Laid Back Comics: Captain America #8

Early in the week, I was catching up my reading of Captain America mostly due to a back-log of comics I had not gotten to yet. Cap is one of my favorite Marvel characters and for the last several years has had a string of excellent stories behind him. When Marvel NOW came about Captain America would be changing hands to a new team and with that it would also be a dramatic shift in the story, which one often sees after a long run by one team ends and a new one jumps on. Rick Remender and John Romita Jr set out not only do something different, they jumped genres turning the book into a Sci-Fi dystopian dimension jumper  and at first it seemed to work, but as the series contained soon it started to feel like it was just starting to drag little by little to sit and wonder when will it end.

Issue 8 feels though things that been setting up throughout a lot of the series would be coming to head and in a way a possible end was in sight, of course it wasn't going to be easy for Steve having to face off with the son of Zola who he had help to raise and now on the end of another major beating. It is one thing the series I do feel is positive is the never give up and die aspect of Captain America, with the major revelation and now facing off with the consequence at hand. Sadly what would be dramatic scenes are filled with the clichéd speech of a child berating Captain America explaining how awful the country he represents really is.  It is odd to have a character in this brand new environment and yet we have familiar speech coming from one of the characters.

Tension to the issue is the key, like mentioned we are slowly seeing an end in sight characters like Zola and his daughter who has seemly turned against his teaching start to face off we also see a brilliant turn for Captain and Ian/Leopold. Steven using his short time fathering the child to hopefully bring him back from the reaches that his true father has tried to take him. Before getting suddenly silenced by the big reveal of the book, which in of itself wasn't too shocking the more you sit and think about it. It raises more questions than answers and they then leading to a new issue to come out. As close to the end of the story we seem to get another chapter seems to be added on.

Though John Romita Jr is doing one of the best Jack Kriby characters and worlds here that it would be amazing to see him try his hand at other Fourth World characters. Art alone is the shining light on the book, though while we get amazing scenes with his art, there seems to be struggles in other places, the faces change shape or look fish like with side lines. Group shots of seems to run into one another.  Dean White colors also are a little inconstant, one time dull and faded then moving to bright. Sometimes they would fit with one is happening on panel and others time it doesn't.

While the series so far has started off fresh both in writing and art has slowly turned into just another weird tale of Rick Remender along the lines of Franken-Castle. If I loves it then there is nothing to say, here I am just waiting for this to end and check out the possible next story.

OVERALL: 7.0 out of 10

Bryan "BAC" Clendening writes for The Broken Infinite. Follow him on Twitter @BAClend

Meme Monday 6/24/13

Clark still messing with the Avengers, and apparently Bruce approves

meme monday 6/17/13

just Clark being a smartass

Laid Back Comics Watches: Avengers Assemble!

Back when I went to SDCC I had the pleasure to see a trailer of an early version of Avengers Assemble and watching it I was a bit, underwhelmed. Of course it was just a animation and voice test, to give the audience there an idea and feel of the show, so it was a little rough, and that was just the stand in voice cast. Now here we are almost a year or so later and the show has debuted and it is still a tad rough but for the most part watchable.

To say Marvel wants to capitalize on the Avengers movie success is the no brainier statement of the day. And Assemble does little to nothing to hide from that fact, for the most part the two casts are completely identical save for the addition of Falcon being added to the team, who Tony first had suggested to use War Machine suit before Sam ignored it and get the suit he wanted. That wasn't the only real difference to the whole first two episodes.

The story takes place sometime after the Avengers disbanded for some reason that isn't fully explained just yet. But, Tony is keeping tabs on everyone in the Big Brother fashion when he sees that Red Skull suddenly killed Captain America. This is the events that leads Tony into bringing the group back together and go out and Avenge Cap by finding Red Skull and MODOK and bringing them in. And here is where the show begins to struggle a bit as that while the group does want to help after hearing the news, it was a lot of bickering back and forth between the characters on the way to the arctic to find villains. Once there they end up fighting some unnamed soldiers and more bickering and in fighting. That is main theme going out through the first two episodes here where if this was just a stand alone would fall under the more annoying side, but as the second episode hits we see that getting pushed much further with some nanobot help.  The big free though is this will be a constant thing as the series progresses and will start to feel old and forced the more it is used.

The story also has some problems like motivation of Red Skull who is dying, though never explained why. So he switches brains with the not so dead Captain America, but when that fails he just steals Tony’s armor. In hindsight that plan seemed to be the much easier one, heck had he gone that route there would be a good chance the Avengers wouldn't have reformed.  But, in the end they push for the humiliate route which ends up giving the heroes reason to stay together. But, they aren't the only ones, the hook at the end of the second episode is Skull asking other villains to combine their forces as well. That could be interesting in its own right to keep watching the show.

What hurts the show the most I feel is the voice casting and animation. While we get some returning voices from EMH we are also getting some new ones and they don’t sound right. Tony sounds extremely young and Red Skull is a few accents shy of a bad stereotype.  And the animation can go from wonderful fluid and detailed, but then you get these static shots were a frame of animation is paused and then slide across the screen, it is obvious and jarring to see and it is used several times.

In the end even with all of these negatives, there wasn't one time that I would call the show bad in anyway. But, I said the same thing about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and half way through the first season it hit its stride and became an excellent show. So here is hoping the same thing will happen to this one and in a few months’ time we will be all in love with this new show. Hopefully it being connected to Ultimate Spider-Man scare too many people away.

OVERALL: 6.0 out of 10

Bryan "BAC" Clendening writes for Broken Infinite and you can follow him on Twitter @BAClend

Special: AVENGERS # 1 Trailer

Straight from Marvel, a trailer about tomorrow's all new Avengers #1:

Marvel NOW 1st Impression: Deadpool #1

FIRST IMPRESSION

MARVEL NOW


DEADPOOL #1
Written by Gerry Duggan & Brian Posehn
Art by Tony Moore
Colors by  Val Staples

Review by Broken Infinite EIC Himself, Frankie Rodriguez

 INTRODUCTION:

       So yeah. Deadpool. Marvel's undead whore. Well, he's not undead but he kind of is. More or less, Daniel Way had closed out the run on the character and that Deadpool book ended. Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth ... who got that moniker cause he could not shut up ... REALLY, he can't. His own inner monologue is loud.

   He debut back in the early 90s in the penultimate issue of the first volume of New Mutants as well as the first Volume of X-Force and was a creation of Rob Liefield. After some time, the Merc with a Mouth struck a cord with people that he ended up with his own mini series. Then had more minis. Then his own ongoing ... three times ... one of them with Cable from the aforementioned X-Force.

  What we seem to get is that there is a weird balancing act between him being a deadly merc and his own brand of comedy. Oh ... Deadpool slept with  Banshee (aka Siryn aka Teresa Cassidy) on more than one occasion.  Why did I mention that? Cause it is a fun fact and it's freaking Deadpool.

  Anyway, on to the show.


FLIPPING THROUGH:

    We start with a ... Satanic SHIELD agent raising a zombi-fied Harry S. Truman, one of the former Presidents of the United States, out of his grave. He said he did it to put this country back into shape. WHAT?

    You raise the dead cause you don't like the politicians of this era and you want the country to get better? How absurd. That's just . .. *thinks about it for a minute*

    Anyway, who should arrive but Captain America. Yep. Not Deadpool. But Cap.We find that SHIELD has intel that more than just Truman is out of his grave and they don't want the Avengers beating up Undead Presidents.

  Yes. I said that correctly. Beat  up zombi-fied dead presidents. We then see our star, cutting through the guts of a giant lizard monster ...

Oh my god.

   DEADPOOL'S KILLED GODZILLA!!!

   ONORE!!!!

*pauses & calms down*

     Anyway, after having a "secret" team up with Thor ... who is acting like they had a bad one night stand he never wants to have be known by the public (like the people you see in "Cheaters" or down low men), Deadpool is hired by SHIELD to quietly take down the former Presidents.

   Let me repeat that.  DEADPOOL ... is hired to take down zombi-fied presidents of the US . ..  QUIETLY.

  Well, this will not end well. After an interesting battle with FDR, Deadpool's chase leads him to Independence Hall and ....I'm not telling you the rest.




ART:

    Tony Moore brings his wonderful a game into this book. Deadpool looks really messed up ... like always but I think this time really highlights that Wade is a living zombie look with flesh on him that is healing ... all the time. Cap and thorn looked like the larger than life heroes they are. The areas were well drawn.
Val Staples' colors are really vivid but fit the moods and settings of the seen. Moore's pencils and inks are enhanced well by Staples' color work.

  Really, a great look book.


WRITING:

    Let me get this out of the way. I don't really read Deadpool much. The last two Deadpool issues I picked up were a part of Cable & Deadpool, written by Fabian Niceaza, and were tie ins to Civil War. So, this is out of my comfort zone. And I will say, I liked it but I didn't love it.

    Duggan and Posehn have great comedic timing and it shows with Wade and the Dead Presidents. Irony, puns and physical comedy all utilized well. But there are a couple issues I had with this first issue:

  As a jump on point it works but there feels to a disjointed feel to this issue. The serious scenes in this a few and while important, felt a bit shoehorned in. The book definitely has this tv pilot feel to it. It opens with a bang, we get the main character, we get into the new status quo and the plot of the story with it ending in a cliffhanger that is perfect for taking a commercial break.

  And while that is good, this is still comic book and there felt like the disjointed scenes mixed with some odd choices for gags (THERE IS NO EXCUSE EVER TO JUSTIFY US SEEING DEADPOOL'S ASS! SERIOUSLY! READERS DO NOT NEED TO SEE WADE'S FLESH TORN & SCARRED ASS! EWWWWWW) So the tv style set up kinda of worked for it and worked against it too.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

    The book is fun. The book is insane. The plot is interesting yet crazy enough that it feels the comedic side of Deadpool. But what irks me is that while I understood the politics of choosing Deadpool, I am not sure as to why they are having Deadpool do it ALONE. That just seems to make less sense. Sure he's got SHIELD agents going with him but I still think that this was odd that Deadpool was their only heavy hitter on the job.

 Moore and Staples make a great art team. It is great to look at. And everyone looks distinct . You can't mix up characters here and it is a more unique style.

   Writing wise, it seems that there seems to be lack of balance still between Deadpool's deadly Merc Persona and his comedic rantings. Still, Duggan and Poshen make this an enjoyable read. Yet, it does not make me go "OH MY GOD! I NEED THE NEXT ISSUE."

I give Deadpool #1 a 3 out of 5. A Decent start to what could be a good storyline but ... still on the fence about getting next issue and my other points. Still, a fun read.

your weekly dose of meme 9/17/12

hulk smash indeed

A Look Into the Covers of Marvel NOW!

He is the line up of titles that have been confirmed, besides Uncanny Avengers, Avengers, New Avengers & All New X-Men.



First up, is Fantastic Four. Written by Matt Fraction with art by Mark Bagley, Marvel's First Family will be going on a roadtrip for its opening arc. Here's a look Fantastic Four # 1.















Next up, is the people who will be taking care of the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four are away. Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you the new FF, written by Matt Fraction with art by Mike Allred. Featuring Ant- Man (probably Scott Lang, since he was a former member), She-Hulk, Medusa and ... She- Thing?!









 Next, the Merc With A Mouth starts over with a brand new #1. Written by Brian Posehn &  Gerry Duggan, with art by Tony Moore.


























 Then we go into the solo books of the various Avengers. Starting us off first, is Thor: The God of Thunder, written by Jason Aaron with art by Esad Ribic. Watch as the first arc of Thor has the God of Thunder dealing with a being known simply as the " God Butcher."
















Following Thor, we go to the Gamma Goliath himself, The Hulk. The Hulk comes back from writer Mark Waid and artist Leninl Yu. Waid promises that this Hulk will be different as Bruce and the Hulk have finally struck up an alliance with each other. And this alliance will shake the very foundations of the Marvel Universe.







Tony Stark goes through some changes in his life ... and with the many woman and enemies that are part of that life as writer Kieron Gillen and artist Greg Land decide to take us down a new path with Iron Man.















Finally, see the many changes in the life of Steve Rodgers as he deals with his decisions and the aftermath of AvX. Welcome to a new era as we see a new look and a new attitude for Captain America. Written by Rick Remender with art by John Romita Jr.

Marvel NOW! - 8 More Titles/Creative Teams Confirmed

  Marvel has had a busy week as they have made a slew of announcements throughout it. These announcements confirm titles that they will be releasing in November during their Marvel Now Relaunch. Here are the titles with the ads as shown.

Monday, We got confirmation that Kieron Gillen and Greg Land would be taking over Iron Man:









Tuesday, We heard that The Mighty Thor will have a brand new creative team of Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic:

Wednesday, We heard that Hulk returns and is "Indestructible" as his new creative team is recent Eisner Award Winner Mark Waid and artist Leinil Yu: 

Thursday, Deadpool gets to go nuts with writers/comedians Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn with art by Tony Moore:

Then we were attacked by Marvel on Friday with 4 New Title Announcements as first, Rick Remender and John Romita Jr take over as the creative team for Captain America, as confirmed by twitter from current Captain America scribe Ed Brubaker.





  Next up is the confirmation that  Matt Fraction will be handling both Fantastic Four and the returning FF. Handling Fantatic Four with the scribe is superstar artist Mark Bagley.










Following up with Fraction on the Fantastic Four's sister title, FF, will be cult favorite artist, Mike Allred, leading the Future Foundation into the next stage of Marvel.










Finally, there is the finally promotion that states Legacy, featuring the team of  writer Simon Spurrier and artist Tan Eng Huat. While most speculation states that this is probably X-Men Legacy relaunch, there is also some rumors that this could be for another Avengers related title, possibly dealing with the Picture with Nick Fury Jr and his photo of Wiccan, Miss America and Loki. Could it be the return of the Young Avengers? We won't know till November.



These titles join the following that were already confirmed:

- Uncanny Avengers with Rick Remember and John Cassidy
-Avengers with Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena.
- New Avengers with Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting.
- All New X-Men with Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen.


12 Brand new titles down, not counting Red She-Hulk will be taking over as the main star in Hulk but that is not getting relaunched. What does this mean for the last 10 titles yet to be announced or any other changes in creative teams on long standing books? Find out as we keep an eye on Marvel Now.

Marvel NOW starts One New Beginning & A Whole Lot of Endings

As we inch closer to Marvel NOW, the solicitations for October has come out. And as such, things are gonna change very much for the Marvel Universe. We got 1 new title in October. Well ... technically 3.

Space Knights mini series #1 and the Dexter adaption hits stores alongside the much anticipated Uncanny Avengers; as we showed the cover in a previous post.

Yet, For this new beginning, we are getting a LOT of endings.

The Following titles are having their final issues during the month of October:


Captain America (with issue #19)
The Mighty Thor (with issue # 22)
Invincible Iron Man (with issue # 527)
Incredible Hulk (with issue #15)
Fantastic Four (with issue #611)
FF (with issue # 23)
Uncanny X-Men (with issue # 20)
New Mutants  (with issue # 50)
X-Men Legacy (with issue # 275)


 Most of these titles are not a surprise. Unfortunately, New Mutants and X-Men Legacy are two of the biggest surprises. I know Astonishing X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men are still focusing on the Jean Grey School but damn ... I love X-Men Legacy. *sigh* Forgive my fanboy moment. It does look like they are not going to cancel Wolverine & the X-Men anytime soon. Although, Avengers and New Avengers are on their final arcs, so they'll be ending next.  But at the very least, we are gonna see quiet a few changes with the restarts of most of these series. I say most cause I doubt that X-Men Legacy, New Mutants or FF are coming back.

I guess we'll find out. Keep your eyes here for more news. The end is coming.

Avengers VS X-Men Battle Report # 5

AVENGERS vs X-MEN BATTLE REPORT #5

by Hector Ramirez & Frankie Rodriguez 

 And now it is time to catch you up with Avengers vs. X-Men Battle Report. Now, we are not going to cover the books that came out on June 20th. But we will cover all the other books of the last 3 weeks.





X-Men Legacy # 266 & 267:

   This 2-parter starts out earlier than the rest.We start with Kitty Pryde and Rachel Grey going over what has been going on recently with Cyclops' faction of the X-Men and the Avengers. While there seem to be some that think that Hope can't handle the Phoenix, Rachel thinks she can. (Being her Aunt might have something to do with that). So, Rachel argues that they can no longer sit on the sidelines while Kitty disagrees. While the majority of the staff decide to stay in the school and look after the kids, Rachel and Bobby (Iceman), are the first to go join with Cyclops.

   Shortly after their departure, Falcon, Moon Knight and She-Hulk arrive to ... well, to make sure that no one else is the Jean Grey School joins up with Cyclops' faction. At which point, both Frenzy and Gambit were ready to rip their heads off for coming into their home and telling them what to do. After Kitty asks to speak to either Wolverine or Beast, Falcon answers that they are not available. And Moon Knight chirps how if they want to believe everything will be okay is fine but not to have "you people" add to the problems Which Frenzy replies with . .."Did the guy in the White Hood just say You People." After Kitty lays down the law, everyone returns to class while the 3 Avengers must watch from 100 yards away. That is till Frenzy returns to keep an eye on them. After a brief insult from Moon Knight, Frenzy returns the insult with mocking how Moon Knight was crazy even before he put the costume on. And then ... FIGHT ENSUES. Rogue ends up going old school with her powers and Iron Man shows up .... let's just say that things look bad but definitely an awesome battle to behold.



Wolverine and the X-men #11:


 We start off with Kid Gladiator and Warbird fleeing the planet under Gladiator's orders, but Kid Gladiator decides to join the X-Men in battle. As this happens Hope and Logan are attacked by Shi'ar Death Commandos but Hope dispatches them with a Phoenix burst. Multiple battles ensue including a repeat of Spidey vs Colossus with an inaccurate panel and Gambit being knocked out by Cap again. Iceman turns the table on Red Hulk after a seemingly one sided ass whooping. Bobby's victory was then followed up by Kid Gladiator sucker punching Red Hulk. Now, both teams are in trouble with the arrival of Gladiator looking for his son.


Avengers #27: 

   The Protector betrays the Avengers by getting the Anti-Phoenix machine to the Kree Supreme Intelligence while the original outer space team still is reeling from their confrontation with the Phoenix.


AvX Round 5: 

So the Avengers and X-Men are fighting it out on the moon after Logan betrays Hope to the Avengers and is in turn betrayed by Rachel. Hope loses her temper with all the fighting around her and the close proximity of the Phoenix causing another burst. She pleads with Logan to kill her but Scott stops him. Meanwhile, Tony Stark has built a machine to kill the Phoenix but it instead diverts the Phoenix Force into Scott, Emma, Magik, Namor, and Piotr. As the Phoenix Five the return to Earth with a mission of evolution. No clear battles.


Secret Avengers #27:

     So, Captain Britain seemingly feels like a fish out of water or putting his foot in his mouth with the Secret Avengers. Meanwhile, the Kree have brainwashed Captain Mar-vell but still very much the hero he always was at the core. Seeing him justifying what he's doing while still serving the Kree is proving interesting.


Avengers Academy #31: 

 After spending last issue fighting amongst themselves, Shaw revealed that he was trying to free the Generation Hope Kids from the Avengers Academy staff (including Tigra, Hercules and more). The issue seemed to have a big turn as the two faction as X-23, Richocet, Hollow and Wiz Kid help the Generation Hope kids. Tigra then talks to Shaw and decides to help the children escape.



Uncanny X-Men #13: 

As the events of AvX Round 5 unfold Storm, Magneto, Psylocke, and Mr. Nemesis find themselves in an abandoned building swapping stories of domestic abuse, traitorous children, arm breaking Hulks, and in the case of Nemesis incoherent babbling all results of war. They all of course wish they could be in the thick of things. Meanwhile Hope's friends from Utopia attempt to find their place in the events unfolding by questioning Unit. Unit speaks of a former Phoenix host bringing revolution to hert planet with the help of 5 underlings. Believing they were meant to help Hope do the same seek to do that but Unit has Danger stop for he is curious to see what a Phoenix does without such help. No Avenger/X-Men battles but Danger sure beats the shit out of the would be Phoenix crew.

Vs #3: 

We start off with Red Hulk tearing Colossus up and getting bored so he tosses him to The Thing and thus begins our first fight.Ben starts beating Piotr's(see that writers Piotr not Peter get it right dammit) face into the ground who retaliates by smacking him with a slab of stone.Ben recomposes himself and throws a stone down Piotr's throat then headbutts him in the gut. This sends them flying to an area of the moon with no oxygen where Ben can't keep up and Piotr knocks him unconscious, X-Men's victory. Next, Piotr's little sister Illyana aka Magik takes on the lovely Black Widow. While Natalia is a formidable opponent even when being attacked by demons in limbo (where the writers thought untranslated bits of Russian dialogue was a good idea :/) Magik turns the tables on Natalia by impaling her from behind with her magical blade thankfully only rendering her unconscious with its magical properties. And thus the Rasputin bunch has won this issue for the X-Men.

AVX BATTLE RESULTS:


Rogue vs. She -Hulk;    Winner: No Contest (due to switching fighting partners)


Frenzy vs. Moon Knight   Winner: Frenzy (both verbally and physically) 


Rogue vs. She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Falcon & Iron Man [Drone]   Winner: ROGUE!!!


Iron Man [Drone] vs. Gambit      Winner: Iron Man [Drone]


She-Hulk vs. Frenzy    Winner: No Contest


Hellion, Match & another Mutant vs. She-Hulk      Winner: She-Hulk 


Sebastian Shaw vs. Avengers Academy Staff       Winner: No Contest (stopped by Students)


Avengers Academy Students vs. Generation Hope, Ricochet, Wiz Kid and Hollow.     Winner: Gen Hope


Unit & Danger vs. Generation Hope             Winner: Unit & Danger 


The Thing vs. Colossonaunt                  Winner: Colossonaunt 


Black Widow vs. Magik                   Winner:  Magik

Protector vs. The Avengers                 Winner: Protector


Iron Fist vs. Marvel Girl (aka Rachel Grey)     Winner: Marvel Girl 


Iceman vs. Red Hulk                     Winner: Iceman 


Death Commandos vs. Hope Summers & Wolverine             Winner: Hope Summers & Wolverine


Black Panther vs. Storm          Winner: No Contest 


Avengers vs. X-Men (Match 5)     Winner: The X-Men 


The Phoenix vs. Iron Man & his Anti Phoenix Buster      Winner: THE PHOENIX 

INJURY LIST:

- Gen Hope got some minor concussions and their minds tampered with.

- Any Avengers or X-Men on the Moon were burned by Hope and the Phoenix.

- Magik has a slightly cracked jaw

- Black Widow has to deal with the Soul Sword messing with her soul.

- Psylocke has a broken arm.

 - Thing's skin got cracked

 - Cyclops has some cuts and concussions thanks to both Wolverine and Captain America.

- Red Hulk has frost bite.

 - Iron Fist has to deal with massive headaches.

 - The Avengers Academy staff and Sebastian Shaw have bruises.

 - The Death Commandos are ... well, mostly dead.

 - Hope has bullet holes and cuts in her ... no ... wait  ... she mimicked Wolverine. She's good.

- Danger is dealing with being hacked by Unit.

 - The Phoenix got split into 5 thanks to Tony Stark.

- Hellion has ruptured Ear drums.

- Captain Britain is eating crow like it's going out of style.

- Dr. Nemesis is still reeling from Black Widow's stingers.



NOTES:


- So yeah. Thanks to Tony Stark ... the Phoenix now has 5 hosts. 


- Scott Summers is a host of the Phoenix. So is Emma Frost. So is Namor. Heaven help the Avengers. 


- You know, with Falcon, She-Hulk and Moon Knight rolling up to the Jean Grey School like they did, the Avengers are REALLY starting to look like Bullies. 


- Magneto, Storm & Psylocke toast wishing they were with the others on the Moon. Let's thank God that they weren't there. 


- Unit is reminding me of Sinister. 


- First, we get implied racism from Moon Knight. Then we get nearly overt racism from She-Hulk when she calls a mutant a Monster. Pot CALLING Kettle bitch!


- The Death Commandos ... glad they are dead but wish Rachel had killed them. 


- Rogue beats the Avengers . ...AGAIN. 


- Gambit is faster than Iron Man (Drone) targeting systems. Go on Gambit. 


- Frenzy is proving herself quite the X-Man. 


- Storm is gonna start calling T'Challa her Estranged Husband. That's NOT GOOD! Bad enough one marriage is on the rocks (Luke  & Jessica Cage) but now Storm and Black Panther too?!


- So Colossus now has his own power, the powers of the Juggernaut AND the powers of the Phoenix. Oh my GOD! 


- Iceman beating Red Hulk ... DAMN!!!


- Thank Tony Stark for trying to kill the Phoenix. 


NEXT: And now ... The Scarlet Witch! (This time, for sure.)

  

THE TOP 10 GREATEST AVENGERS STORYLINES

As we continue this months' Avengers month, we are gonna to cover the storylines that made the Avengers what they are today. In all of their various incarnations: Avengers, Avengers West Coast, New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Secret Avengers & even Young Avengers, we are gonna to examine the milestone stories that solidified their legend.

10: Under Siege: Avengers #273- #277


    We start with a hard hitting story from the Stern days of penning the Avengers. And it is simple. Baron Zemo was tired of losing. So he reforms the Masters of Evil, invades the Avengers Mansion.

  Sounds simple right?

   Well, Jarvis gets tortured. And then the Masters pick off Avengers left and right till Thor and Captain America arrive. The Masters put Hercules into a coma. Wasp and several other Avengers had to step down from active duty because of how bad the Master beat them. A rare, hard defeat that the Avengers turned into a win. But not without scars.

9:  Ultron Unlimited - Avengers #19-22 (Volume 3)

        Ultron. The robotic creation of none other than Hank Pym, Ultron has always been amongst one of the Avengers greatest enemies. And as such, when Ultron returned with his second mate, the devious android known as Alkhema aka War Toy, ends up giving the most vicious attack he has ever done: slaughtering the Baltic nation of Slorenia. 

      With the entire nation dead, the Avengers move in to attack him but only find that they play into Ultron's hands as he kidnaps Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Eric Williams (aka Grim Reaper) & Wasp to use them to give brain patterns to new children that he has been cooking up. 

     Hank Pym and the rest of the Avengers have a grand showdown, with Justice, Black Panther & even War Toy giving big assists but this nightmare of a storyline by Kurt Busiek & George Perez left the Avengers wondering how they failed as an entire nation was killed by Ultron. 

8: Dark Reign/The Seige: Dark Avengers (Volume 1), New Avengers (Volume 1)

       After Norman Osborn became the top cop on the planet (cause of him doing something on tv during Secret Invasion), he gathered many of his Thunderbolt teammates, the son of Wolverine & Avengers Ares and The Sentry and formed his new Dark Avengers team. And while they were in charge, the New Avengers, lead by Clint Barton (then Ronin), were outlaws on the run from Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. (still have NO clue what that means) while still defeating other baddies. 

       After over a year of comics and multiple storylines, it culminated with Osborn,as a member of the Anti-Illuminati known as the Cabal, ordering the strike on Asgard, fooling Loki into thinking that he was doing it in order to help him gain control over it. And boy, was he wrong. The New Avengers, Nick Fury's Secret Warriors and more gathered in secret to help Thor defend his home of Asgard (now over a town in the midwest) being lead by then-former Captain America, Steve Rodgers. The Avengers won the day and took down Osborn but not with out some casualties as Ares was killed by Sentry and Thor ends up killing the Void, who had over taken Sentry's body. 

7: World Trust:  Avengers # 57 - #61 (Volume 3)

    I know people are surprised that this story got on the list. Even more so than other classics like Under Siege, Hank Pym's fall from grace or the Kree/Skrull War. Allow me to explain. World Trust did something very different for the Avengers. When every capital city disappears in another dimension alongside the World's leaders, the UN decides to put the Avengers in charge .... or the entire planet.

  Yep. The Avengers get put in charge of the entire world. Why would they do this? Well, it is cause of a particular victory that is actually on this countdown. Here's a hint ... check #5.  So, the Avengers, with Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, She Hulk, Warbird, Ant Man Scott Lang, Jack of Hearts, Iron Man, Namor and more end up becoming the leaders of the planet while also finding out what was going on.

  Come to find out, a brand new Zodiac is behind the kidnappings and dimension hopping. Each Avenger got to shine as they worked together to not only save the planet from villainy but also, run the planet. And for their service ... Avengers Mansion is considered a sovereign nation of it own. Yep. Avengers Mansion was considered its own country. It was different. It was pretty damn dynamic. And it made being an Avenger that much more important. Yet, this gets thrown all out cause of Dissembled.  

6: The Avengers/Defenders War: Avengers #115-118, Defenders # 8-11

      In a bid to take care of both their enemies and to conquer Earth and have it be absorbed into the Dark Dimension, Loki had teamed up with Dormanmu and set up both groups in order to fight each other. Yes. Avengers vs. X-Men isn't the first time that the team faced another super hero team in a major storyline.

   The Defenders had two former Avengers, Hulk and Namor, in their ranks and they were not happy with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, thanks to the manipulations thanks to both villains. And the Avengers were not pleased with the Defenders either as both teams raced to gain control of the mystical Evil Eye. 

5: The Kang Dynasty: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty # 1, Avengers # 41-55

        I want to say this right now. Kang had won. He had conquered Earth. With the help of his son Marcus, Kang had finally succeeded in his goal of many years against the Avengers. Kang had taken Earth. He had attacked and decimated the United Nations. He had set up prison camps. Kang had truly become the ruler of the planet. 

      In that time, the Avengers continued to fight as the resistance against Kang. For the first time in decades, there was a long standing Avengers storyline that lasted OVER a year. And did the Avengers every assemble for this: Ms Marvel (then Warbird), Thor, Firebird, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Iron Man, Vision, Captain America, Wasp, Wonder Man, Jack of Hearts and more were all apart of this epic storyline as an Avenger killed, friends died and more. 

     And while it ended with a smash mouth battle between Kang and Captain America, the Avengers will always remember one of their biggest defeats. 

4: Operation: Galactic Storm :  Captain America # 398-#400, Avengers West Coast # 80- #82, Quasar # 32- #34,  Wonder Man # 7 -#9, Avengers # 345-#347, Iron Man # 278 & # 279 and The Mighty Thor # 445 & #446 . 

     The Shi'ar Empire and the Kree Empire have gone to war. And their war became so vast that it was going to effect Earth. As Quasar tried to prevent issues of war with the Shi'ar, Wonder Man and other Avengers seem to be having issues with the Kree. 

    So the war has begun and the Avengers ... both East Coast and West Coast Branches had mobilized to stop them. With the Avengers even framed for murder, they teams backs are against the wall and when the Nega Bomb is launched ... their entire galaxy was put into chaos. With manipulations from Kree, Shi'ar & even Skrull, this war takes more and more prisoners from both sides than the Avengers wanted. Yet, how the Avengers overcome these odds prove they are Earth's Greatest Heroes and more.

3:  Avengers: The Children's Crusade #1- #9 
    Funny how dangling storylines end up getting tied up. For years, fans had clamored for more from the Young Avengers since their debut. With the mysterious appearance of the heroes named Wiccan and Speed, Wiccan surmised that they were the missing sons of Scarlet Witch and the original Vision. As time passed, we found that that indeed that they were the sons of the Scarlet Witch, who had lost her memory. When Wiccan and the Young Avengers, alongside grandfather Magneto search and find Wanda, they find Dr. Doom with her ... and in love.

Ewww.

    What ends up happening because of this search? Well, since Scarlet Witch's powers were responsible for the near extinction of mutantkind, some  people, like Wolverine, wanted blood. So we had Avengers vs Young Avengers. We had Avengers vs the X-Men, which served as a prelude to the current AvX maxiseries event. We had the big reveal that Dr. Doom was the guy that drove Wanda insane and made her take away the powers of mutants and caused House of M. We get a resurrected Ant Man and Jack of Hearts (for him, it was like 2 minutes) only to watch in horror as Scott Lang gets to see his daughter die. We see Iron Lad's dark road open towards his destiny as the future Kang. We see Wanda try to make up for her past sin by giving Rictor back his powers. And ... we see a family reunited ... at such a steep price. Stature and the new Vision were killed. The X-Men scoffed at Scarlet Witch. The Young Avengers seemingly disbanded. Through it all, the story proves so many endings and opens new doors as well. And while many felt that the story was lackluster compared to the original Young Avengers series, this proved to be a story which will have impact for decades to come. Fans complained at Bendis over what he did to Wanda and when Heinberg REDEEMS the character, it does seem to be enough. Still, a great story with families at the heart of it all.

2:  The Korvac Saga : Avengers #167-#177 (Volume 1)

     This is arguably the Avengers greatest defeat. And it was all to one man, Michael Korvac. Well, there are issues with Ultron but he's not the main protagonist in this saga. When Quicksilver disappears and the first appearance of young Vance Astrovick (former New Warrior and Avenger known as Justice) get saved by a humanoid named Charlie-27, the things really begin to flare up. Korvac has come. 

 Korvac was a scientist from the 31st century who helped Earth to get enslaved by the aliens known as the Badoon. Yet, after they betray him and graph him to a cybernetic module, all he wants was revenge. He goes back in time to the present day after he fights Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 31st Century. When he does come, he finds Galactus's ship and absorbs data and energy from it, becoming a god-like being with data and cosmic power. 

    As he comes to Earth, he falls in love with The Collector's daughter, Carina. She returns his feelings yet he is determined to destroy the Badoon in the past. The Guardians team with the Avengers to find Korvac ... with Starhawk going off on his own ... and getting killed for his trouble in the astral plane. Yet, Korvac recreates him but makes sure Starhawk's powers can't detect him. 

    The Collector begins to kidnap the Avengers to save them from Korvac but was killed for his help. Then, the Avengers and Guardians took on Korvac ... and DIED. Let me repeat that. Korvac killed the majority of the Avengers & the Guardians of the Galaxy. As Thor, Starhawk, Iron Man & Vision were the only ones left standing, Korvac wanted support from Carina. Yet, she was feeling guilt and doubt. Korvac noticed this and gave him. He COMMITS SUICIDE in his depression, allowing the Avengers to kill him in battle. Carnia then KILLS Iron Man, Starhawk and Vision, leaving Thor alive but she then allows Thor to kill her, cause she didn't want to live without her love. Korvac's final gift is to give enough life in all that died so that Thor's alter-ego, Donald Blake, could bring them all back to life.  

   Remember, this is the greatest defeat in the Avengers history.

1: Civil War  (Various)

    This event changed 616 Earth  . . . honestly, forever. Think about it.  We had government intervention with Super Heroes on such a large scale. We had registration of super heroes. We had Civil Rights trampled on because someone wants to put on a costume and help people. On one side, we had Iron Man, leading heroes who were for registration of heroes. On the other, we had Captain America, who felt that the law that  was being introduced was trampling on the civil rights of the people who were being defended.

   This event caused such a great change in the landscape of Marvel, characters are still feeling its affects. Spider-man being chief among them. Cause let's face it ... if it wasn't for Civil War and his unmasking, there would have NEVER been One More Day.

Let that sink in for a minute.

   Civil War caused One More Day which caused OMIT which caused Dan Slott's current (and Exceptional) run on Amazing Spiderman.

Civil War almost destroyed the Fantastic Four more than any villain ever could. It broke up Sue and Reed Richards to the point where divorce was looming.  And the Thing, not wanting to have anything to do with it, went to France.

  It caused Norman Osborn's rise to power.

  It had pretty much turned the New Warriors into pariahs.

   It had made Tony Stark into one of the biggest douchebags of the Marvel Universe.

   It had Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Reed Richards create a clone of Thor ... who ended up murdering Goliath, which ended up having his nephew join the Anti-Avengers group, The Revengers while the Thor clone, Ragnarok, ended up in Norman Osborn's hands and part of the recent incarnation of the Dark Avengers.

  It caused Luke Cage to step up, becoming leader of the New Avengers for the very first time.

  Captain America Steve Rodgers ended up dying because of these events, which then brought forth Bucky Barnes recent stint as Captain America and which ultimately becomes a catalyst for Steve Rodgers for wanting to form the Secret Avengers.


 And it was the key point Marvel event which created how Marvel events are done from this point on. It effected everyone on Earth. The only escape from Civil War seemed to be in space.




  

WHAT YOU & WE THOUGHT OF AVENGERS!!!!

Here are thoughts of The Avengers live action movie that has premiere this past weekend. We got stuff from fans and CBC staff so let's get down to it.

Jeremy Jones

Ever had one of those kitchen let downs? Y'know, when what's cooking smells so yummy but when you finally tuck in, it's mediocre. Not bad exactly, just not as good as it's scent set-up.
Marvel Studio's Avengers movie, released May 4th, is the exact opposite of a kitchen let down; the film was everything a fanboy could have hoped for, a veritable piece de resistance of comics-translated-to-the-big-screen movie magic. The promise made by Iron Man I&II, Thor, and Captain America movies over the last few years have herein been fulfilled.
Let's keep it to three reasons why Avengers was so satisfying. Director Joss Whedon also wrote the screenplay; the resulting singularity of creative vision makes a powerful, sturdy framework upon which to lay dynamic, toothsome special effects. The overall writing finesse and depth of characterization is brilliant and engaging.

There was no need for distracting backstory filler, often a failing of comic book movies, as the non-comic reading movie public must be brought up to speed. Avengers avoids the backstory baggage thanks to the four previous solo movies and we get right down to business; the pot is hot at the jump and the aromatic ingredients simply sizzle.

With strong acting in the mix, this trifecta of movie magic is complete. For the most part, the main characters are adroitly portrayed, with verve, and even secondary characters like Maria Hill shine. Just a bit of Samuel L. Jackson showed through Nick Fury, otherwise, only the character was on screen, the actors disappeared as they should, perfectly: you believe.
Avengers gets a well earned 9.5 of 10 stars.

If this movie was a meal, at its end you would've burped embarrassingly loudly then refused dessert.

CBC's Hector Ramirez

Avengers is the talk of the weekend and with great reasoning. Now naturally, I had to see it in imax 3D and I am glad I did. The graphics were great really worked with the 3d well. The story didn't have many holes in it. Of course, they had them quarrel amongst each other which you know fans wanted to see. When everyone starts working together, they really compliment each other well on the battlefield. The comedic element was a nice touch and catch phrases we will all be repeating for months to come. But speaking of catchphrases one very important catchphrase left unsaid: "Avengers Assemble" but due to the overall success, i'll let that slide. I will be listening for it in the sequel.  

Derrick JonesLet me start off with I really like Joss Wheadon’s television work. I was a faithful watcher of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, dollhouse, and Firefly. I can even see his hand in some of the story line as the movie plays out. Having said all that I was not the biggest fan of The Avengers movie. 

At times I feel the movie is trying to be too much to too many and falling short at every turn. It’s a buddy movie, except when it’s not, then it’s a romantic comedy (or a bromatic comedy) but then it shifts to pure eye candy action. For a movie that is just this side short of two hours and thirty minutes I felt like for the first hour and forty minutes of the movie I was in a sports car that was towed onto the street and pulled along until finally it was cut lose from the truck and allowed to hit speed. 

All the actors played their parts well Robert Downey Jr. still manages to bring an unlikeable arrogant Tony Stark to the screen and Chris Evans, who annoyed the hell out of me in the Fantastic Four films, plays a really believable man out of time Captain America. For me however the runaway star of the movie is Mark Ruffalo as the third and best Bruce Banner. While I am familiar with the comic version of the Black Widow I would not mind seeing her in her own movie, but again I have to give props to Josh Wheadon (yeah Scarlett also ) for the writing of a female character that is not all victim or pure fem fatale bitch. In the end I would give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

CBC's Darryll "YTC" Carter

Aside from my sister somewhat ruining the end of the movie for me (that's why I don't go out with familly) Joss Whedon pulled it off. And I'm glad he did though. I, myself, didn't walk away with the experience I was expecting the rest of the world seems to think I should have and would have if my sister wasn't present. That being said I feel like the movie was too Stark and Widow heavy. I expected the movie to focus on Downey and Iron Man a bit heavily and while it wasn't outlandish it was noticable to me. Alot of people disagree with me, saying "No way man it was the Hulk" or "naw, it was Thor". I'm speaking more so about screentime not who got the most badass moment. But speaking of badass moments I felt like Black Widow did more in the film than Captain America. And that bothers me. Cap bias aside, he is Captain fing America the leader. He did shine as a leader though once everyone began to cooperate, namely Stark and Thor and surprisingly the Hulk. Though I wager there isn't much for the Hulk to complain about when his orders are "Hulk.... Smash." Priceless.

J1 Studios' Brian Misher

Just saw with some friends this morning. ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY AWESOME!!! I will be seeing this twice!

Christian Prokop aka Mildra the RPG Monk

Saw Avengers the other day. The monk approves.

Deandra McFadden

  Omg! I love this movie. If you haven't seen this movie, go watch it now.

CBC's Frankie Rodriguez 

   This movie is beyond Epic. Beyond Awesome. This movie is exactly what it needs to be: Well paced, great characterizations and mind-breaking battles. This movie proves all the build up of the Marvel Movies continuity works and works well. And all the characters were very well balanced in this movie. No one over-shines anyone else in the film, in my opinion. 

   There are more than enough memorable moments, the pacing is excellent and the characters are all distinct and fleshed out well. Captain America is a god! And honestly, Mark Ruffalo is the best  Bruce Banner ever to hit a screen, tv or movie. Such a multi-layered portrayal and the movie was just full of Whedon full but not overly full of pop-culture references. Kids will love it. Adults will love it. Just ... amazing work. 

Countdown: Top 10 Avengers

by Darryll YTC Carter

Two weeks ago I posted my top 10 mutants showing the people I'm rooting for during the Avengers vs X-Men event. This time its the Avengers' turn. Let's get to it.

Captain America

     Without any contest remotely, Cap is my number one Avenger. I mean…. He’s Cap. He earned my respect from the pages of the Ultimates back in my high school days. I’m pro-American and Cap is as pro-America as it gets (before it becomes unhealthy or just racist). He is pure American everything that we should be. Everything that any self respecting and aspiring hero wants to be.  Then there is the shield. He’s surgical with that thing. Not to mention till this day he’s the only man I’ve seen literally walk up to the Hulk and just slug him one.

 Hulk

     If you would have seen me when I first saw the Incredible Hulk or maybe the time I saw the Hulk jump out of a nuclear explosion, you would know my appreciation for the Hulk is borderline orgasmic. That’s right I swoon folks, swoon when I see the Hulk go on his rampages and exert his power and the devastation it relinquishes upon the battlefield or an unsuspecting alien’s face. “Hulk Smash!” = Me happy.

Spider-Man

     Good ole Parker. My favorite superhero tied for first place with none other than Bruce Wayne himself. He’s got the jokes, he’s got the smarts and he had the girl… redhead that is. She’ll be back again don’t even worry about it Pete. We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay… Maybe you can hook up with Patty Spivot, she looks a lot like your recent ex, especially since she wants nothing to do with Flash.

Scarlet Witch

     

      Mmmm, Wanda. I said why I liked her in the Mutant countdown and interestingly enough she clutches the #4 spot again. I like her enough that she appears on both lists. Here’s an excerpt from the Mutant countdown on Wanda:

Often viewed as the favorite child of Magneto, Scarlet Witch is a top tier mutant not to be trifled with. Scarlet Witch manipulates probability fields and reality via her hexes. While she has been deemed unstable on more than one fair occasion, Wanda once firmly warmed a seat in the Avengers alongside her love, Vision. To put into perspective just how powerful Wanda is, I only need to mention House of M. Don’t know what that is? Google it or go buy it. Man I love women with power.

Valkyrie

      Valkyrie is pretty much what I’d go for if I were a superhero. Like Wanda she is a mesh of power and beauty. Besides riding shotgun and being the resident strongman for the first version of the Secret Avengers she has a very poetic and archaic way with words. And who doesn’t like a girl who can wield a big ass sword. Ring Ring. Hello? Valk, it’s for you. Cloud wants his buster sword back.

Iron Man

      Tony Stark would probably have been number three or four on this list before Civil War went down. While his side did come up on top, we all know he regrets the brunt of his actions. Downey and the Iron Man films saved Tony for me. Saved him from the abyss he was doomed for in my mind. That said, Its hard to hate the guy. It is like really hard. You have to try. Like discover a new element try.

               

Black Widow

     Scarlett Johansson.

She Hulk

      Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters; experienced and great lawyer by day, big green, sexy, muscle pounding machine by choice. The beauty of She Hulk’s character is that she chooses to be She Hulk. She’s in perfect control of her transformation, thanks to the opposite effect it had on her as opposed to her cousin.

Wasp

     I’m not sure how to explain how or why I like the wasp. Is it that I like the Wasp or is it that I like what happened to the Wasp? Vague? I’ll explain. In the Ultimates, the Wasp was married to Hank Pym, Giant Man, who also happened to be abusive. One day after an argument he decided to spray her with some bug spray and have his mind controlled ant army ravage her. (Not like that…) They roughed her up a bit… a lot. Cap handled that nasty business. I’ve always thought that was an amazing writing choice. To put that in there. A hot head hero, who abuses his mutant wife, who can shrink down to the size of an insect and sprout wings, with bug spray. It was near genius.

Thor

     “By Odin’s beard!” That’s pretty much the extent of my appreciation. LMAO. Who says that? Thor, that’s who. Oh and Mjolnir. It doesn’t take much to please me folks.