Author: Matthew Peterson

Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

Or – “Looks Like This Is THE END!” So, three or so years ago, Infinite Crisis supposedly changed everything, and launched a number of new titles that would define the boundaries of the new DC Universe.  Shadowpact would show the magickal side (it was cancelled last month.)  Blue Beetle would show how a newcomer viewed the world of the superhumans (it was cancelled early this week.)  Justice League of America would re-examine the icons of the DCU (it has been pretty regularly awful until recent months, but has yet to be cancelled.)  And Checkmate would give us the adult perspective,…

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Or – “I Honestly Have NO Idea When These Books Came Out…”   Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends…  much like the harassment you get when you wear the pizza suit and dance on the corner in front of a Cici’s.  Even when you’re cutting back on comics purchases, like I have, the urge to review more comics than there is time to review them is strong.  Makes me with there were 8 days a week, actually.  Thus, we at Stately Spoilers Manor have created this handy, dandy method of touching upon things going on at Penny Lane,…

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Or – “In Which Projectra Makes A Fatal Error…” In his landmark third book of his (five-book-long) Hithchiker’s trilogy, the late Douglas Adams makes a reference to the seemingly absent social life of Arthur Dent, long the central character of the novels.  “What is he, man or mouse?  Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the wider issues of life?  Has he no spirit? Has he no passion?  Does he not, to put it in a nutshell, &@$!?”  Those who have wondered things like this about your superhero teens from the future, read on…   Others may wish to skip…

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Or – “Man, This Buildup To New Members Is Taking FOREVER…” The initial relaunch of Teen Titans a couple of years ago was a revelation, taking an old concept and making it interesting again.  It revitalized Bart “Used To Be Impulse, Now I’m Another Dead Flash” Allen and gave us a wonderful relationship between Kon-El and Cassie “Wonder Girl” Sandsmark, and even made Beast Boy relevant again (thought Judd Winick seems ready to bury that these days.)  Just a couple of years later, we’re down to four members, and things just aren’t making a lot of sense.  But, hey, at…

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Or – “The Legion’s Impulsive Heart…” And here we are, at the beginnings of the whole shebang.  The three kids who started it all, who leapt into action to save the life of a stranger because they had the ability to do so.  The founding members of the Legion represent an interesting triad, a study in contrasts.  The studious, internally focused blonde whose powers are completely covert in nature.  The charismatic, team-oriented dark-haired one, whose abilities represent the ability to shape, to change, to manipulate.  The quick-to-action red-haired one, whose powers channel the destructive forces of nature.  Imra as commanding…

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Or – “Although, It May Possibly Be #35, In Actuality…  We’re Not Sure.” For a couple of years now, even before the “Brand New Day” event gave us what is essentially rebooted 70’s Spider-Man, there has been a question in the Spider titles as to the identity of the red-haired young lady in the hip green and gold bell-bottoms.  There is at least one obvious suspect, of course, but that only illustrates the problem with a mystery of this type: either it’s somebody we know, or it’s somebody we don’t know.  If it’s somebody we know, readers will complain that…

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Or – “FINISH HIM!!” Seriously, wouldja just get it over with already?  I rave on and on about this every month, but not every story needs to be a six-issue arc to fill the inevitable trade paperback.  I’ve spoken with many people who figured that Iron Fist was done when the original revamping creative team left the book, but this new arc drew me in with an interesting hook on what Bru and Fraction set into motion.  But, has it overstayed it’s welcome?

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Or – “What You Always Expected The X-Mansion Was Really Like…” For some time now, Butcher and his band of Merrie Men have focused pretty much exclusively on The Seven, a Justice-League-esque group of superhumans who have proven themselves to be petty, vain, cruel, venal, and just flat-out awful, with feet of clay that reach all the way to their necks.  While they’re still on the radar, the group has now adjusted it’s focus, widening their perspective while adjusting their focus to marvelous detail, to show us what’s wrong with legendary (and gigantic) supergroup, The G-Men.  Care to place a wager on…

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Or – “Vixen And Her Amazing Friends!” So, an elder god has unthreaded the skeins of the reality you know, leaving you powerless, without friends, without hope, and the people you know are so completely changed that you aren’t even sure what they do or whose side their on?  Is that what’s getting ya down, Vixen?  And you have nothing but your wits and cunning (and maybe a couple dozen borrowed animal powers) to get you by?  What do you do when the League as you know it is forever gone?  You build a new League!

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Or – “An Old Friend With A New Maturity About Him…” When I was in college, my friend Bruce was the one really enamored of Mike Allred’s work, collecting Madman, Red Rocket 7, and pretty much anything that Mod Mike touched.  I was, and remain, entertained by those books, but I suspect that to Bruce they’re the equivalent of what 1970’s Ghost Rider, The Liberty Project, and Marvel Premiere featuring the 3-D Man are to me.  They’re HIS books.  Like Bruce, like me, like Allred himself, Madman is a dozen years along, and age is bringing something new and different…

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Or – “Season 6B, Anyone?” In honor of this week’s Major Spoilers Poll of the Week, we’re going to be taking a look at the latest issue of what some have called the best written Doctor Who comic ever…  The adventures of the Tenth Doctor are taking a bit of a hiatus on television, but those of us who want to monitor the activities of the last scion of Gallifrey can still get what they want, presuming that they’re willing to hit their local comic shop.

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Or – “Former Captain America Steve Rogers Is Still Dead…” …and it’s starting to look like that’s permanent.  (Or at least as permanent as anything ever is in comics.)  The first mission of the newest Captain America is over, the threat of the Red Skull has been pushed back, James Barnes has renewed his affections with Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow, and has been introduced to the Marvel Universe proper, thanks to the Secret Invasion crossover.  We find ourselves at a crossroads, faithful Spoilerites, but J.B. is starting to realize that the life of a Captain America doesn’t allow for a…

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Or – “Number Two Has To Try Harder…” It’s absolutely amazing to me to think that we’ve been doing these Hero Histories now for over a year and a half.  I’ve had relationships that didn’t last that long!  When we started out, the list of Legionnaires seemed endless, stretching out into infinity.  Now, it would seem we’re in the home stretch, having come to the point where there are fewer than half a dozen LSHer’s yet unprofiled.  When I initially started this project, I knew where it had to begin, and I knew where it had to end, with a stretch of…

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Or – “And We Still Have Almost NO Idea What’s Going On…” I’ll say this for DC…  When they said “They Day Evil Won,” they weren’t kidding.

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