing concern over promising teen athlete Mitch Baskin who has been acting funny.

It seems Mitch was getting performance enhancers from “Harry” and nearly kills another player with a bean ball when Cap arrives. Before our hero can save the day however, Mitch shows “Harry” what he thinks of his drugs, only to discover “Harry” has a secret of his own…

Cap doesn’t learn the truth here, but it’s clear the first of the four tests ended in Earth’s favor, what will happen next?

Abilities:

We know the Tzin have conquered and/or obliterated entire races before. We know they can observe Earth without being spotted by our best sky-watchers (remember, this includes Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four). We know they can make some tempting drugs.

That’s about it. We never even get to see their faces, just those freaky hands.

Why haven’t these characters shown up again?

Well they did, in another free not-quite-in-continuity book, Captain America: The Drug Wars. The book included a reprint of this story and the New Warriors going after more Tzin agents.

Other than that, these are just more characters left to comic book limbo because they debuted in a free book.

How could these characters be brought back?

Well, it’d be fun to hear a reference to, or even see the Tzin (maybe their known victims, the Halvings) in one of Marvel’s cosmic books, or Peter David could revisit them for a cameo or something.

Too bad he isn’t doing the Captain Marvel comic anymore, since space and PAD’s unique humor were a great combination, and would’ve been the perfect spot to see the Tzin.

By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Humberto Ramos (Art), and Edgar Delgado (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’ve been enjoying the transition that’s taken place as Avengers: The Initiative heads full force into Dark Reign. That said, I’m pretty glad that the latest issue of the series finally marks the end of the transition…it’ll be interesting to see how the series fares with a new status quo.

The Story: The Initiative program is reborn under Norman Osborn. The new bosses? They aren’t the same as the old ones! Avengers: The Initiative #25 is all about establishing the future, if there is a future, for many of the regular Initiative cast members.

What’s Good And What’s Not So Good: The latest issue of The Initiative, while a bit slow and wordy, packs more of an emotional punch than I had expected. And that’s because of the tricky situations the Initiative members find themselves in. Thanks to the strong handle that Christos N. Gage has on the various personalities that make up his large cast though, Avengers: The Initiative #25 reads very well for a comic that’s so heavy on text. Norman Osborn’s scenes (one of which could be seen as very controversial) are a particular highlight as the character’s chilling dialogue is written in a way that feels just right.

As for the artwork, Edgar Delgado’s muted color choices go a long way towards helping Humberto Ramos’ lively, animated style fit the story being told. Considering the tone of most of Gage’s script, Ramos’ work could have easily come across as completely inappropriate. Instead, the visuals in Avengers: The Initiative #25, while not perfect, work far better than you might think.

Conclusion: The creative team behind The Initiative handles a necessary transition in a natural, entertaining, and surprisingly emotional manner.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Humberto Ramos (Art), and Edgar Delgado (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Avengers: The Initiative is almost always a sure thing as far as quality is concerned. Nearly every issue feels like a trip to a giant Marvel sandbox filled with all sorts of different characters. While recent issues have not been all that new reader friendly, the series is strong enough that I have no problem saying that it’s well worth taking the time to catch up with things if you are at all interested in jumping on board.

The Story: Camp Hammond is under fire as controversy rages. With the cover-up of Michael Van Patrick’s death now out in the open and part of a major city in shambles, the Initiative’s future looks shaky. Meanwhile, the Shadow Initiative finds Hydra operating in Madripoor and soon learns that things are more serious than initially believed.

What’s Good: Avengers: The Initiative #23 scores big points for simultaneously dealing with both the past and the future in a successful manner. It ties up loose plot threads that have been lingering for quite some time, while dragging the Initiative fully into the Dark Reign period of the Marvel universe. Fans of the series, both new and old, should find something a lot to like.

Christos N. Gage’s writing is very good throughout the issue. He effectively captures the transition of the Initiative through some fantastic character work. As for the artwork, Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado do a very nice job capturing the tone of the time and the emotional ride the various cast members are going through.

What’s Not So Good: As a long time fan of the series, I couldn’t be much happier with issue 23. That said, the comic isn’t perfect. A few of the scenes suffer from awkward visuals and, in some ways, the Shadow Initiative storyline seems sort of shoehorned into the plot until the last few pages. It seems like it might have been better off in another issue because both storylines in the issue suffer from breaks in momentum as the focus shifts back and forth.

Conclusion: Avengers: The Initiative #23 is just an extremely solid comic book all around. I highly recommend it, especially if you have been a fan of the series for a while.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny

Los New Warriors son uno de los grupos de superhéroes más jóvenes, pero están sobradamente preparados para salvar el mundo.

I believe that I’ve been somewhat harsh when I’ve discussed Civil War in the past. That may seem unfair. I actually think the general concept of Civil War was interesting, but I believe the execution was flawed. One of the early concepts of our blog was to take concepts that had been done already, but done in a way we felt didn’t live up to the potential these concepts held, and try to find ways to fulfill that potential. That is what we shall now attempt with Civil War. First, let’s start with the basics.

I think that the basics of Civil War are very sound. The government of the United States in the Marvel Universe decides to revive the Superhero Registration Act, a concept that Marvel had discussed during Acts of Vengeance over a decade ago. The general theory behind the Superhero Registration Act makes a lot of sense. After all, in a world where masked vigilantes are so common, there are bound to be a large number of normal people who feel overwhelmed by them. I think this concept does make sense.

Beyond that concept, the idea of heroes being of two minds on the issue, with some supporting registration and some opposing registration, also makes sense. Obviously the heroes of the Marvel Universe aren’t all going to agree on an issue that is this important. Where the actual Civil War comics went wrong was in forcing their heroes to take an all or nothing stance, and especially in roping Captain America and Iron Man into the roles of leaders for the two sides. Marvel wanted a very straight forward fight between heroes, with two sides squaring off in a battle royale. Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple, and with an issue as complicated as the Registration Act, the only way to force your characters into the two neat sides that Marvel desired would be to force those characters to behave wildly different than their histories and established personalities would dictate. Marvel took that route, and while that route resulted in some Civil War comics that were decent, the series and tie-ins as a whole were rarely very good.

I think that one of the largest problems with the story of Civil War was the small role played by most of the villains in the Marvel Universe. Yes, they appeared here and there, but most of the story was focused on the heroes fighting each other, and the villains never really capitalized on the chaos to do some real damage. I suppose that, had the villains taken a more active role, it would have forced the heroes to stop beating on each other, which would have derailed the story that Marvel hoped to tell, but in the end, it made for an unsatisfying crossover.

I have some ideas on how I would have told the Civil War story, and I’ll get into specifics. However, before I do specifics, I thought I’d give a general outline, and we can see what Jason thinks.

During the Road to Civil War, we would have seen much of the same thing we saw in the Marvel Universe version, with Congress again discussing the Super Hero Registration Act. I believe that we would have had many of the Marvel Universe heroes testifying before Congress, as they did before. The Fantastic Four, already on record against it, would remain that way. Iron Man, I have always believed, would be against it, as he’s railed against the government many times in his title, and I find it hard to believe that he would suddenly decide that perhaps the government is a trustworthy entity that can be counted on to handle such sensitive data. Captain America, I think, might be for it. Cap is a trained soldier himself, and one who has always stressed the importance of training on his fellow Avengers. While I don’t think he would be rabidly in support of it, I think he might see the wisdom. Spider-Man would not unmask (which was always a stupid gimmick), although he might fall in line with Tony Stark. The lead-in issues are relatively low key, just setting the general mood of the nation.

When the miniseries begins, we start off much like the genuine version: with a giant catastrophe that could have been avoided, but was not. Whether or not we use the New Warriors is something we can discuss, although their role in the beginning of Civil War is something I can live with. But the catalyst that was provided in the first issue of Civil War is important. Now, we have the public point of view turning against superheroes. Considering that Marvel superheroes seem to barely avoid lynch mobs as it is, this is well within reason. We also see some of the attitudes of various superheroes changing with some heroes beginning to believe that perhaps training would be a good idea. Many of Marvel’s superheroes are confused and unsure of their next move.

The government makes things worse when, after the tragedy and under tremendous pressure from the public, they pass the Superhuman Registration Act. Now unregistered heroes are illegal. Those heroes with public identities, like the FF, register, whether they agree with the law or not. After all, it’s the law, and Reed Richards would argue that the only way to defeat it is to fight it from within. Other heroes also register, but for those like Spidey or Daredevil, who are trying to keep their identities secret, the decision is tougher. They could decide not to go into action in their costumed identities, but of course, it’s hard to ignore someone in danger, so they no doubt would suit up, where they would come under fire from policeman and federal agents. I’m sure SHIELD would also be ordered to stop any superhuman who wasn’t registered. The Civil War has begun, but right now, it’s more a tale of atmosphere and dread, without clearly drawn sides. Then, as the first issue ends, we see someone is getting organized; the villains.

We start the second issue with the villains beginning to understand that they are at a great advantage. Many of the heroes who keep the streets clean are in hiding, and while they may come out of hiding to stop the villains, doing so places the heroes at a great disadvantage, with law enforcement officials as interested in arresting them as they are in arresting the bad guys. Some of the top criminals like the Kingpin and the new Mandarin begin gathering allies and preparing massive crime waves. In the meantime, the few registered heroes are working around the clock trying to keep crime down, since they no longer have a lot of help and a few of the non registered heroes are caught and thrown in jail. Their identities are now publicly known, so they might as well register, but now their lives are thrown into turmoil, as those around them may be in danger.

We could add in various subplots (I have a few in mind), but this all leads to the last issue of Civil War, where the villains come out in force, attacking the registered heroes. The unregistered heroes see their friends fighting a losing battle, so they come to help. SHIELD and other law enforcement authorities see what is happening as well, so they intervene. This way, we can end the series with a battle royale, as the heroes fight the villains, with SHIELD and its allies taking down anyone who isn’t a registered hero (villains and unregistered heroes both).

Thoughts? It would be more difficult to write and wouldn’t contain quite as many “big moments”, but I do think it could be interesting and exciting and could still end with a big bang. However, I value your honest opinion and perhaps you have some ideas for the general direction which would work better. Once we have a general direction we agree on, we can go into the details.

I don’t think our version of Civil War would lack in “big moments,” I just think ours would make more sense…for example, NOT killing Black Goliath with a fake Thor that came out of nowhere and then had no purpose later in the miniseries either. I would like to think we might have a better grasp on who would fall on each side of the argument (y’know, actually backed up with some rationale instead of just which costumes looked cooler facing off against each other). We’d probably have a better explanation for the decision to use villains to hunt down heroes…that whole Prison 42 thing…Jack O’Lantern’s head exploding to reveal pumpkin inside…the semi-coherent reasoning behind the Atlantean sleeper cells…and dozens of other things.

I would also like to retcon that whole “Norman Osborn shoots an Atlantean ambassador” nonsense, considering this shadowy benefactor of his was never revealed (that I can remember). Plus, even in the face of what would probably amount to treason by trying to kill a foreign diplomat on US soil, Osborn is then handed the reins of the government’s defense system at the end of Secret Invasion. Say WHAT?!?

Oh, and there’s the small problem of Tony Stark hiring a dude to attack him disguised as Titanium Man in an effort to show the government why they should NOT pass the SHRA…and then suddenly changing his mind and becoming the staunchest supporter of the SHRA on the face of the planet.

I have to even disagree with John on the relevance of the Stamford incident. Is this supposed to carry more weight because it didn’t involve a skyscraper tumbling down in Manhattan? No one ever talks about all the people displaced, maimed or even killed by superhuman activity every day in New York City! I’d also like to know when it became customary to try to crucify the only survivor of a horrible nuclear blast as a child killer? When did Speedball ever do anything to anyone?

At the same time, I agree that there was a gigantic missed opportunity to show the villains’ upper hand in this debacle. There should have been ridiculous ramp-ups in crime levels, looting and general unease. I would’ve expected full-scale riots and hate crimes and all sorts of activities in the face of something this massive and controversial. Instead, we got some melodrama over a couple of spandex-clad grown men glaring at each other. And they couldn’t even kill a major character off during the whole thing. Civil War? Brother against brother? Hell, the only brother anyone was against was Bill Foster…and he got offed by perhaps the biggest Aryan power freak in the entire Marvel Universe (or at least a cybernetic clone of him). Symbolic much?

Iron Man would’ve been on the anti-government side, by all rational accounts. Sure, he has big defense contracts and his hands in pretty much every black ops program in existence, but that would just give him more clarity on how easily the government could screw something like this up. Plus, he’s all about himself. His entire career is built on doing things his way and being better than everyone else. He wouldn’t kowtow to this kind of authority. Cap, on the other hand, has a general goodwill towards the government, believing (naively at times) that they always have the people’s best interests in mind. He protects the flag and all that it stands for. Hell, he was created because of the Draft…I doubt he would see this as anything other than a newfangled version of that program. We’d have to examine the other major players to see who would fall on what side. Off the top of my head, I see the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and maybe Ms. Marvel as Pro-SHRA, mainly because of their public identities and/or ties to the military. Luke Cage, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Punisher and pretty much every mutant would be Anti-SHRA for obvious reasons. The villains would, for the most part, go underground and all but the boldest would stay there. Why? Well, it’s not very easy to be a bad guy when the government has your entire life on file. They wouldn’t want to risk being captured at all.

I like the idea of having a prologue to the event. Was there such a thing? I don’t remember any official preamble…though I guess a lot of this was being set up in various titles before the miniseries hit the stands. If it could be properly disseminated throughout a breadth of titles, then we could start the first issue of the Civil War series off with a big event. I’m curious to see where you think this will head. And I’m sure I’m forgetting some details that stuck out for me the first time I read the series. Have at it and we’ll see where it goes!

Ok, so we start with a prologue. I think that we need to do a few things in this timeframe (I’d say 6-8 months before Civil War starts). First of all, I’d love to start this ball rolling with the campaign for Senator, and eventual win, of Henry Peter Gyrich. The man has been a part of the Washington power scene for decades, so he must have a lot of favors to call in, and he’d be a perfect conservative Republican candidate for Senator somewhere. I think watching his Senate campaign happening in the background of a few books (the Avengers would certainly have an interest in this, the X-Men would probably follow it, and it would show up in Spider-Man’s book since all the news of the Marvel Universe is reported by the Daily Bugle) would be a great way to kick things off. One of the main facters of his campaign would be the SHRA, a law which Gyrich has supported in the past. By making the passage of this law one of the major issues in his platform, we not only get to see the heroes following his campaign, but everytime there is massive property damage or questionable behavior on the part of any hero, Gyrich will be there to take advantage of it for his campaign. This happens for a few months, and then Gyrich is elected.

Gyrich is acting out of what he truly believes are in the best interests of the United States, and certainly you can make a strong argument for why the SHRA is a good idea. However, Gyrich needs allies. I propose introducing another Senator who will offer Gyrich his full support. We can name this senator later, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a male or female. What’s important about this second senator is that he’s really a Skrull. Yes, this was done during the original Kree/Skrull War, when a politician was revealed to be a Skrull in disguise, but let’s be honest; it works well, it’s a smart move for the Skrulls (hey, they have one gimmick, and they’re going to use it to their best advantage) and it gives us another face behind the SHRA (I think one of the weaknesses of Civil War is that we never really knew anyone in the government who helped to pass this legislation. It simply happened, and it left the reader feeling very unconnected to the event). Now, our Skrull politician will NOT be revealed as a Skrull during Civil War. He’s just going to be introduced in various titles, as Gyrich’s main partner is pushing the passage of the SHRA. We’ll focus more on the character in Secret Invasion.

So, these two spearhead the push of the SHRA, which takes another 2-4 months in our time. Again, this should play out in the background of more and more books, and again, anytime a hero (or even villain) does something reckless or which results in property damage or loss of life, Gyrich and his allies will be there to use it to justify their campaign. We also see this playing a larger role in the various titles of the MU, as we see heroes begin to take a stand on the issue. I agree that Cap would support it, as would Ms. Marvel. I agree that Iron Man would oppose it. Now, the Fantastic Four have opposed it in the past, but I could see an issue of their title where Iron Man comes to them to ask them to continue to oppose it, and Cap comes to them to ask for their support. Both characters can make strong, convincing arguments, and the FF feels a little awkward and uncomfortable being placed in the unique position of having to offend one of the most well known and respected characters in the MU, no matter which side they choose. In the end, they decide to remain silent, explaining to both Cap and Iron Man they they didn’t want to upset either of them. Unfortunately, staying silent is really a win for Cap and Gyrich and Stark is not happy with this decision. The FF will have to grapple with this later in the miniseries, as they’re confronted with the fact that, had they acted, they might have prevented the passage of the SHRA.

The problem that those opposing the SHRA have is that most of them can’t testify against it, since most of them have secret identities. This is what made the FF’s testimony against the SHRA so invaluable during Acts of Vengeance, and makes their silence in this case so damning. Stark can testify against the act, since his identity is known, and he may try to convince others (like Spider-Man) to announce their identities so they can testify, but I doubt that many heroes would be willing to go to that extent. That leaves Stark and perhaps Luke Cage as the only heroes who can really take a stand against the Act, and it doesn’t look good for those who oppose it.

Meanwhile, the villains are paying attention. All the villains would know what is happening, but it would be particularly apparent to those like the Kingpin, who’s been shown to have contacts throughout different levels of government in the past (and may even be throwing his influence behind Gyrich, albeit surreptitiously). The villains can see that it’s likely the SHRA will pass, and if it does, it’s going to hamstring some of their biggest foes, like Spider-Man and Daredevil. Yes, the villains may be concerned about being caught, but I’m not sure if it’s going to be any worse for them to be caught now than it was before the passage; after all, when they got caught before the SHRA passed, they still had their identities discovered by the government who could dig up anything on their pasts that they wanted. I think this is when the Kingpin begins to gather his forces, waiting for what he knows is inevitable. Again, we’d see this in various titles, usually just a page or so an issue, as the Kingpin recruits his forces.

Now, I’ve typed a lot, just for the prologue, but I want to stop and get your reaction. Are we on the same page? I think this sets things up logically. It introduces our main supporters of the SHRA, giving it the face it lacked before (and for a bill like this to pass, it’s going to have to have some strong supporters). It begins to build some tension in the MU between various heroes, and we begin to see how things could possibly go. And, it also shows us that the villains are paying attention and are prepared to capitalize on current events. It makes the MU feel like a real live place. Agreed?

The big question now is, do we have a large event that is the catalyst Gyrich needs to push for final passage?

Now wait just a second. If I understand you correctly, you want Civil War to actually have a plot, right? That just blows…my…mind. Maybe it’s because it has been drummed into my head repeatedly for the last two or three years by the powers-that-be, but I always just assumed that things spontaneously happened within the Marvel U. No rhyme or reason, just consequences and fight scenes. It’s like a revelation from on high to have a buildup with rational pacing, and sub-stories, and behind-the-scenes characters, and actual thought processes. I’m stunned.

As you can tell from my heavy sarcasm, I felt that the reasoning behind Civil War was, for lack of a better word, nonexistent. Even though they tried to shoehorn in some pathos with the blowing up of a school and the whole fake Thor shooting a fake thunderbolt through Giant-Man (or whatever name he was going by at the time…and what was with him not being shrunken back down to normal size before being buried?), the series still lacked any real emotion. The heroes were like empty shells going through the paces. There was very little overreaction to the events or the legislation or the hero hunting. At least by adding a political slant to the background, you’ve planted that seed of “something is bound to come of this.” I believe, the word is “foreshadowing.” Maybe someone at Marvel could send Mark Millar a dictionary for Christmas.

It makes a lot of sense to start having some public pushback on these destructive incidents involving superheroes. We’ve talked about it before and I still can’t believe that any civilians in the Marvel Universe would ever leave their homes for fear of having a giant robot/spaceship/sentient plant/skyscraper/dimension-altering weapon dropped on their heads. Honestly, I can’t believe that a teeny, tiny nuclear explosion outside an elementary school in Connecticut would be the singular event to cause such an uproar. Things don’t just go from calm to natural disaster at the drop of a hat…you can see these things building and rising and coming from miles away. It would be refreshing to have something proactive happen in superhero comics instead of always being so defensive and reactionary.

Gyrich is a good figurehead…and someone who could play a large role in Marvel’s government for years to come. I know I mentioned him in passing during our Marvel Presidential Candidates post. The guy has both the experience and the inside knowledge of superhero activity. I could also see Valerie Cooper getting involved in some of the goings-on. The senior staff from Damage Control would probably be testifying before Congress too. And, of course, I think we’d hear from both Stark Industries (from the military-industrial corner) and Rand Corporation (from the infrastructure and charity angle). Foggy Nelson may even be asked to serve as counsel for someone, since he has a lot of experience defending superpowered individuals. I think that cast of political and legal characters would effectively cover the bases of Marvel’s titles from Avengers to X-Men to the rest of the Marvel U.

This sort of backstory may end up leading to less hero-versus-hero clashes and double-page spreads, but it could lead to a different set of conflicts altogether. Instead of just having Cap going toe-to-toe with Tony, we could inject the villains into the equation and make it a three-sided battle. Everyone wants their piece (or “peace” depending on which side you’re on). And it would make things that much more volatile with everyone having to not only watch their back, but their sides as well…who’s your friend, who’s your enemy?

I like your prologue. It has necessary meat. Where do you see it going from there?

Well, I never got your opinion as to whether or not an actual event was needed to kick things off in the first issue, and lead to the final passage of the SHRA, but I’m going to say that it’s necessary. So, as we enter the actual Civil War series, the first issue begins with a group of New Warriors trying to stop some bad guys. I’d prefer to ditch the reality TV concept. Certainly, no portrayal of Night Thrasher that I’ve ever read would have him agreeing to something like that (he’s in it for the justice, not the fame) and I think that made the Warriors seem too shallow, which is unfair to some of them who have a long history in the MU of being fine, upstanding heroes. Ok, that might be a little much, but honestly, these kids are doing their best and attempting to do the right thing. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides, if we get rid of the crass Reality Show spin, it actually makes this story all the more tragic. Instead of a bunch of shallow jerks blowing up themselves and some kids, we have good people who are trying to be heroes, and through a simple mistake, end up causing the death of so many.

Where are we? Ah yes, New Warriors fight bad guys, including Nitro, who blows up real good, killing a lot of kids, and some of the Warriors he was fighting. Nitro got some extra power from one of the Kingpin’s subordinates, since the Kingpin thought that juicing up someone who’s power is already very destructive could likely lead to the sort of situation that would provide a groundswell of support for the SHRA. The public hears about the disaster, and thanks to a handheld video which was filmed by a tourist (or heck, someone could have filmed it on their phone), the public sees the Warriors fighting these guys and can see the mistake the kids make.

Now, this might not have been a big deal otherwise. However, Gyrich descends on the scene of the tragedy with his allies and inflates the story into a tale of selfish superheroes and innocent children. He gets the public riled up about it, and a month later, the SHRA passes (I think an incident like this could incite public sentiment, if someone helped push that sentiment, and also if the public was leaning towards frustration with heroes before the incident even occurred). It is now illegal for non-registered superhumans to act. Some heroes register; basically, those heroes with public identities, or those that work for the government anyway. Captain America, of course, and the Fantastic Four are the first to register. However, Cap makes it clear to Gyrich and the government that the heroes will NOT hunt down and capture each other. Gyrich isn’t happy about this, but he does remind Cap that, while Cap may not wish to seek out heroes, if an unregistered superhuman is spotted by Cap, Cap is duty bound to bring that hero in. Cap reluctantly agrees to this, and the other registered heroes do as well.

We also check in with the villains, and see the Kingpin and Mandarin readying their forces to take advantage of the plight of the heroes. Is there much to take advantage of? Oh yes, you better believe it. Cap and the Fantastic Four are still around and fighting the good fight, but the Avengers disband, since the team is torn in two. Cap supports the act, but Wolverine, Spider-Man and Iron Man all oppose it, and they leave the team. Since Stark funds the team, he also tells Cap that they won’t be able to meet anymore in his Tower. Cap pleads with them to come around and support the SHRA, but they refuse, and they start to lay low. That leaves few of the heroes around to battle villains, and the villains take advantage of it by starting a crime wave that plagues New York City. The heroes are stretched thin, and the Human Torch finds himself fighting a powerful trio of villains on his own: the Sandman, Titania and Absorbing Man. The rest of his colleagues are fighting elsewhere on the island of Manhattan, and the Torch is having problems defeating this terrible trio. It doesn’t look good for the Human Matchstick.

Peter Parker, however, hears about the raging battle either on the news, or at the Daily Bugle, or perhaps he simply is passing by. He can’t let his friend by killed by these dastardly villains, so he changes to Spider-Man to help out. The fight is a difficult one, and the Human Torch is eventually knocked unconscious, badly wounded during the melee. Spider-Man eventually ekes out a win, but he’s tired and wounded himself. Just then, the police and SHIELD arrive. The Torch is rushed to the hospital, while the villains are all placed under arrest…as is Spider-Man. When he’s taken to the prison, he’s unmasked, and the news teams at the site are quick to make sure that the entire world knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man! End of issue one.

Now, why did I duplicate two of the big events from the early stages of Civil War? I basically did it to show that the big events Marvel had planned for this miniseries were fine and could be used, but they could be used in a way that fit the plot, rather than simply being thrown into the mix without thought as to whether or not they made sense for the character. By duplicating the events but not the circumstances surrounding the events, we could take the repercussions in many new directions. Over the next few issues of the limited series, we see Spider-Man faced with a dilemma; his secret identity is known, but he’s stuck in prison, so who’s protecting his wife and aunt? Spidey feels he has no real choice if he wants to protect those he loves the most, so he breaks out of jail to find the ladies in his life and get them to safety. His jailbreak in issue two would be the big event of that issue, made even more dramatic when he finds he can’t escape without the help of the Sandman, who’s also been sent to prison. The two reluctant allies escape, and once they’re free, Spidey lets Sandman go, vowing to find him and bring him down as soon as he’s made sure his wife and aunt are safe. (This is another layer of guilt for Peter, especially if the Sandman is part of any dastardly plots before Peter can get to him; Peter is always at his best when he’s swimming in guilt.)

Peter won’t find his aunt and wife in the second issue however. He makes his way back to the house where they’d been staying after leaving Avengers Tower, and he sees May and MJ in an upstairs window. As he rushes to the house, anxious to hold them (but not at the same time…ewwww!) the house explodes! Peter is distraught, and sure that his loved ones are dead, giving him a major mad on for anyone who supports the SHRA. Typically, Parker’s life is not going to be getting any easier, as Gyrich is using Spidey’s presence at the Torch debacle as the reason one of the FF is now in a coma at the hospital. The FF don’t quite believe that, but some of the public does, and these people really hate Spidey now. Peter doesn’t care though, and in issue three, he goes after one of the SHRA boosters (possibly Cap) blaming them for May’s and MJ’s death. Cap doesn’t want to fight Spidey and he tries to talk, but as anyone who’s read an angry Spidey comic knows, sometimes he doesn’t really listen. However, after a large public brawl (which Gyrich again spins to make Spidey look bad, contributing to the ugly public mood regarding him), Iron Man swoops in, and captures Spidey, taking him away from the battlefield.

Spider-Man still has his dander up, and is incredibly angry, but Stark calms him down by explaining that May and MJ are alive. After Stark saw Peter’s identity revealed on TV, he immediately went and got his aunt and wife, taking them back to his current hideout. He left holographic projections of them at their old house, so that anyone aiming to hurt the ladies might go through with their plans, and then assuming the ladies were dead, they would move on to other things. Spidey has a tearful reunion with two people he thought dead forever, but now he has to deal with his actions against Cap.

Meanwhile, just to pick up on the Torch thread, we see that the Torch’s injury is really causing the FF some grief. Reed is trying to argue that Spidey’s interference in the battle is what got the Torch wounded in the first place (since that’s the story Gyrich is spinning), but neither Sue or the Thing really believe it, and it’s obvious that Reed’s heart isn’t in it either. At the same token, Reed still believes the FF need to toe the line regarding this law, and that outright rebellion will only make things worse, inflaming public opinion and convincing Americans that superheroes are indeed out of control, proving Gyrich’s point. Thing and Sue aren’t as convinced, and the first cracks in the FF are planted here, as the team begins to splinter, each of them wrestling with the correct course of action.

Whew! This is just a taste of what we could do in the first few issues; we still haven’t discussed what the final plan is of the Kingpin and Mandarin (you know they have one; in fact, I’m sure they each have a different one that they aren’t sharing with their “ally”), nor have we touched on a lot of the other heroes in the MU. Any thoughts on your end on either what I’ve suggested, or some things you’d like to do in the series?

I wish I could remember all the details as well as you have. For some reason (probably “event fatigue”) I keep getting my Civil War plot points confused with the relatively sparse plot points of Secret Invasion…which I’m sure we’ll cover next, right?

I find it fascinating that you were able to keep many of the original scenes by retrofitting them to our new (logical) direction. Makes me wonder what the writers actually do at one of those Marvel retreats. I mean, you made it all sound so easy in two brief explanations, and it flows from one pragmatic conclusion to the next. Do they just play Twister all weekend and then pick names and storylines out of a hat to mix and match?

Since I can’t seem to pin down any details on my own to exploit, let me play Devil’s Advocate for a moment instead. The whole fake Thor thing has been trashed now. Completely and utterly useless. Which is fine. However, the big fight scene where he made his debut has also been scraped since the heroes are not really fighting amongst themselves en masse. Will there be any sort of significant death that we can tally up? Is this a matter of some second-string villain getting the public dirt nap? Or a less important hero falling at the hands of the villains?

To the bigger point, with Cap and Tony on reversed sides in this thing, we’ve eliminated the relevance of Nick Fury helping out Cap. Where do Tony and his band of rebels hole up now? I think we also put the kibosh on the Thunderbolts involvement, which removes the tragically dumb move of putting Osborn in charge of anything. At the same time, with Tony on the anti-SHRA side, he would no longer be in line to take over SHIELD.

So, while I’m following the show on the ground, with the FF and Spidey and the press and the politics, I’m still left wondering what the big picture is for the heroes and villains and what the shake-up will be at the end. Is there a Negative Zone prison? Are the villains shipped off to concentration camps? Is the 50-state Initiative still valid? Have you thought that far ahead? Do my questions help at all? Hello? Hello?

I think your questions help quite a bit, and they also give me a chance to draw out a more general picture, so that I’m not just doing an issue by issue summary of how I see the series going. Let me try and take them one at a time.

Yes, no Thor clone, and certainly no pathetic death of Bill Foster. That was so lame. That being said, it wouldn’t be a summer crossover without at least one high profile death (if one can call Foster a high profile death; with all due respect to the late, lamented Giant-Man/Goliath, he wasn’t exactly a fan favorite). Now, we potentially killed some of the New Warriors in the beginning of the series, just as the official Civil War did. But I also believe we can have death during the miniseries as well. One of the things I haven’t mentioned detailed during these discussions is just what the villains are up to, and I’m not going to start now. However, I will say that the villains are very active. In fact, I’ve figured out a way to work the Thor clone into the storyline, so let’s continue using the events of the original mini-series, shall we?

By the middle of the mini-series, it’s becoming obvious that some of the citizens of the MU aren’t really very happy with the way things are going. The fights between the superheroes and the villains are causing a lot of property damage and most of the unregistered heroes are lying low, meaning that the superheroes that are registered are having a hard time keeping up with the constant villain attacks (we’re checking in with our rebels every issue; they’re being led by Stark and are mostly holed up in one of his safe houses). There are fights between heroes. Usually they occur when Stark’s forces learn of an impending villain attack, or when they learn of a villain-hero brawl that’s threatening to overwhelm the heroes. Then the rebels will go to assist the heroes or stop the villains. Unfortunately, being the MU, this doesn’t always work out so well. The registered heroes are under orders to arrest the unregistered ones, and by this time, they’re getting a little pissy with those who won’t register. After all, the sanctioned heroes are working their keisters off trying to keep order, they’ve seen one of the rebels batter Captain America (that would be Spider-Man, mentioned above) and some of the registered heroes can’t help but blame the rebels for the injuries and property damage the villains are causing. So, anytime the two sides get together, there will be a fight.

Into the midst of the registered heroes comes Bill Foster, whose career as a hero has always been somewhat rocky. He registers with the government hoping that perhaps, now that the hero playing field has been thinned, he can grab some attention. Don’t get me wrong; he’s not a total jerk just looking for headlines. Foster has always been a hero, and still is, but he’s also not above taking advantage of the situation while it’s front page news. Still, public sentiment seems to be moving away from registration, and this won’t do for the Kingpin or the Mandarin. They need more time for their endgame and that means they need to make sure that the Civil War continues. So, they decide to come up with a fiendish plan (as villains are wont to do). Knowing that Thor hasn’t been seen in awhile, but also knowing that he would surely object to mortals telling him what to do, they decide that perhaps he could be the perfect fall guy in their scheme.

Nightshade, working for the baddies, begins moving around the country, spending brief moments at some of the sites of Thor’s most recent battles before his death. At these sites, she searches for and collects any data on Thor, and with the help of someone like Sabretooth (someone with enhanced senses) collects any DNA samples that still exist, if any). She also, with help from some of the other operatives in the villain’s employ, breaks into Avengers Tower (and because the registered heroes are stretched so thin, this proves possible. They also catch a break when Jarvis, who should be able to activate the automatic defenses at the tower, but makes a few poor choices and is knocked unconscious instead. That’s a plot thread to follow up on in Secret Invasion.) and raids the computer files for information on Thor. With all of this information, she returns to her fully stocked lab and, with the help of other criminal scientists like Karl Malus, she creates a clone of Thor. Dr. Faustus helps to program the clone Thor’s mind, and makes sure to fill the Thor clone with a lot of anti-SHRA rhetoric. This clone isn’t perfect (or as powerful as Thor), but it doesn’t have to be. Now, the villains simply await their chance.

Within a few days, another villains attack draws out both registered heroes, with Bill Foster among them, and the rebels. Soon, the villains either are captured or escape, and it’s just the heroes fighting. The sanctioned heroes are tired, and this exacerbates the issues I mentioned above, and the two sides are soon fighting in earnest. The media, of course, records all of this, and Gyrich and his allies continue to use these fights as proof that the unregistered heroes are threats to the country. However, no one expects the scoop they are about to get. Suddenly the Thor clone flies into the fight, spouting the anti-SHRA rhetoric that Faustus programmed into him. Thor is violent and brutal, way over the top, but the cameras are picking all of this up, and he does look and sound like the public assumes Thor would, and he seems to have Thor’s powers. Before the Thor clone is there too long, he lashes out with his lightning, killing Bill Foster. Both the registered and unregistered heroes are stunned, and Stark quickly calls for a retreat (the clone Thor flees then as well, whipping up a storm to discourage pursuit, which helps to maintain the illusion of him being a rebel, but then goes another way once he’s out of view of the TV cameras). The rebels flee, but to the eyes of the world, and to the eyes of the registered heroes, the rebels have crossed the line. This inflames public opinion against them and also incites some of the registered heroes to be even more upset (while the Thor clone seemed off to them, and some may suspect the truth, again, these guys are tired and frustrated, so they’re not all thinking too deeply on the matter).

So, there’s that event covered. What else did you ask? No, Tony wouldn’t take over SHIELD, but Captain America now can. Of course, we want to assassinate him at the end of the crossover (because Brubaker is doing such neat things with that plot in Cap’s own book, and really, Bucky would look silly in the Iron Man armor), but for now, we could make him head of SHIELD throughout the crossover, and Fury could help Stark (it wouldn’t be the first time they were uneasy allies, and I think they make a much more interesting duo than Cap and Fury anyway).

At first glance, I’m saying no on the Negative Zone prison, which I always hated. Of course, with villains and heroes being captured by the government, they’re going to need a place to hold them, and if I’m not mistaken, all of the current government prisons for superpowered captives use Stark tech. So, the government turns to Reed Richards to create a place to put these superpowered people, where the superpowered people can’t escape and Stark can’t use his inside knowledge of security systems to cause a breakout. Now, Reed may be brilliant, but he’s already stretched thin, and he doesn’t have much time. He needs a place that’s impregnable, and he knows of somewhere like that: the Negative Zone. He’s not thrilled with that solution, but really, the captives are going to be stuck in the prison, and will never see the outside. What does it matter where the prison sits, either the Negative Zone or Butte Montana, to the prisoner sitting inside it. So, the Negative Zone prison is still around.

As for the 50 State Initiative, that ties in with the question of how we end our Civil War miniseries. Goodness knows, I thought the end to the original MU miniseries was one of the most stupid anticlimaxes I had ever remembered for a big event. I would like to think that we could wrap things up a little more tightly. The last issue would have the Kingpin and Mandarin’s plots coming to fruition, and a huge villain attack (with the Thor clone participating), which both registered and unregistered heroes involved. Once the villains are defeated, the heroes on both sides would go at it, with Cap and Iron Man fighting each other above it all. Cap would be talking to Iron Man, trying to convince him that he needs to surrender. After all, Cap could reason, the SHRA IS law, and if that is going to change, it’s going to need to change by fighting within the system. Stark’s way is only making things worse, and while he doesn’t blame Stark for Foster’s death, surely this rebellion made that death possible. Stark realizes that what Cap is saying makes sense, and he surrenders (I think it makes more sense that Cap could sway Stark with words, rather than Cap looking around a battlefield and going, “My bad.”).

That wraps up the series. Captain America is the one who suggests the 50 State Initiative, as a way of trying to convince the heroes who haven’t registered to do so. He holds a press conference to discuss this, and during the conference, he’s assassinated by someone yelling “Fascist!” That puts it just about where the MU was after Civil War, with the exception of Stark as head of SHIELD. You’d need someone else to fill that slot, and I think a lot of people could take his place and some great stories could come out of that. I’d think Ms. Marvel might make sense, or if you really want to tie this story into Secret Invasion, how about making Dr. Pym the head of SHIELD. That could be very interesting….

Thoughts?

First of all, “Reed may be brilliant, but he’s already stretched thin” is probably the funniest thing I’ve read all day. Secondly, and this one is not as funny, I’m disappointed in this turn of events. The reason I continue to point out the fake Thor in every reply is because I find the whole concept to be sooooo out of left field as to be nonsensical. And then killing off Goliath (just who is White Goliath, by the way?) just adds to the nonsense. Look, here’s a character that no one has seen (aside form a few appearances) for roughly two decades or more and then he shows up only to be killed off? Ignoring the fact that he had given up the heroing bit to become a serious scientist, it still smacks of over-convenience which itself is a sign of bad writing. I was sure you were going to just let these bits of the story fade away. Who would really come up with the ludicrous idea of cloning a God in the midst of a Civil War? Wow…now that I said it out loud, it is kind of a brilliant idea…but that’s part of the problem too! If you could’ve seen this coming and sat around and daydreamed about the far-reaching possibilities for months on end, then sure, you may have come up with this ludicrous plan. But to just pull it out of your back pocket and casually throw it on the table? Your allies would either laugh at you or have you committed. And don’t drag poor ol’ Bill Foster into your scheme! What did he ever do to anyone? And where’s the significance? He’s not the “go for the glory” type. He has never craved the spotlight or sought unnecessary recognition. That said, your explanation of the cloning quest was pretty spot-on. Kudos for that.

Honestly? I would much rather see a member of the Young Avengers sacrificed for the cause…the new female Hawkeye never did anything for me. She’s disposable. And just the simple fact that she’s so young and new would allow the loss to resonate even more and reinforce the pro-SHRA’s drive for training and discipline. Granted, you don’t have the literal deus ex machina of Thor appearing from out of nowhere (after months of absence), killing a hero, and then disappearing in a puff of smoke, but it could still be managed. You have an unnamed assailant assassinate Cap as he’s ascending to the helm of SHIELD. Why couldn’t this same villain pull the trigger on Hawkeye in the midst of all the hero versus hero chaos? There must be a shape-shifter or marksman somewhere amongst the villainous ranks that we could appropriate for the dastardly deed. If the villains have all been captured or chased away, and the method of attack was parallel to that of a well-known hero, then the media would have a field day with placing the blame on the rebel faction. And the rest of the story could play itself out as you’ve described.

Or, conversely, here’s our opportunity to make Punisher relevant again (since he’s spent the last decade or so becoming a horrible caricature of himself…a soulless, cliched leftover from the “grim-n-gritty” vigilante era of comics). Good ol’ Frank is such a devotee to Captain America and the quasi-military feel of the superhero crowd, that he maniacally follows the SHRA to the letter. He takes it upon himself to stomp out the menace of the rebel heroes and he doesn’t care who gets in his way. Since Spidey actually had the audacity to lay his hands upon Cap, Frank decides he needs to take him out. Only problem is, Spidey senses the danger and dodges the shot…as a result, Hawkeye takes one for the team. This could be the turning point in the media coverage. The so-called heroes have now killed one of their own (in theory) and both sides have growing doubts about the SHRA. Not sure what the fallout would be there, but it puts the onus on the other side to prove this can work. Gyrich, being a politician, can play both sides against each other. He’d claim that the SHRA would be good for everyone, sanctioned heroes included. And Punisher would be made the scapegoat (he could benefit from the depth).

I’m not sold on the Negative Zone prison either. It didn’t really seem to serve a purpose considering how easily folks broke out of it anyway. It may as well just be a part of the Fifty State Initiative…not just training, but rehabilitation. Perhaps the jail could be an extension of Camp Hammond (which would make Taskmaster’s involvement more reasonable…he could be training villains to be heroes as part of a community service sentence).

As for the SHIELD thing, Cap would be the obvious selection. His assassination is the true icing on the cake for the event (and I think it should take place during Civil War and not in his own title). The American people would finally feel at ease with a government official and begin to believe in better days ahead. And then POW! Looking ahead to upcoming events, we know that the Skrulls gain control of SHIELD during Secret Invasion. Since you’ve already brought up the issue in Gyrich’s run for political prominence, why not have the other senator who’s posing as a Skrull become the new head of SHIELD? The government seeks more oversight of the organization and more control, so they name one of their own to run it. Makes sense on paper.

And finally, does Tony Stark have safe houses? I know he has vacation homes and scads of real estate investments, but does he have “drop off the grid” accommodations? I just ask because it seems funny to imagine this billionaire playboy skulking about in abandoned sewer tunnels. There would be a much more interesting dynamic between Stark and Fury, making for an uneasy alliance in the face of so much upheaval. On the plus side, since most of Marvel’s America operates on Stark technology, it’s easy to imagine how the rebels could set up quick response teams to deal with the villains and such. They would have eyes and ears everywhere and access to almost every computer in the country.

So, to recap, I was completely on board with the beginnings of your revamp, but there are a few things here in the middle that I disagree with. Maybe I’m just being picky, but I think there’s a lot of potential to turn this mediocre miniseries into something more long-lasting and meaningful. Do you agree with any of the points I’ve made? Any ideas how we can implement the suggestions I offered?

I agree with ALL of the points you offer (and I’m even ok with the killing of the new Hawkeye, despite being a fan of her character and of the Young Avengers in general).  The ONLY reason I used the clone Thor, killed Goliath and brought in the Negative Zone prison was to point out that all of the big ideas from the published version of Civil War could still be used, and they could be worked into a plot more seamlessly than they were by Mark Millar.  However, with that point made (probably in much more detail than was required) we can go back to putting together a Civil War story that makes more sense and flows even better, and I think your suggestions do that.

Your comments about Tony Stark and safehouses makes sense; he probably wouldn’t necessarily have them, and certainly his partnership with Fury is a lot more interesting if the safehouses are something Fury brings to the table.  It sets up a much better dynamic between them, and puts the two of them on more equal footing, making for more interesting chemistry between them.

We could go on and on about our Civil War, but I think that we’ve detailed it pretty well, with my beginning and your middle and end.  In the long run, we end up almost where the Marvel Universe was at the end of their Civil War, with only Stark being in a drastically different place (but, I think in the end, a much more interesting one for that character.  It’s also a place that keep him a hero, rather than turning him into the fascist ass he became in the MU).  I suppose that Bill Foster’s in a different place as well, being alive rather than dead, but considering he was languishing in Limbo before he was brought back simply to die, there’s not a lot of difference.  We’ll just continue to allow him to languish in limbo.

So, considering the length of the post, I think our work here is done.  Perhaps we can go through this same process again in the future with Secret Invasion, another mini-series with a great premise that was never fulfilled.

They say that clothes make the man. I don’t know who “they” are, but they must have been crying in their Chardonnay when Marvel unveiled Night Thrasher for the first time.

The above picture really doesn’t do the defunct leader of the original New Warriors justice, but it’s almost like Marvel knew that and refused to actually ever show him in his full glory. Where’s the overcoat? Where’s the skateboard?

Yeah, that’s right. I said “skateboard.”

You can rest assured that any time a superhero uses a skateboard, it’s going to make them a memorable character…one way or another. And Night Thrasher certainly doesn’t disappoint in that realm. Nothing says XTREME!!! quite like a dude hitting another dude in the face with a gnarly deck (and then chugging a Mountain Dew while totally high-fiving any nearby object with limbs).

But that is neither here nor there. Sure, the skateboard is an integral part of making fun of this lousy costume, but it’s not the only failing point. Let’s start from the top:

Night Thrasher looks like one of those low-budget direct-to-video superheroes who assembled his costume by shopping at the local sporting goods store. I can imagine him going through a hastily scribbled checklist with his precocious neighbor kid sidekick…

NT: Paintball mask?

KID: Check.

NT: Knee and elbow pads?

KID: Check and check.

NT: This costume is gonna be rad and really strike fear into the hearts of those evil real estate guys hoping to close down the local rec center in order to put in a parking garage for their high priced condos.

KID: Right on, NT! We should have one of those rousing 80’s-style montages!

NT: Not now, precocious sidekick. Evil is afoot!

KID: Awww…

NT: Back to the list. Random pieces of dirtbiking “armor?”

KID: Check.

NT: Long black overcoat?

KID: They sell those at sporting goods stores?

NT: Nah. I already had one. Just thought it would look cool. It’s totally black.

KID: Okay.

NT: Skateboard?

KID: Huh?

NT: You don’t expect me to take the bus, do you? Plus, I can totally smash some faces with it. THWUMP!

KID: Right. I think I hear my mom calling me…

NT: Not so fast, true believer! We have one more important element to consider.

KID: What’s that?

NT: Sticks.

KID: Sticks?

NT: Oh yeah. I could make some wicked weapon out of sticks.

KID: …

Aaaand…scene. Seriously. What were they thinking?

There is absolutely no way that I can top what you just wrote. I should point out that, in all fairness, I found myself loving the character of Night Thrasher, as Fabian Nicieza wrote him in the original New Warriors comics. I actually count Nicieza’s New Warriors as one of my favorite comics from Marvel in the early 90’s and I thought he did an amazing job at making these characters interesting and making the book unique. However, that does not excuse this costume. Or the skateboard. Good Lord, the skateboard!

Of course, skateboarding was popular in the early 90s, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it would show up in a comic. But a popular fad does not a new hero make. Hackeysack was also popular, and I suppose we should all thank someone at Marvel Editorial for nixing the sure-to-be-classic, HackenSackster, who must have been discussed at the same meeting. We were spared one hero born of a then-current fad at the very least.

The skateboard of young Night Thrasher was perhaps never put to better use than when it was employed against the Punisher, as a weapon. I would love to have been Microchip at that time.

MICROCHIP: Man, Frank, you look like crap. What happened to you?

PUNISHER: Some kid hit me with his skateboard.

MICROCHIP: BWAH-HA-HA!!

PUNISHER: Shut up Micro.

I was really hoping to find some screen caps of Night Thrasher beaning the Punisher with his skateboard and using the skateboard as a shield against the Punisher’s bullets, but sadly, the internet is failing me today. Of course, the Punisher need not be as embarrassed as Terrax, a freakin’ Herald of Galactus, who also got slapped around by a young punk using a skateboard to escape the power cosmic. Truly, I think the skateboard should have caught on in the Marvel Universe. Iron Man used to have roller skates; he should have been trading them in for a skateboard!

The skateboard actually disappeared after a year or so, no doubt as people realized that it was not lending their new character much dignity. Sadly, that horrible helmet never left, and so our hero looks like he should be killing pretty co-eds at Camp Crystal Lake. Look, it’s not that a helmet isn’t a good idea for your costume when you’re going to be fighting the forces of evil. It’s a great idea. But dude, you’re a Bruce Wayne rip-off with tons of money; heck, even your skateboard was made of some super strong alloy and tricked out with blades and other gadgets. Why did you think it was ok to spend $8 on a hockey mask and consider your headgear good to go?

How many jokes do you think Night Thrasher had to endure for the knee pads? “Why do you need the knee pads Thrash? Got some special plans with Kid Nova after the fight?” “Oh, shut up Speedball.” Were the knee and elbow pads there to teach kids about safety? That seems a mixed message: “Yes kids, you can jump around on your skateboard, stabbing and punching people, and you can play with guns and grenades and fight really buff guys who carry Uzis….but for the love of God, WEAR YOUR KNEE AND ELBOW PADS!” Perhaps they were to be like Batman’s chest emblem; it’s brightly colored and it’s supposed to serve as a target for criminals to shoot at, so they’re hitting him where he’s most heavily armored. Perhaps Thrash thought that, since they were some of the only areas on his costume that weren’t black, they’d attract the bad guy’s fire. Or perhaps he thought he could Brer Thrash them into attacking there: “No sir, Mr. Terrax, please don’t hit me in the elbows or knees! I’d surely be defeated if you hit me there!”

Finally, I have one question: What the hell is the point of the bandanna on his leg? It’s on every single bloody version of his costume, and it makes so sense to me. At least I can say that, while the elbow and knee pads are ugly as sin, they do have a practical purpose, since they do provide protection, in case he falls off his skateboard in the middle of a fight with a Herald of Galactus (how embarrassing!). But what does the bandanna signify? Is it supposed to be a gang sign? Is he in a gang? The other New Warriors didn’t have to wear colors. Is it a symbol of some sort, like when you have handkerchiefs hanging out of your back pocket; certain colors denote certain things you enjoy? Was Thrash cruising people as he battled crime? Please, can someone explain the bandanna?!

Yeesh. Not a bad character; horrible costume.

Damn. I forgot the Chachi bandanna. It really did tie the outfit all together.

Ahora post-CW, Stark ha implementado La Iniciativa. Muchos heroes se registraron, muchos otros luchan por su desicion de no hacerlo. Entonces de las cenizas surgen de nuevo los New Warriors. El grupo no es el mismo, pues aunque se pensaba que habian muerto, Speedball se conviertio en Penance y… Night Trasher sigue vivo, bueno eso todavia no se sabe pero es una gran posibilidad. Aparte de él, el equipo se conforma en su mayoria de mutantes que perdieron sus poderes en el Dia-M.

New Warriors ( 6 – 14 )

So I somehow managed to go almost a month without picking anything up.  Here’s what was in my box:

Avengers: Initiative 15:  I love this title.  We get a solidifying of Crusader’s status (although he royally fucked up by driving 3D off…) and some Gauntlet action.  Please don’t cancel this book Marvel.  I think I forgot what happened to Rhodey though…need to go back and read a few issues.

New Avengers 43: Another Skrull over-brainwashed a la Captain Marvel, but this one doesn’t end so well.  Or perhaps he wasn’t over-brainwashed, just over-killed before his un-programming kicked in.  Either way it was an interesting read that occupied all of 4 minutes of “Marvel Time” in between SI 3 & 4 or 4 & 5 (forgot to check).

Mighty Avengers 16: How I Became a Skrull, by Electra.  Moderately interesting, not horrible or great.  Even badasses can be taken out by multiple shapeshifters…although frankly it probably shouldn’t have taken that many.

Thunderbolts 122: I totally forgot what happened last month…I think it was the end of that whole mental jailbreak thing and Ellis’ arc.  This one picks up where the Captain Marvel mini ends, and starts off a new writer’s run.   It’s off to a good start, I guess.  If you like this new, super-bitchy version of the T-Bolts.  Which I don’t.  But I’m a zombie I know…just hoping for them to somehow get Fabian or Buseik back on it someday and remove the suckometer from its ass.

Captain Britain & MI13 3: You knew Cap B was coming back…so this is just the obvious, but it’s still good reading.  I can’t figure out what the hell the new girl’s powers are…some kind of wonky tk?  The new costume doesn’t look nearly as cool as it should with all those flags flying around either.  Storywise, good read and worth your money.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3: I’m really enjoying this series and dying to know what the deal with Vance & Starhawk is. I love the Vance-Cap/Guardians-Avengers parallel they set up with the whole ice bit.  Awesomesauce.  I really wish it wouldn’t get dragged into the Skrull thing, but we’ll just see how that goes, maybe it won’t suck.

Secret Invasion 4: Good stuff.  I forgot to buy 3 though.  Doh.

New Warriors 14: The inevitable, arbirtary Nu Warriors vs. New Warriors brawl begins.  Still, the Skrull going ons do make for a nice backdrop & excuse.

Astonishing X-Men 25: Much better story than the last book I read involving Wolverine & Bianchi.

Cable 5: I guess this arc’s over.  I still don’t care.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the premise of the story, but the whole Bishop-as-a-badguy thing still comes off as stupid to me.  I mean, it’s sort of believable in the sense of his backstory, but still stupid in the sense that he never once mentioned this child/person before?  I’m guessing it’s because that was retroactively inserted into his history when history was changed by the prof not dying?  Whatever, don’t care.  Although it has been a while since a good “hero gone bad” story so MAYBE this whole thread has wings.

New eXiles 8:  Stuff happens here I guess. I’ve been bored with Exiles lately; the new characters just aren’t interesting enough, and that last issue (or the one before??) had ABOMINABLE art. fug fug fugly.  This one looks nice at least, and the expected Psylocke plot is chugging along.   I hope we get some actual info on Mystiq…he’s moderately interesting.  New Gambit?  With Sue’s force bubbles?…almost interesting but nah.

Uncanny X-Men 500: God I hate Greg Land’s “art”.  If I wanted my comics to look like goddam cheesecake-Maxim-softcoreporn-bullshit I’d buy something else.  Storywise it’s…well, it’s a hell of a throwback with Mags retconning himself again and hanging out with the High Evolutionary.  Which may actually make a lot of sense considering what’s happened but STILL…we get a revamped Hellfire Cult, “SIster”hood of Evil Mutants AND you bring in a High Evolutionary + Magneto team up in the same issue that you claim is all about “moving forward”?  OK…the last time the title actually tried to move forward was, believe it or not, Claremont’s relaunch after that whole stupid 1 year later thing.  Which could have actually been cool if they let him run with it….but whatever.  Anyway, it’s not a bad story at all, just not what they are claiming.  Yet.

Also, I really hope ArcAngel isn’t back to Angel already. So. Lame.

X-Factor 33 & She Hulk 31: The art in X-F is fucking horrible and makes the issue hard to like.  It mucks with everything.  I don’t think I can make an unbiased judegement.  Although I will say that Darwin is being written like a talky moron…which doesn’t seem like how I remember him from Brubaker’s writing.  Surprisingly I prefer the old version.

X-Force 5: Kinda silly…and evidently Angel’s changes are somehow undone by Uncanny 500 (I’m guessing that’s what his sidebar reference was to???), so I really don’t care – that was the only thing I was really looking forward to from this arc was Arcangel’s return.  Pun intended.  Sort of.

X-Men Legacy 214: Evidently this is getting another title change after the next arc? Hmmmm.  Still, a good story and another old X-villain gets a very modern update this month.  I’m curious about the Wolverine crossover…not going to make me buy Origins again though.  Curious how they’ll package that trade.  Trade’s don’t always play well with crossovers.

Young X-Men 4:  Something about Cypher in issue 5? Umm…ok?  But seriously, FINISH THIS SHIT ALREADY. This arc is tired and stupid.  So is the tattoo guy.  Dumb dumb and probably too powerful by far.  Imagine if he hung out with that chic that popped up in X-Treme who could make tattoos….

So I somehow managed to go almost a month without picking anything up.  Here’s what was in my box:

Avengers: Initiative 15:  I love this title.  We get a solidifying of Crusader’s status (although he royally fucked up by driving 3D off…) and some Gauntlet action.  Please don’t cancel this book Marvel.  I think I forgot what happened to Rhodey though…need to go back and read a few issues.

New Avengers 43: Another Skrull over-brainwashed a la Captain Marvel, but this one doesn’t end so well.  Or perhaps he wasn’t over-brainwashed, just over-killed before his un-programming kicked in.  Either way it was an interesting read that occupied all of 4 minutes of “Marvel Time” in between SI 3 & 4 or 4 & 5 (forgot to check).

Mighty Avengers 16: How I Became a Skrull, by Electra.  Moderately interesting, not horrible or great.  Even badasses can be taken out by multiple shapeshifters…although frankly it probably shouldn’t have taken that many.

Thunderbolts 122: I totally forgot what happened last month…I think it was the end of that whole mental jailbreak thing and Ellis’ arc.  This one picks up where the Captain Marvel mini ends, and starts off a new writer’s run.   It’s off to a good start, I guess.  If you like this new, super-bitchy version of the T-Bolts.  Which I don’t.  But I’m a zombie I know…just hoping for them to somehow get Fabian or Buseik back on it someday and remove the suckometer from its ass.

Captain Britain & MI13 3: You knew Cap B was coming back…so this is just the obvious, but it’s still good reading.  I can’t figure out what the hell the new girl’s powers are…some kind of wonky tk?  The new costume doesn’t look nearly as cool as it should with all those flags flying around either.  Storywise, good read and worth your money.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3: I’m really enjoying this series and dying to know what the deal with Vance & Starhawk is. I love the Vance-Cap/Guardians-Avengers parallel they set up with the whole ice bit.  Awesomesauce.  I really wish it wouldn’t get dragged into the Skrull thing, but we’ll just see how that goes, maybe it won’t suck.

Secret Invasion 4: Good stuff.  I forgot to buy 3 though.  Doh.

New Warriors 14: The inevitable, arbirtary Nu Warriors vs. New Warriors brawl begins.  Still, the Skrull going ons do make for a nice backdrop & excuse.

Astonishing X-Men 25: Much better story than the last book I read involving Wolverine & Bianchi.

Cable 5: I guess this arc’s over.  I still don’t care.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the premise of the story, but the whole Bishop-as-a-badguy thing still comes off as stupid to me.  I mean, it’s sort of believable in the sense of his backstory, but still stupid in the sense that he never once mentioned this child/person before?  I’m guessing it’s because that was retroactively inserted into his history when history was changed by the prof not dying?  Whatever, don’t care.  Although it has been a while since a good “hero gone bad” story so MAYBE this whole thread has wings.

New eXiles 8:  Stuff happens here I guess. I’ve been bored with Exiles lately; the new characters just aren’t interesting enough, and that last issue (or the one before??) had ABOMINABLE art. fug fug fugly.  This one looks nice at least, and the expected Psylocke plot is chugging along.   I hope we get some actual info on Mystiq…he’s moderately interesting.  New Gambit?  With Sue’s force bubbles?…almost interesting but nah.

Uncanny X-Men 500: God I hate Greg Land’s “art”.  If I wanted my comics to look like goddam cheesecake-Maxim-softcoreporn-bullshit I’d buy something else.  Storywise it’s…well, it’s a hell of a throwback with Mags retconning himself again and hanging out with the High Evolutionary.  Which may actually make a lot of sense considering what’s happened but STILL…we get a revamped Hellfire Cult, “SIster”hood of Evil Mutants AND you bring in a High Evolutionary + Magneto team up in the same issue that you claim is all about “moving forward”?  OK…the last time the title actually tried to move forward was, believe it or not, Claremont’s relaunch after that whole stupid 1 year later thing.  Which could have actually been cool if they let him run with it….but whatever.  Anyway, it’s not a bad story at all, just not what they are claiming.  Yet.

Also, I really hope ArcAngel isn’t back to Angel already. So. Lame.

X-Factor 33 & She Hulk 31: The art in X-F is fucking horrible and makes the issue hard to like.  It mucks with everything.  I don’t think I can make an unbiased judegement.  Although I will say that Darwin is being written like a talky moron…which doesn’t seem like how I remember him from Brubaker’s writing.  Surprisingly I prefer the old version.

X-Force 5: Kinda silly…and evidently Angel’s changes are somehow undone by Uncanny 500 (I’m guessing that’s what his sidebar reference was to???), so I really don’t care – that was the only thing I was really looking forward to from this arc was Arcangel’s return.  Pun intended.  Sort of.

X-Men Legacy 214: Evidently this is getting another title change after the next arc? Hmmmm.  Still, a good story and another old X-villain gets a very modern update this month.  I’m curious about the Wolverine crossover…not going to make me buy Origins again though.  Curious how they’ll package that trade.  Trade’s don’t always play well with crossovers.

Young X-Men 4:  Something about Cypher in issue 5? Umm…ok?  But seriously, FINISH THIS SHIT ALREADY. This arc is tired and stupid.  So is the tattoo guy.  Dumb dumb and probably too powerful by far.  Imagine if he hung out with that chic that popped up in X-Treme who could make tattoos….

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Il Bardo

Final Crisis 2 – I’m sure there’s a reason one of the evil gods is the spitting image of Al Sharpton.  I like the writing in what Morrison is doing here, but much of the rest of the DC world feels “off”.  I think maybe he’s not meant to write mainstream books…everything he does has such an obivous “not mainstream” feel to it.  If that means anything.  Storywise…it’s interesting.

Not nearly as good as Secret Invasion has been so far though…

New Avengers 42 – Great read here, filling us in on how Jessica got swapped and *gasp* what did the Skrulls have to do with House of M??  Were they just caught up in it like everyone else…we don’t know that yet.  I guess we’ll have to wait until 43.  I’m still confused by the Skrulls being able to access their normal personalities, I thought somewhere they had said all that was subsumed in the host identity.

Hulk 04 – Stupid, stupid and more stupid.  They’re doing the standard “build the bad guy up to be soooo bad that the good guy can’t possibly win.  Until he does.” routine that it hurts me just to read it.  And now next month R-ulk gets to beat down Thor?  Mmmmm kay.  Jeff/ph Loeb, I can’t stand your writing.  Please stop.  Maybe go to work for Stuff or Redbook or something yes?

Fantastic Four 558 – A little better and more interesting than previous issues – but do we really need another Hulk?

Trinity 04 – Meh.

X-Factor 32 – EEeeennnteresting.  So we’re finally out of mutant town and on to the next thing.  Which is…?  I’m actually rather annoyed that he brought Val Cooper back in in the way he did on that last page – this is probably the first thing that has pissed me off about his run.  But it’s nothing serious.  Can’t wait to see where this is headed.

Mighty Avengers 15 – Not quite as cool as as the new “New”, but still interesting.  Here we find out when Hank Pym got swapped, and some of what he/she was up to.  It looks like the original is dead, but I’m calling TINY odds on that being the case.  I’m sure everyone is stored nicely in glass tubes somewhere to be released in the penultimate issue.

New Warriors 13 – This is all over the place.  I have no idea why they went after Machinesmith “for real”…but at least it looks like it’s building to something, and I do so enjoy plot that actually builds.  Hope it’s worth the wait.

Teen Titans 60 – I’m really sad about the ending to this one.  And I HATE the way Kid Devil was drawn in this issue.  He looked like a gaunt old hippy.  Sort of like kid clockking whatever.  All in all though, TT has been decent lately.  I hope Ravager completes her little heroic loop journey and makes her way back…the pining/drama/etc. from Kid D is killing me.

Superman 677 – Bad guys calls out good guy.  I get it.  I think I’ve seen it before.

Young Avengers/Runaways – Secret Invasion – The art was horrible, but the story fairly interesting.  I’d like it at least 3 times more if it wasn’t stupid anime crap looking.  I guess part of the Whedon Runaways arc is spoiled, or did it end and I just missed it?

Young Avengers Presents 6 – This was a cute story.  I never see how the Hawkeyes of the world get by in super-adaptoid & Skrull armada world…but they do.

Marvel Universe, how we long for thee. How we pine at our windowsills, baying at the moon like lovesick hounds, tears of anticipation caressing our cheeks as we long – we long – for June 10th and your release. But just what will end up in our hands? What cardboard adventurers do you bring forth? In other words, who the smeg is on the Avengers roster?

• Avengers week showed us Captain America and Vision.
• SHIELD week showed us Iron Man

It’s been hinted that we’ll be seeing a bunch of new Avenger goodness; what sort of deckbuilding viability will we have for times when Captain America and Iron Man weren’t on the roster at all? What about the time when the active team consisted of Sub Mariner, Wasp, Black Knight, Captain Marvel, Dr. Druid, and She Hulk?

Now, I know, I know – we’ve seen these characters before, all bearing the Avengers affiliation… heck, we’ve even seen a dual-affiliated Quasar, who’ll no doubt reappear with the United Front in MUN (Yay!)… but will we see the boundless fury of prepubescence trapped in the body of a steroid-overloaded luchador?

Will we see Elvin Haliday? Will we see…

Okay, so let’s talk about Elvin for a bit. The poster child for the angry black youth of Brooklyn, Elvin berated his way into the Avengers by playing, you guessed it, the race card. Don’t blame me, this is just the start of the bad writing that has plagued his comic existence.

Inducted as a reservist along with the Sandman, Elvin served with the team for several missions, including taking on Dr Doom, before  the Avengers found out that he was only freakin’ 14 years old. Are you seriously trying to tell me the Avengers don’t even bother doing a background check? I mean, sure, Sandman had reformed, but at least he’s old enough to be legally accountable for his own actions.

If you ask me, the Avengers should have some serious child endangerment questions to answer. It’s not even like Elvin was brought onto the team as a plucky sidekick – he was tossed into the front lines! 

Now, once this came out Elvin was demoted to Trainee status, and eventually split with the Avengers to hook up with Night Thrasher and the New Warriors after furthering the stereotype by boosting a Quinjet. Sure, his intentions were noble, but I can’t say I’m terribly surprised that the writers added Grand Theft Auto to his resume.

Rage eventually went back to school, putting his adventuring days behind him to further his studies – such that he turned down Speedball’s invitation to the newly reformed New Warriors. He did help out the Avengers now and then, including during the Disassembled fracas.

During the Civil War he sided with Cap and those who didn’t agree with the SHRA, though was publicly visible with his old teammate Justice when She-Hulk helped them track down Hindsight Lad, who was publicly outing the secret identities of his former teammates in a misguided attempt to do the same thing Deathtroke was trying to pull off in the early issues of the current Teen Titans series (ooh, DC reference) – stop kids putting on costumes by getting them killed. You’d think a guy named Hindsight Lad would be smarter than that… in hindsight at least.

Finally, Rage shows up in the Initiative, turning up at Camp Hammond for training in the SHRA’s teams. I guess being an angry young man just doesn’t get you as far as it used to.

So all of this brings us back around to the question. Will we see Rage in MUN?

We’ve had a splash of New Warriors in MTU; The designers obviously had a chance to include him, they opted not to.

MUN has a Civil War focus. Rage played no real part in the main Civil War shenanigans, though admittedly he is part of the Initiative that happened in its aftermath.

We’ve heard that there’ll be a teen team in MEV (that’s Evolution, for all of you unwashed who haven’t started guessing what its three-letter code will be yet). It could be the New Mutants, it could be the Runaways, it could be the New Warriors. My money’s on the Runaways, but hey, you never know.

Chances of seeing Rage in MUN? I’m a’thinkin’ not so good. Hey, I could be wrong, but I’m just not feeling it.

By Dan Slott & Christos N. Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Daniele Rudoni (colors)

Dan Slott isn’t one of those writers who can do high levels of drama, tension, or controversy (at least from what I’ve read). He’s not Ed Brubaker or Grant Morrison. But what he lacks in those aforementioned areas he makes up in providing pure entertainment. When you buy a Dan Slott book you know you’ll be getting a whole lot of bang for your buck. The guy sees the Marvel Universe as his sandbox and he’ll not hesitate to use all the toys he can find. Issue #11 wraps up plot points that have been going on since the first issue. Indeed, if the series were to be canceled tomorrow I’d be content with the story we’d been given. Luckily for us, the show will go on!

In this issue, we finally get the showdown with KIA. The guy’s gone completely out of control, murdering a bunch of Initiative heroes, and really, who knows what he’ll do next. Teaming up with The New Warriors, the Avengers try to overpower KIA with brute force. The problem is, with the Tactigon (an omega class weapon), he’s virtually unstoppable.

Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage, and Stefano Caselli deliver pay off after pay off. I honestly thought I might find myself getting bored with just a “slugfest” of an issue, but the way the whole situation is approached makes the battle very engaging. Even characters that I normally hate like Rage and Slapstick step up to the plate and deliver some excellent performances. Stefano Caselli’s art brings this book to life, but with colorist Daniele Rudoni, the art almost feels like stills from an animated feature. This title may be the furthest thing from an Avengers book, but let me tell you, it ranks up there every month with the best of them. (Grade: A)

- J. Montes

X-Men Legacy 209

I like this series.

And I like Mike Carey, so I like the series even more.

I’m not a big Prof. X fan, so that means Carey is doing a decent job.

I don’t know where it’s going – it must have an ending point right? Having the Prof just ramble through history forever would be kind of pointless, so I assume the goal is to get him to some point, then use that as the series’ reason for being type deal.

It’s been mentioned that the series would “look at the past from a different angle”, or something to that effect, but so far I don’t really see that. I just see flashback effects informing us of the reasons for people’s statements in the present. Which is actually a pretty decent device, and I can’t believe it’s not used for often. To use it as a focal point for a series is actually kind of interesting – I mean, I’m sure it would get annoying if it was used to this degree in a series with an actual plot trying to get somewhere – but using it as the plot is in itself kind of interesting.

Maybe that’s what the quote means?

Mighty Avengers 11

Spider-Woman does some Mighty un-spiderlike things. Then again, her powers have never really had anything to do with spiders have they? Flight and energy blasts?? Ooookkkkaaaay. Anyway, I suspect it’s a red herring because otherwise it’s way too obvious of a Skrull-clue.

Widow was my original guess for a Skrull, but there is some doubt cast on that here, but that could just be red herring doubt!

Anyway, Bendis said they had a pretty non-standard Doom ending here, and I think that is the case. He gets his ass handed to him and arrested. Wow, that hasn’t happened in a while (ever?). So, I guess the ending is non-standard at least. I have to wonder about the bit with Morgana though – was that just a throwaway, or will she be back in the future?

New Avengers 39

I put two images up because the one on the left is the one that has been in all the solicitations, and then the one on the right is the one that hit the stores.

I like the one on the right much better, so this is a good thing.

I think it was pointed out a week or two ago on LiTG that the left one is some kind of direct swipe, so I’m thinking that’s why it was swapped. (Edit: Ahh yes, here is the swipe from LiTG here). Anyway, random trivia. Onward!

Here we have an obvious Secret Invasion/Infiltration crossover in the way of being shown (for the first time) a Skrull attempting to replacing someone. Of course, it doesn’t go quite as well as the Skrull would have wished, but nor do our heroes kick ass.

Rumors floating around the naughty net are that Luke Cage is a Skrull, and we’ll soon have the 70s, funktified Cage back. Man, I hope not. I would think that Bendis has put too much work into him to just throw it away like that. But he has balls, so who knows. Someone in the team has to be a Skrull though, so it’s probably Cage…. Can’t be Hawkeye – he was just dead and we saw his resurrection. Can’t be Echo – she broke the whole Skrull thing open on accident and just had a replacement attempt. Can’t be Wolverine – that’s been done before and he just stopped the aforementioned replacement attempt. Can’t be Iron Fist – that would invalidate his entire new, badass series. Can’t be Doctor Strange – how would he know about that weird ass shit to do during WWH? (Although I suppose that one could be pulled off). Can’t be Spider-Man – because then the internet really would crack open. So, Cage it is then (?).

New Warriors 10

Man, people have no patience for anything anymore. No wonder Claremont can’t get a break anymore (although fingers crossed for Exiles) – that guy needs room to run!

Anyway, so I see a bunch of bitching about how this series is too slow paced. This amuses me. The thing about the pace here is that it is very, very obviously purposeful so I’m quite willing to wait and see where it goes.

The main problem I’m having with the series so far is I can’t remember who’s who out of the super-d gallery heroes. Heh. I need to wiki & memorize their asses.

Anyway, I’m still pleased with the way things are rolling out, and looking forward to how it unfolds. Although, is it just me, or was this the first issue “Control” was mentioned. It gave me Maxwell Smart flashbacks. If it’s not just a general reference, it was a pretty bad choice for a name, but we’ll see.

This issue in particular I have another semi-gripe about – wasn’t Jubes the one sticking up for Thrash thus far? Then all of a sudden she flips and is the one against him? I’m probably just remember wrong because I have the memory of a worm these days. I’ll re-read the series whenever it gets to where it’s going with this first meta-arc – I’m thinking around issue 13.

The Order 9

I left the image really big because I’m going to miss this series.

It looks like everyone may die here. Of course, comics look that way all the time – but there really is no future for these characters with their powers expired and their series canceled, so he might as well just kill them.

Not that that is the outcome I’m looking for, I’m just kind of sad that yet another -good- series is getting canceled while Wolverine has 3 solo books now and Iron Man is getting a second title.

Sure, that Iron Man title is being written by this series’ writer (Matt Fraction), and he has said he’ll pick up some of the plot points from this book – but all that really looks like it means is that this series serves as an intro to his new arch-nemesis, not that any of the cool new heroes will be around.

You’d think for a company that has come out with so little both new and good in the last several years they’d want to give these guys a chance…but hey I guess the series was never conceived of that way anyway (since the powers only last a year) . So whatever. *pours some cheap whiskey on the ground*

X-Men Legacy 209

I like this series.

And I like Mike Carey, so I like the series even more.

I’m not a big Prof. X fan, so that means Carey is doing a decent job.

I don’t know where it’s going – it must have an ending point right? Having the Prof just ramble through history forever would be kind of pointless, so I assume the goal is to get him to some point, then use that as the series’ reason for being type deal.

It’s been mentioned that the series would “look at the past from a different angle”, or something to that effect, but so far I don’t really see that. I just see flashback effects informing us of the reasons for people’s statements in the present. Which is actually a pretty decent device, and I can’t believe it’s not used for often. To use it as a focal point for a series is actually kind of interesting – I mean, I’m sure it would get annoying if it was used to this degree in a series with an actual plot trying to get somewhere – but using it as the plot is in itself kind of interesting.

Maybe that’s what the quote means?

Mighty Avengers 11

Spider-Woman does some Mighty un-spiderlike things. Then again, her powers have never really had anything to do with spiders have they? Flight and energy blasts?? Ooookkkkaaaay. Anyway, I suspect it’s a red herring because otherwise it’s way too obvious of a Skrull-clue.

Widow was my original guess for a Skrull, but there is some doubt cast on that here, but that could just be red herring doubt!

Anyway, Bendis said they had a pretty non-standard Doom ending here, and I think that is the case. He gets his ass handed to him and arrested. Wow, that hasn’t happened in a while (ever?). So, I guess the ending is non-standard at least. I have to wonder about the bit with Morgana though – was that just a throwaway, or will she be back in the future?

New Avengers 39

I put two images up because the one on the left is the one that has been in all the solicitations, and then the one on the right is the one that hit the stores.

I like the one on the right much better, so this is a good thing.

I think it was pointed out a week or two ago on LiTG that the left one is some kind of direct swipe, so I’m thinking that’s why it was swapped. (Edit: Ahh yes, here is the swipe from LiTG here). Anyway, random trivia. Onward!

Here we have an obvious Secret Invasion/Infiltration crossover in the way of being shown (for the first time) a Skrull attempting to replacing someone. Of course, it doesn’t go quite as well as the Skrull would have wished, but nor do our heroes kick ass.

Rumors floating around the naughty net are that Luke Cage is a Skrull, and we’ll soon have the 70s, funktified Cage back. Man, I hope not. I would think that Bendis has put too much work into him to just throw it away like that. But he has balls, so who knows. Someone in the team has to be a Skrull though, so it’s probably Cage…. Can’t be Hawkeye – he was just dead and we saw his resurrection. Can’t be Echo – she broke the whole Skrull thing open on accident and just had a replacement attempt. Can’t be Wolverine – that’s been done before and he just stopped the aforementioned replacement attempt. Can’t be Iron Fist – that would invalidate his entire new, badass series. Can’t be Doctor Strange – how would he know about that weird ass shit to do during WWH? (Although I suppose that one could be pulled off). Can’t be Spider-Man – because then the internet really would crack open. So, Cage it is then (?).

New Warriors 10

Man, people have no patience for anything anymore. No wonder Claremont can’t get a break anymore (although fingers crossed for Exiles) – that guy needs room to run!

Anyway, so I see a bunch of bitching about how this series is too slow paced. This amuses me. The thing about the pace here is that it is very, very obviously purposeful so I’m quite willing to wait and see where it goes.

The main problem I’m having with the series so far is I can’t remember who’s who out of the super-d gallery heroes. Heh. I need to wiki & memorize their asses.

Anyway, I’m still pleased with the way things are rolling out, and looking forward to how it unfolds. Although, is it just me, or was this the first issue “Control” was mentioned. It gave me Maxwell Smart flashbacks. If it’s not just a general reference, it was a pretty bad choice for a name, but we’ll see.

This issue in particular I have another semi-gripe about – wasn’t Jubes the one sticking up for Thrash thus far? Then all of a sudden she flips and is the one against him? I’m probably just remember wrong because I have the memory of a worm these days. I’ll re-read the series whenever it gets to where it’s going with this first meta-arc – I’m thinking around issue 13.

The Order 9

I left the image really big because I’m going to miss this series.

It looks like everyone may die here. Of course, comics look that way all the time – but there really is no future for these characters with their powers expired and their series canceled, so he might as well just kill them.

Not that that is the outcome I’m looking for, I’m just kind of sad that yet another -good- series is getting canceled while Wolverine has 3 solo books now and Iron Man is getting a second title.

Sure, that Iron Man title is being written by this series’ writer (Matt Fraction), and he has said he’ll pick up some of the plot points from this book – but all that really looks like it means is that this series serves as an intro to his new arch-nemesis, not that any of the cool new heroes will be around.

You’d think for a company that has come out with so little both new and good in the last several years they’d want to give these guys a chance…but hey I guess the series was never conceived of that way anyway (since the powers only last a year) . So whatever. *pours some cheap whiskey on the ground*

Cable & Deadpool/Deadpool Team-Up 50

Great final issue. I’m going to miss this title, but I’ll miss Fabian (the writer) even more. His Marvel work (sorry, no knowledge of work outside Marvel) has been a joy for me to read over the last 10 years or so. His Thunderbolts run was excellent, and this title was right up there too. The little book that could – it made it 50 issues! To be canceled & replaced by 2 new series (wasn’t Marvel trying to trim its X-line BACK?). Deadpool by Daniel Way I think…if his DP in Origins in any indicator of that title will be like..S K I P. The stupid-funny sight gag DP has been done and done-er IMHO. I like Fabians DP-redemption-silliness+awesome supporting cast much more than what I’ve seen so far in the Origins arc. Speaking of:

I cancelled Wolverine: Origins from my pull list.

Too fucking slow. Is anything happening here? Anything related to his origin that is? So far it’s just another stupid Wolverine book with ONE tiny, annoying “origin related” clue thrown in per arc. It’s supposed to end (and have an ending, and actually answer questions!) around issue 60. So, if by then it has turned the suckage around (which it may), I’ll pick up the trades. In softcover.

X-Men Legacy 208

This should be interesting – a solo Professor X title, at least until he gets all healed up, or some junk. It is interesting so far, one issue in . It’s Exodus trying to put Chuck’s mind back together (where exactly is he storing the missing memories, in his own head??) via Romita Sr. drawn flashbacks. Off to a decent start, but not much to say. Well, the inclusion of Karima/Omega Sentinel is interesting – I’m guessing Mr. Carey wanted to bring at least one of his previous X-cast members along.

Speaking of Mike Carey, somehow I missed

Lucifer vol. 11: Evensong

WTF!?! I’ve had the entire run of trades since whenever volume 10 came out, and I never noticed/knew there was a volume 11. 10 had such a great ending, I just assumed it was the actual series ending – and I never once questioned that! That’s good writing.

I have yet to finish this volume, so I’ll probably come back to it later review-wise, but the rest of the series was home run after run, so I doubt this will be any less.

Mighty Avengers 9

This issue had the first missed note so far of the run for me. I really didn’t like the time-travel ending BUT I’ll give Bendis the benefit of the doubt. I’m fairly sure it well wrap up well, it just annoyed me that it ended the way it did for whatever reason.

The Iron Man v. Doom by way of armor stat progress reports was interesting.

Bendis mentioned in an interview somewhere that this arc has a “Doom ending no one has done before”. I have no idea what that might mean, but I am at least curious.

New Warriors 9

Not a whole lot happened here, but there was still a lot of drama in between those non-things happening.

That being said, I’m still enjoying the series. I see it getting a bit of negative commentary in the blogo-whatsit, people calling for it to be canceled over on Tom Brevort’s blog (link in my sidebar), stuff like that.

MAN. People have no patience these days. It’s obvious that the writer is building up a larger arc behind all the minis and one-offs, the least we can do is let that arc wrap up and see if we like how that falls out.

Still, even without that I’m enjoying this title, slow issues and all. What I’m not digging so much is the pencils. I’ll have to check, but it seems like they change every month. Oh, and have I already bitched about Angel looking totally different? Yeah, I have, so I’ll just say it again. There was no need to make her all streamlined and thin-sexy, she was fine the way she was. Butwhateva.

Thunderbolts: International Incident

Another of these strange one-offs that keep coming out. This one doesn’t do much to advance the series. It does continue to unwind the (at least it seems that way to me) the character work Fabian did with Swordsm..ok, pretty much with everyone.

But it is in line with what’s going on in the main book I guess, and it’s not a bad read – it might even have repercussions in the main series somehow. Although I don’t know how, since I’m pretty sure Ellis (??Ithink?? brain fart right now) has his whole run worked out already. Maybe all these one-offs are laying the ground work for whoever follows him?

Bring Fabes back, please. He’s one book short now that C&DP is canned..perrrrfeecttt timing…

The Order 1

Yeah, it’s old, but I was missing this issue from my run. I know, it’s canceled, but it’s a great little book-that-could. I understand that the new Iron Man series will pick up on the plot threads from this run, which makes sense, same writer, and the villain is an Iron Man villain anyway. I’m still not buying an Iron Man book though.

Cable & Deadpool/Deadpool Team-Up 50

Great final issue. I’m going to miss this title, but I’ll miss Fabian (the writer) even more. His Marvel work (sorry, no knowledge of work outside Marvel) has been a joy for me to read over the last 10 years or so. His Thunderbolts run was excellent, and this title was right up there too. The little book that could – it made it 50 issues! To be canceled & replaced by 2 new series (wasn’t Marvel trying to trim its X-line BACK?). Deadpool by Daniel Way I think…if his DP in Origins in any indicator of that title will be like..S K I P. The stupid-funny sight gag DP has been done and done-er IMHO. I like Fabians DP-redemption-silliness+awesome supporting cast much more than what I’ve seen so far in the Origins arc. Speaking of:

I cancelled Wolverine: Origins from my pull list.

Too fucking slow. Is anything happening here? Anything related to his origin that is? So far it’s just another stupid Wolverine book with ONE tiny, annoying “origin related” clue thrown in per arc. It’s supposed to end (and have an ending, and actually answer questions!) around issue 60. So, if by then it has turned the suckage around (which it may), I’ll pick up the trades. In softcover.

X-Men Legacy 208

This should be interesting – a solo Professor X title, at least until he gets all healed up, or some junk. It is interesting so far, one issue in . It’s Exodus trying to put Chuck’s mind back together (where exactly is he storing the missing memories, in his own head??) via Romita Sr. drawn flashbacks. Off to a decent start, but not much to say. Well, the inclusion of Karima/Omega Sentinel is interesting – I’m guessing Mr. Carey wanted to bring at least one of his previous X-cast members along.

Speaking of Mike Carey, somehow I missed

Lucifer vol. 11: Evensong

WTF!?! I’ve had the entire run of trades since whenever volume 10 came out, and I never noticed/knew there was a volume 11. 10 had such a great ending, I just assumed it was the actual series ending – and I never once questioned that! That’s good writing.

I have yet to finish this volume, so I’ll probably come back to it later review-wise, but the rest of the series was home run after run, so I doubt this will be any less.

Mighty Avengers 9

This issue had the first missed note so far of the run for me. I really didn’t like the time-travel ending BUT I’ll give Bendis the benefit of the doubt. I’m fairly sure it well wrap up well, it just annoyed me that it ended the way it did for whatever reason.

The Iron Man v. Doom by way of armor stat progress reports was interesting.

Bendis mentioned in an interview somewhere that this arc has a “Doom ending no one has done before”. I have no idea what that might mean, but I am at least curious.

New Warriors 9

Not a whole lot happened here, but there was still a lot of drama in between those non-things happening.

That being said, I’m still enjoying the series. I see it getting a bit of negative commentary in the blogo-whatsit, people calling for it to be canceled over on Tom Brevort’s blog (link in my sidebar), stuff like that.

MAN. People have no patience these days. It’s obvious that the writer is building up a larger arc behind all the minis and one-offs, the least we can do is let that arc wrap up and see if we like how that falls out.

Still, even without that I’m enjoying this title, slow issues and all. What I’m not digging so much is the pencils. I’ll have to check, but it seems like they change every month. Oh, and have I already bitched about Angel looking totally different? Yeah, I have, so I’ll just say it again. There was no need to make her all streamlined and thin-sexy, she was fine the way she was. Butwhateva.

Thunderbolts: International Incident

Another of these strange one-offs that keep coming out. This one doesn’t do much to advance the series. It does continue to unwind the (at least it seems that way to me) the character work Fabian did with Swordsm..ok, pretty much with everyone.

But it is in line with what’s going on in the main book I guess, and it’s not a bad read – it might even have repercussions in the main series somehow. Although I don’t know how, since I’m pretty sure Ellis (??Ithink?? brain fart right now) has his whole run worked out already. Maybe all these one-offs are laying the ground work for whoever follows him?

Bring Fabes back, please. He’s one book short now that C&DP is canned..perrrrfeecttt timing…

The Order 1

Yeah, it’s old, but I was missing this issue from my run. I know, it’s canceled, but it’s a great little book-that-could. I understand that the new Iron Man series will pick up on the plot threads from this run, which makes sense, same writer, and the villain is an Iron Man villain anyway. I’m still not buying an Iron Man book though.