Once the cornerstone of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four recently lost their monthly comic, reputedly to spite the upcoming Fox movie version of the characters. The individual heroes are already slated to appear throughout the Marvel Universe during (and seemingly after) the Secret Wars, leading us to the strange sight of Sue Richards as an Agent Of SHIELD, and Johnny working the grill at a Jack-In-The-Box. (One of those is made up, but both could make for an interesting arc of stories.) Of course, it could be much worse: When the Justice Society was forcibly retired in the 1990s,…
Browsing: Question Of The Day
Lately, my daughter, the legendary Widget, has decided that she really wants to be a mermaid if and when she grows up. It’s actually kind of adorable, as she’s saving her money up to buy a mermaid tail for swimming and has started wearing an adorable mermaid pendant that looks like a magical talisman. When I was her age, I remember pretending to be my favorite members of G.I. Joe or occasionally The Mad Scientist’s Club, so I can relate. (Also, I spent an entire work-day recently thinking how cool it would be to be a giant robot, but that’s…
Cards and games of chance are a fascinating subject, with every card player having scientific, pseudoscientific or flat-out superstitious secrets of their success. You have to figure that Han Solo has put in his time at a table, but the same might be said of Richard Grayson, while Ben Grimm’s prowess with a deck of cards is well-documented. Given the nature of the game, there are a number of strategies that could lead one to success, which leads us to today’s bluff-calling query… The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) thinks that Jim Kirk takes the risks, but Obi-Wan Kenobi might…
As wonderful as the TV adventures of Flash and Arrow and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are to watch, the real magic of comic books is the fact that no one ever ages or changes too much to reprise their role, allowing for Superman (created 1938) to team up with Kyle Rayner (created 1994) and fight Darkseid (created 1970.) This has led to some wonderful crossover moments, such as when ROM the Spaceknight teamed up with Alpha Flight, or that time that the Legion Of Super-Heroes joined forces with the crew of TOS Starship Enterrprise (a story which featured several characters…
Before Ben 10, there was Robby Reed, the boy who could change into 1,000 superheroes (even though we only saw something like 50 of them in action.) Some of his abilities (like those of Giant-Boy, The Cometeer or Hornet-Man) were very useful, others (like Pendulum, The Whoozit or Balloon Boy) not so much, but it should be noted that young Robby made great use of even the most bizarre superhero identities and abilities. A strong case can be made that the likes of Mighty Moppet and The Mole are no less heroic than Superman or Spider-Man, which leads to today’s…
All of the preview materials for ‘Batman V Superman’ have shown us that, while Batman doesn’t use guns, he’s a bit more lenient on the question of massive armored cannon-toting death-tanks. The new issue of Batman takes that one further, with the replacement Batman going all-out and donning an armored suit that allows him superhuman abilities, super-strength and what look like shoulder-mounted missile launchers. The story makes a good case for why our new Bat (*coughJimGordoncough*) would need a technological edge, but the effortless way in which the suit is introduced and utilized really begs the question of why Batman…
During our weekly scheduled podcasting session this week, there was a rare but enjoyable bout of short-attention span theatre, during which our four-way conversation somehow came to land on amusement parks and more specifically, roller coasters. Not surprisingly, Young Zach professed to be all about the thrill-ride, while the rest of us seemed to have varying degrees of excitement commensurate with our ages and general body mass. As a younger man, I didn’t mind a roller coaster ride (the Zambezi Zinger was a fave-rave), but these days, it would have to be one really comfortable ride. Like, if they retrofit…
With the news that the ‘Constantine’ TV show has officially been deemed dead by its producer, we may have the first cancellation of the post-Avengers small-screen superhero wave. (At least, the first one *I* can remember, but feel free to correct me if I missed one?) It’s something of a shame, in that the adaptation was relatively faithful to the founding father of Vertigo that it brought to life, and could easily have been even more so away from the boundaries and vagaries of network broadcasting. Still, as a long-term comics fan, cancellation is a common tale (remember, even the…
As a fan of Star Trek since it’s resurgence at the end of the 1970s (old as we are, even EIC Stephen and I were born after the show went off the air, albeit very shortly after), I’ve had many a conversation arguing the old metric of “Kirk Vs. Picard.” Things got even more complicated when we started to factor in the stone-cold awesome of Benjamin Sisko, the steely resolve of Kathryn Janeway and that one show where Sam Beckett leaped into the body of Jonathan Archer at the dawn of the Federation. (If you think I’m being facetious or…
This week, the halls of Stately Spoilers Manor have echoed with the tortured howls of Editor-In-Chief Stephen, gnashing his teeth and raging against the plans to remake ‘Big Trouble In Little China.’ (The preceding sentence is an exaggeration for dramatic effect, one of the keys to Quality Literature!) I feel Stephen’s pain, though, as reports keep saying that ‘The Black Hole’ is due for a big-budget rebooting, as yet unseen, and I was one of the suckers who thought that a live-action G.I. Joe film sounded like a good idea. Fortunately, a few of my other fave-raves are probably never…
Recently, while I was writing a check in front of my wife (which I’m aware marks me as an anachronism from the mid-1990s to begin with, especially in the new ‘swipe your card and run’ world), said beloved partner of twenty years took the time to cruelly mock the way I write my sevens. Because of the way I was taught to draw number one, I have a tendency to put a cross through the middle of the body of the 7 to keep it distinct. My lovely wife has deemed this to be “goofy”, regardless of my protestations of handwriting clarity…
Earlier this week, while preparing for one of our podcast recordings, I took a moment to put myself in the proper frame of mind by engaging in some Grand Theft Auto V on my PS3. (What? Mental preparation is key to success, Lao Tzu said so. Or Mister T… One of those.) After my automatic assault shotgun caused my own vehicle to blow up in my face with only three shots, I realized all I really needed was a Mario Kart Blue Shell. Thinking about it further, I’d have settled for one of those Portal guns, which leads us to…
Recently, while perusing my skabrillion cable movie channels, I bumped into a late-night showing of ‘Death Proof,’ and found myself noticing for the first time (thanks to the distraction of car-jousting, a massive chase and the always-entertaining Rosario Dawson) just how cute the character of Lee was. When I went to see who the actress was, I was surprised to find that I already had a crush on teh actress, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, from her turn as Ramona Flowers in ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.” I suppose, though, it’s good to have an internal consistency in what imaginary characters one…
With the casting of the new Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and rumors of an appearance in ‘Civil War’ forthcoming), things are looking up for the Web-head in ways they haven’t since Sam Raimi left the franchise. Certainly, as one of the biggest names in superherodom, Spider-Man is perfectly capable of headlining a movie that audiences will dig, but the sheer number of films recently has cleared a lot of bigger names from the list of villains: Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, Venom, Electro and more have all been on the big screen (remember he’s had FIVE movies since…