Invincible: My Feelings.

A while ago I mentioned that I attempted to start buying the comic Invincible, and I featured it in Awesome Covers. So, why am I talking about it? Let me tell you. But first, the obligatory picture.


Let's get on with the story. Mark Grayson is a teenager who happens to be the son of Omni-Man, the greatest superhero to ever live. So, naturally his son inherits his awesome powers of flight and super strength. Unfortunatley for our intrepid hero, it turns out his father may have protected the world from threats of many kinds, but his actual intention is to enslave the planet to the race of Viltrumites, who are evil. So, Mark's dad is eentually defeated and he saves the world, yay. But since this is an ongoing series, the story continues.

Invincible surprised many people with it's popularity. Admittedly it hasn't had a TV show or a movie, but it's only a matter of time. Plus, there's motion comics for your phone, so enjoy. It's even has some spin-offs, including Brit, Wolfman and some Atom Eve one-shots (she's his girlfriend). I originally came in arund issue 63, but was mroe captivated by issue 60, Invincible War. I thought, 'what the heck' and decided to pick it up and 63, as it was the only other one I could find.

Invincible War was pretty awesome, but I was a little annoyed at the fact that I came in just as the status quo has a major shift. In case you haven't read it, the entire planet is devestated and at this point in the series, they're still cleaning it up.

63 would have made more sense had I found 61 and 62. Invincible is locked in combat with the Viltrumite 'Conquest' who quite frankly is kicking the shit out of him in a fight that apparently last four whole issues. Atom Eve arrives after partially recovering from injuries obtained in Invincible War, and is promptly killed by Conquest. That put me off the book.

Now before I continue, I'd just like to compare these two covers. The first one, Invincible War, looks like a pretty basic, if awesome superhero shot.

63...judge for yourself.

Yeah. So, I ignored the comic for a while. But aside from the story line there was another reason. It was very popular, and I was unable to even find it at the comic store. Irritation!

But then something happened. I was mesmerised by the latest issue's cover. But why? What could bring me back to the series just like that?

Yes, a giant red dinosaur is all you need to make me read your comic. I decided to buy it on my next visit, but it wasn't there. So then I forgot about it, but then some time later, I finally remembered, and bought the latest three issues.

I was pleasantly surprised, the dinosaur, Dinosaurus (yes, I know) was only on for a few pages, but was pretty awesome, even if he turned into a scrawny dude afterwards. Apparently I 'm not the only one who felt this way because by looking at the fanmail area, that dude got a LOT of fanmail.\

After reading the next two issues, I realised something. The creator, Robert Kirkman is awesome. I mean I think Erik Larsen is a genius for Savage Dragon alone, but Kirkman actually manages to do a proper superhero title. Each issue has had a different villain and I have enjoyed each of them, which is more than I can say for Spawn, which I actually decided to give to my cousin after buying two issues (it was just going too slow for me, sorry). In Invincible War, we some criminals in a prison breakout, we got the small army of Invincible clones, and Angstrong Levy, 63 had Conquest, 68 had Dinosaurus, 69 had Universa (who I can't say was that great) and 70 had the Sequids. Kirkman really knows how to write a superhero comic. I personally write up my ideas, and more than often I have a new villain every few issues, but not Robert Kirkman, he just throws them at us!

This makes me want to buy Kirkman's other stuff, such as Haunt, Living Dead and Wolfman...damn, he's busy, ain't he?

I also have to give him props for originality. It's been pointed out that very few of his characters have original powers, but he still manages to make them cool. Like Dinosaurus, he's essentially Hulk except a humanoid dinosaur with armour and a fairly intelligent mind. Yet he is awesome. The art is also great.

Okay, if I have to nitpick this, I had to say that the gore is a bit ridiculous. Just look at 63, his bones are hanging out of his f#cking arms! Gore isn't extremley prelvenet, but I feel this is a comic that could easily be marketed to everyone. Now I know some kids like gore, but seriously, sometimes it's just ridiculous.

Anywho, it's a good serious, Kirkman, you're good at what you do, and ecetera.

Sideburns, Sideburning off.

End of the Blue Beetle.

The one and a half of you out there who read this thing may remember that I regularly purchase copies of Booster Gold. Well, though I do enjoy Booster himself, I have to say that another thing I like about the series is the Blue Beetle double feature. Blue Beetle was an extremley well recieved series in a company that has been degrading as of late. Unfortunatley, people obviously didn't realise that and didn't buy it. So, the series was cancelled after 36 issues. Personally I think three years is pretty good, but obviously if you want to be successful, you want to aim for over one hundred. Luckily they decided to keep him going in Booster Gold, and even shared a storyline with him.

However, now, two issues after said storyline, it seems that they've decided to cancel the double feature. Obviously he'll stick around and make appearances in Teen Titans and stuff, but seriously, I was enjoying the double feature status. Dammit, Marvel's universe is dominated by story arcs, and DC's continuity is infuriating. I hope your happy!

Anyway, this is That Kid With The Sideburns, Sideburning out.

WTF Posters: King Kong.

Welcome back to WTF Posters. Today's subject, King Kong.

I never said these were going to be funny.

On a side note, I have seen the original King Kong, and have to say I really enjoyed it. It was every bit as good as I'd heard, even if you could tell that it was fake.

Random Comic Trivia: Spider-Man.

Welcome back to Random Comic Trivia. Today's subject, Spider-Man.

Spider-Woman was originally created as a villain, and was made because Marvel didn't want anyone cashing in on Spidey's popularity with a minor name change. Just to piss them off, her powers aren't even related to Spidey's.

Though Stan Lee has trouble remembering his exact origins, he claims that while working at Marvel, he saw a fly on the wall and thought, 'Hey, wouldn't it be neat if we had a guy that could do that?' Unfortunatley, Fly-Man didn't really have much to it. Two fly villains (The Fly Brothers?) appeared in the old Spidey cartoon to plague the Webhead twice. Once in an attempt to frame Spider-Man for their crimes, and another time to...go through the exact same episode with new dialogue. Don't you hate budget cuts?

The recent Amazing Spider-Man series has had so many Dethrowning Moments of Suck, the 'non-canon spin off' Spider-Girl (Peter Parker and Mary Jane's daughter), is beginning to be considered canon, despite the fact that Amazing has facts contradicting the time-line.

Aunt May once defeated the Scorpion.

No, I'm serious, she did.

And finally, Stan Lee's publisher thought Lee was an idiot for thinking that anyone would want to read about a hero who got his powers from icky Spiders, and had problems. I think you know how he must have felt within a few years.

Crappy Things about Good Stuff: The Superhero Squad Show.

I suppose if I'm going to call it a recurring segment, I'd better do it more than once. Well, today's subject is Marvel's Superhero Squad Show.


Let me tell you, when I first saw that they were making a show even called 'Superhero Squad Show' I died a little inside. Just looking at the image of Iron Man with big cartoony eyes made me cringe at the stupid this series would unleash. When it started advertising here in Oz, I wasn't much more impressed. I died even more inside. Fortunatley, since we're dealing with superheroes, upon actually viewing the show it was revived.

Today I'm going to tell you the good things about the series before I tell you the bad, just to get my point across.

Good.

1. Huge cast.
While our primary Squad members are Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Falcon, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel and some guy called Reptil, the Marvel Universe of characters don't seem to stop. Other appearances include Luke Cage, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Captain America, Captain Britain, Dr. Strange, The Punisher, X-Men, and Wasp. And that's just the heroes.

2. Good Action Sequences.
The show initially seemed hard to watch until I realised that they were serious about the action sequences. You might get a character throw someone across the room, or maybe a villain gets punched, but once the team 'Heroes Up' the action sequences are actually pretty decent.

3. Indept Story.
In a show called 'The Superhero Squad Show' you would expect something simple like 'they started a super villain team! We'd better counter it with a superhero team!' And actually I think that 'is' the plot. I missed the first episode, so I don't know if the villains grouped togethor in episode one or if they'd always been that way. I'm assuming that the squad formed in the first ep. But the interesting part is that they have a recurring theme of 'Fractals,' pieces of the infinity sword which was shattered (in Episode 1 or is it only shown in the title sequence?). Both the Superhero Squad and The Lethal Legion (if I need to tell you they're the bad guys you don't deserve to know) have to search endlessly for them.

4. Introduction for New Fans.
I've seen some pretty pathetic attempts at growing kids into Marvel fans. Already existing cartoons such as Spectacular Spider-Man are examples of good ways, and heck, even Iron Man Armoured Adventures keeps your attention, even if it does change the characters completley. But the most pathetic would have to be a series of books, possibly related to Superhero Squad...It had Hulk playing Hide and Seek with Spider-Man and the others. This wouldn't be so bad, but it looked more like something you'd see on Rugrats. So uh, anyway, the series is a good way to introduce kids to the Marvel Universe.

5. Catchy Theme Song.
I find myself waiting to watch it just to hear it again. Then I stay for the part where they Hero Up and play a snippit. I then hum it to myself oh my god I'm a massive geek.

6. Stan Lee.
He sometimes appears as the Mayor of Superhero City. PRAISE HIM!

Bad.

1. Hulk.
Yes, he's big, he's green, he's strong, and he's named Hulk, but last time I checked, Hulk's powers stemmed from rage, not having the mind of an eight year old. I can understand why he's so tonned down for kids, but really, does he have to be THAT stupid? I'm probably overreacting by putting him here, but after World War Hulk, which was an event comic about Hulk beating up the entire Marvel Universe, I have trouble looking at him this way.

2. Animation.
I'm not saying the animation is bad, but at times I have to just sigh. Many great cartoons suffered from the problem of characters standing idly by while a person punches them instead of blocking the attack. Unfortunatley that was solved years ago, get with the times Marvel. Learn to block, or have your heroes punch faster. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

3. Midgits.
I know, I know, it's what got the original toy line turned into a cartoon, but seriously, I just cannot take any of the characters seriously when I feel like I would be taller than Hulk. And if you know me, then that's saying something, cos I'm short. Oh well, it's easily forgiven.

4. A Brat Walks Among Us.
The first episode I saw. I hate it. I hate it so much. I can not see Dr. Doom as a good villain when he is being beaten up by a little girl. I know, that's the idea, but I don't care. This episode is stupid, but I'm glad they made it so that we could get Stan Lee saying excelsior, and the fights. The rest I could do without.

5. Where is Deadpool?

6. ...Just stuff.
Oh god, it's horrible! What made you think these were good ideas? Seeing Thor in highschool, Sonic Samba? Mama Doom? Ms. Marvel and MODOK running through the fields? It's like they took my revived deadness and killed it again.

7. Battlecry.
Hero Up? That's the best you could do? Hero Up? My god.

8. Where is Deadpool?

9. Voices.
I don't really have many complaints with the voices, but what's with Charlie Adler? He's great as Dr. Doom, I love it, but they should've stopped it there. Plant-Man sounded more like an old woman, and Super-Skrull just sounded strange.

10. Seriously, where's Deadpool?

11. Superhero City.
You actually called it 'Superhero City?' My god. Seriously, my-freaking-god. There is nothing that can top that.

Villainville.

I hate you.

12. Reptil.
You can't have a popular fan favorite like Deadpool, but you can have Reptil. WHO THE HELL IS REPTIL!? That's like saying, 'The Great Comic Book Heroes, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Spawn, Moon Knight, Wonder Woman.' Notice something? NOBODY'S HEARD OF MOON KNIGHT EITHER!! YOU ANGER ME! Oh, and if you can constantly call Iron Man Tony Stark, and you can change Songbird to Screaming Mimi, why the hell can't you just call Deadpool 'Wade Wilson.'

13. Joe Quesada plugs himself.
I'm trying not to be too specific in stuff that annoyed me, and I'm not against shameless self advertisement but CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES! LEAVE A COMMENT, LINK ME FROM YOUR FACEBOOK but Joe Quesada's moment in the Ant-Man episode was just weird. Reptil tries to show Ms. Marvel how he makes some certain food that I have forgotten. The fact that Iron Man can fly and escape the salsa he's mixing (long story) is annoying enough, and the fact that Ms. Marvel can't tell the difference between a fly and a man in spandex dosn't help, but then we get this moment where Reptil starts cutting up Quesada Joe Peppers or something. They then go tell the camera how much they love Quesada Joe Peppers. It took me a moment to even know what they were talking about. They just stopped the plot to have Hulk say 'Pepper named Joe Hulk's friend' ...right.
I also am not saying that Joe Quesada is doing bad at his job as Editor in Chief, but all the bad stuff seems to be happening under his rule (One More Day, anyone?), I'm sure he's a nice guy in person.

14. Green.
Why are so many of the villains colored green? It's a serious question.

And that's it. And no, just because there's more dosn't mean that the bad stuff outweighs the good stuff, the show is still fun to watch.

Villain Spotlight: Dark Enforcer.

Stan Lee is best known for the creation of Spider-Man and many other Marvel heroes, so judging a contest like Who Wants to be a Superhero seems like a natural move. For the most part, it was. The show was really fun to watch and had plenty for different audiences. Heck, my MOTHER used to watch it. But then they decided to start making it for kids. As much as I'd like to complain and berate this decision, I haven't seen the show so I have no actual opinion.

But the first season has a little surprise for us. Evidentally the likes of Electro and Dr. Doom weren't enough for Stan, he had to vent the darker side of his mind in RL.
Iron Enforcer was an Anti-Hero contestant on the show who had a robotic arm, giant guns, and a fear of flying. Unfortunatley Stan soon figured that his behaviour wasn't very heroic, so he was booted off...

But that wasn't the end of The Enforcer. Stan appeared to him and told him that while he didn't make a very good superhero, he'd made a great supervillain. And so was born the Dark Enforcer.

DE didn't do that much evil, but he would punish the heroes for failing their missions. And writing 'I will not pretend to be a superhero' on a chalkboard, with kids around, while wearing a full blown superhero costume, it's pretty embarassing.

The truly terrifying thing is that unlike later arch enemy, Dr. Dark, Dark Enforcer was never subject to a defeat. He could still be out there, stirring up the contestants on Big Brother, or berating everyone on Survivor. Don't get me started on what he's up to on Biggest Loser, just don't.

However, Iron Enforcer was last seen congratulating Feedback on winning the contest, so we can assume some kind of Infinite Crisis style paradox is occuring. I feel sorry for everyone involved if that is the case.

Random Comic Trivia: Stan Lee

Bask in the Gloruious Glow true believers, for I present to you the images of Stan Lee! Excelsior!

Today's Trivia: Stan Lee's birth name is Stanley Lieber. Stan Lee was his pen name, but when his work started getting overly popular, he decided to make it his legal name.

The first Stan Lee creation was a forgettable character known as The Destroyer. That's all I can tell you about that. That's how forgettable it was.

Stan origianlly joined Marvel Comics as a start out job. He claims that he was originally planning on staying a few months to get himself ready for a real job. How well do you think that went?

Why did I give you three pieces of trivia? Because he's Stan The Man Lee! Don't understand me? Stan THE MAN Lee.

Crowning Moment of Awesome: Linkara vs. Countdown

I'm a big fan of TGWTG (obvious because of my name)so expect to see him and The Critic here a lot.

Since I started watching Linkara from the start, I'm still pretty close to the start of his reviews, so only yesturday did I see the end of his Countdown review.

While One More Day and Clone Saga can be considered Spider-Man's Dethrowning Moment of Suck, and while some migt consider crossovers like Civil War to be the same for teh company, I actually don't know how bad they actually were. But DC got it's very own Dethrowning Moment of Suck in the form of Countdown to Final Crisis. Some people get some pretty good material out of listing multiple Crowning Moments of Awesome and writing a story around them. This seems to be what Countdown was trying to do. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Epicest of Epic Fails in Epic Fail History.
The whole thing was insanley terrible and is in fact ignored! In fact, in an issue of Booster Gold, a chalkboard displaying the time stream actually tells us to forget about it. This is why I like simpler comics like early Spider-Man where they focussed on HIS rogues gallery. Oh, thank god for The Gauntlet.

So anyway, Linkara is quite possibly all the hatred shown towards Countdown personified. After explaining the backstory and reviewing fifty two issue in two reviews, Linkara was ready to explain to us the most stupid moments of the abomination of comic book history. These included using Green Lantern as a melee weapon, super sleuth The Question being convinced of a story by PUPPETS and a facial expression that will...You know what? I don't know what it'll do. It was just a terrible facial expression.

But finally, Linkara attempted to exterminate the series once and for all with his signature weapon, the Magic Flintlock gun. However, much to his surprise, the set of books began to laugh at him! The evil Mechakara had turned Countdown, a harmless, if insanley terrible comic series, into a psychotic monster! Linkara is unable to even harm the beast.

Lying injured, without even his magic gun to defend himself, lost in the battle, Linkara suddenly remembered all the turmoil of his reviewing career, Insano, The Brawl and even Countdown itself. But one thing perpetuated his mind: The image of Harley Quinn.

Linkara rose from the ground and pulled forth his Green Ranger dagger. Upon it he summoned a beam of energy powerful enough to harmt he beast, and then thrust the blade through it's skull, returning it to the graphic novels they once were. He then proceeded to rip them apart with his bare hands.

And that, is how you turn comics great Dethrowning Moment of Suck, into a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Chronicles of Mental: Diary.

I've previously mentioned that I've created a few of my own characters. This is a HUGE understatement. My main career goal is to become a director, but I'd also like to publish a comic book series, or maybe even start a small comic business, but anyway, I have a crapload of characters ready in the event I have to use them. I'm not going to talk about all of them in great detail in the event I get to use them ne day. One of them, and my possible favorite is Captain Mental. He started out a a basic The Mask rip-off, but has since evolved into his own character. Though often more than a match for anyone he comes across, Mental also tries to have a good relationship with his girlfriend Heidi. This is hard because he is insane. Oh, and she has an eating disorder.

So, anyway, I used to play The Sims 2 a lot, so I went as far as making some Sim Stories with Mental. He dosn't look as I planned him because of the resitrictions, but it's close enough.


"Dear Diary, today I was attacked by a large blue man who kept shouting the name of a utensil which escapes me at the moment. I didn't like him, so I left. Then I got ice cream. Hurray Ice-Cream!"

I promise they'll get better.

WTF Posters: Harley Quinn meets Harley Quinn

Yes, like many fans of Batman, I think Harley Quinn is awesome. But what's not awesome about her? She's bubbly and cute, and at the same time almost as psychotic as her precious Mr. J. Almost. That's what really makes her more than just an athletic henchgirl, or the Joker's cheerleader.

I never actually saw Birds of Prey, and can't really say it interests me enough to check it out, but I saw the picture, so I thought, 'This might be funny,' and here we are.

Though I do have to give the series credit for using Mark Hamill's voice on the Joker. Ledger was the best Joker, but I grew up with Hamill's.

Awesome Covers: Madman Atomic Comics 10

I have previously shown my constant irritation with the Madman Atomic Comics series. Like I said, it's not that it's a bad series, it's that it's not really superhero stuff. I also have mild complaint that few characters contribute anything huge to the story. But today, let's talk about the cover to Issue 10.

This cover is awesome! The two sides of LunaJoe struggle for the man they love who is unable to do anything to stop them. Even the robot Warren cannot stop the struggle, while the foreboding image of the Zombot, the cannibalized corpse of Adam, AKA Metal Man looks down upon them.

Yes, one of the only things that could make this cover better would be if it actually had anything to do with the goddamn story! Seriosly, this cover suggests that Luna and Joe are fighting over the love of Frank, but in the actual comic, Luna is in love with Adam and has few romantic feelings for Frank, and to add to that, both girls are pretty happy with the way things are, making the 'fight' depicted on the cover false advertising!

But hey, maybe Mr. Allred is onto something. I mean, wouldn't Star Wars have been even better if we thought we were going to see a romantic comedy? Or maybe Forrest Gump would've been better if we advertised it as an war film? Or how about if Citizen Kane was made out to be a film about an actual cane? (Apologies to Matt Groening)
The fact of the matter is that looking at covers like 16 or maybe 2 would suggest that I'm picking up a...I don't even know how to describe what kind of book it is, but this just tells me, THERE IS A FIGHT! Granted, there are a few fights throughout the series, but...you know what? It's not worth it, just...just enjoy the cover, it's really good. Just enjoy it.

Random Trivia Time!: She-Hulk.

This is a new segment where I give you some random comic book trivia...that's it, nothing except that.

She-Hulk started out as a basic female counterpart, but has quickly moved onto be a completley distinct character. Wheras Hulk smashes everything and always wants to be alone, She-Hulk is quite intelligent and extremley social.

Today's Trivia: It has been legally declared that She-Hulk has the largest breasts in the Marvel Universe. This is even made a point of when she stops a ship full of villains by accidentally flashing them.

Fanservice away!

Crowning Moment of Awesome: Me

Welcome to a new segment I call: Crowning Moment of Awesome, where I display a Crowning Moment of Awesome. I'd like to go through a few different ones before I got to this, but I only had the idea today, and if I did that, it's be old news.


I recently went to Laser Force with my friends for my Birthday. We won two of the three games, but that's probably cos we're like twice the age of everyone else. Older people do play, but they just weren't today. So anyway, we had three games and all. I got to use a few crappy one-liners, mostly ripped from films, but that's where the fun came from it.

So anyway, we Yellow Team, and me and two other guys were trying to guard our base. Suddenly pretty much everyone from the Blue and Red teams showed up and tried to shoot our...Well-Thingy, I dunno, you shoot it and get points. My friends got shot, but then I shot the other guys. I was still active, nobody shot me. And then they reactivated, and I shot them again. Then I did it again, and then I finally got shot. But that glorious moment had me as a champion of awesomeness for all Yellow Teams everywhere! Go me!

So, yeah, I had fun.

Savage Dragon 83

Like I've previously said, I am a fan of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon series. The series is the only one aside from Spawn to survive it's entire run, showing us how brilliant it is. However, I also mentioned a lack of status quo, obviously meaning that no one is safe from a grusome death, Dragon's current occupation could end at any minute, and anything could happen. With that let's dig into a chapter of SD's first major controversy, The Savage Land saga.

What can I say about the cover? It's cool, not awesome, but definatley cool. I actually bought it cos it guest starred Mike Allred's Madman, and I was into that series at the time. It also features the SD villain BrainiApe (it's all so funny until you realise that his titular brain belongs to HITLER!) and the Madman supporting characters known as The Atomics, a superhero team made up of mutated beatniks. Yeah I know it's silly, Madman's existance is based around that.
My main 'problem' is that the cover could easily be switched to Hulk and Spider-Man. In fact, since Larsen had a run on Spidey, it's possible that it's even an homage to one of his previous covers, but I don't know. Hey, I'm a comic geek, not a psychic.

Basically what's happened is that Dragon killed a psychic alien named Darklord who had been screwing around with his life. Unfortunatley, this caused the universe to seemingly reset, and to get right down to it, Dragon is now in Thunderdome for superpeople. Honestly, can we get Beyond Thunderdome?

Apologies to EVERYONE

So, why was this so controversial? Well this turned SD into a Post Apocolyptic story where it had previously been about police and street crime (with superheroes). This was an attempt to boost sales, and many condemned Larsen for selling out his original idea for money instead of ending before it got stale. Considering that as of this writing the next issue will be #157, I think that sales ploy of his may have worked.

With the artwork, unlike the title, it is genuinley awesome. At some other point I will include actual pictures from the comic in my reviews.
We open with Dragon locked in combat with some guards and a creature we can only assume is this Droog character that is mentioned in the dialogue. Droog looks like a big...thing? I actually don't know how to describe iy. He's purple, has fangs, is very hulkish and has a big head.

An annoying things about this point in the series is that every single issue seemed to feature Dragon bitching about his old world and filling in the role of a recap page. I have to admit, it helped me cos this was the first issue I picked up. He also complains that we're in Australia. Yeah, destroyed Chicago full of super powered criminals, and Australia which is only depicted here, admittedly with giant insects. Yeah, big competition really.



There's a pretty neat moment after this where Dragon gives some of my favorite dialogue in any comic book I've read, 'Looks like it's just you and me, pal. How about you just letting me go? I swear anybody asks and I;ll tell them you put up one hell of a a fight.' Then we go into his inner monologue, 'It never worked that way. Still it never hurts to try. One day somebody's going to tak me up on that offer. But not today.' He is then knocked out by Droog's psychic blast. I guess with giant monster things the last thing you expect is to get punched out by their MIND!

Dragon is returned to his cell with Madman, who ironically looks much cooler in Larsen's style. He goes onto explain exactly what he did to get into this situation and admits that it's his own fault. However, Madman has no idea what he's on about. Dragon claims that he's worse off than Madman because everyone he loved is dead and his entire home is destroyed, and that at least Madman has Snap City (his location in the comics). Madman tells him that during the devestating war, Martians destroyed Snap City, and Dragon apologises for lashing out like that. Rightfully so. Wow, Madman hasn't done anything remotley heroic and he still seems cooler than when Allred does it. Irony away!

The next day Dragon is to be taken to the Thunderdome to...I'm sorry, The Arena of Deathm to fight with another superherofor the entertainment of the crowd. He notes that everything is backwards, namley Badrock and Barbaric, two SUPERHEROES are dragging him to the arena instead of two of his rogues gallery. He also notes the many superfreaks who are locked up, and that The Atomics could break out with insane ease, so mind control must be in the works. Or maybe they're just tired and depressed? If my home city was destroyed I'd be depressed too, it's okay.

He sees Guy Masters fighting fighting someone for the entertainment of BrainiApe. Guy has taught Dragon to survive in Giant Insect Australia, so naturally Dragon is horrified to see him killed in battle. But he isn't fooled and realises that seeing this was the true reason they brought him up here. In an Unstoppable Rage moment, Dragon slams Badrock and Barbaric's faces togethor and jumps into the arena to get a final look at his friend. He then goes onto angrily berate BrainiApe for wasting the life of a man who had done nothing to them. 'Is that what a man's life is worth to you? Is two minutes of entertainment really all a man's worth?' 'You animals! You vicious coldhearted animals!' BrainiApe answers, 'Everybody's a critic.'

So then in a pretty good full page spread, BrainiApe leaps out and attacks Dragon, managing to get a few hits in until Dragon hands his ass to him. Dragon manages to beat the living crap out of him until he realises that he's nowhere near strong enough to be a gorilla. To his horror, it reveals that he has been viciously beating Madman, and BrainiApe is comfortably in his seat. In his shock, Madman gets a few good hits in, but our green hero decides to put his attention to whatever caused him to attack his friend. Lcukily he is able to find the likley contender, a pink man with a giant head. You know, cos all psychics are pink with giant heads, it's pretty normal.

Unfortunatley, before Dragon can give our Pink Fiend his just desserts, The Atomics are released into the arena to save their friend. The sonic screamer Metal Man launches him into the air, from which he is then punched by the purple bralwer Slug, and then flung on the stretcher Mr. Gum, and finally punched by Absorbing Woman It-Girl. If you don't get what that means, she absorbs materials so that she can mimick them, in this case it would appear to be a stone seat. And then Madman delivers a final knock-out punch...Wow, in one issue of Savage Dragon comic, we've gotten more action than the entire run of Madman Atomic Comics!



Then we move onto Finaddicts, the section where Larsen answers your mail. I love it when comics have these cos it reminds me that I'm not the only one reading. There aren't many interesting ones beyond questions regarding previous issues. I'm actually a bit sorry I didn't review one of the earlier comics, I think around about 78. This one basically cemented my respect for Erik Larsen in one letter. A fan starts out complaining that this new direction is completley different to what we had before. He dosn't stop there though, he continues to go into a rampage of calling Larsen a sellout and a dirtbag for ruining a perfectly good series that should have ended with dignity instead of died trying.
Usually one would answer, 'Sorry you feel that way,' but not Erik. He goes into an Unstoppable Rage of his own and finds himself disgusted that the reader never once even thought of just not buying the book if he didn't like it, and that although he was trying to boost sales, he chose a way to do it he'd enjoy, and that he's based the entire comic on that, and that if that particuler fan dosn't like it, it's no consequence to him. I can honestly say that if a celebrity went off like that for what I said, I would literally shit bricks. It's even cooler once you find out that Larsen's voice sounds a lot like Bruce Campbell.
I guess I could've reviewed that one, but this one is just much better.

So that's mostly Savage Dragon 83. How does it fare? It's awesome. The rest of the series is as awesome and original, and I highly recommend it. Maybe you might want to wait a few months though. Apparently Larsen's going to kill off Dragon and replace him with his son in a few issues.

Wow, I said that sooo casually, weird eh?

Awesome Covers: Booster Gold 21

Booster Gold is one of my regularly picked up comics. If you've read my other post, you know who he is and what he does. If I'm right, the original series were comedies because of his jerky attitude and intentions, but the newer ones are pretty much straight forward action with some comedy laid over it. For example in one issue he goes back in time to stop an ambush on the Teen Titans. He manages to defeat the first attacker, but then he returns with two friends and the team is successfully killed. Okay, that's some dark humour, and it isn't exactly done as funny, but I couldn't help but see the humour in it. The covers are also somewhat misleading to the exact comedic content. Wheras one cover may feature something as straight forward as Booster being attacked by Trigon, to something as vague as a woman wearing a Booster Gold T-Shirt (which provided a pretty good joke in the actual comic).

What can I say about this cover? MOTHERF*CKING AWESOME! This seriously harkens back to the silver age (my favorite age) and was all I needed to pick it up. I also enjoy the touch of the photos falling through the air, they are neat. Even on some of his own books Batman dosn't look that cool. One might point out that showing Booster in such a weak position would diminish him as a strong character and thus make him harder to see as an effective hero and prompt one to not pick up the book. When you are like that, then you should get a life, the cover is awesome.

Okay, I guess I should actually point out what's wrong with the cover. Well, Booster's shirt stretches out much too far without ripping for starters. And second...no, that's the only flaw, the cover is perfect.

Wtf Posters: Laurie Forman

A while back I decided to do some posters off of randoms pics I picked up off the internet. Moslty from Wikipedia, if not entirley. Here is my first. Laurie Forman may have been evil incarnate, but she was a good character and a good addition to the cast. It's a shame her actress spoilt things for herself. I'm not going to make some lame jokes about it, cos I am genuinley sorry for that. If you had never seen That 70's Show, then you would know that Laurie began to appear sporadically. She eventually was replaced with a new actress, but she failed to bring the charisma her original brought to it. It's a shame cos I'd have loved to see her in more. But anywho, here's a picture.

Birthday

Yeah, nothing much to report on today, except that I just turned sixteen. Whooo! Go me! I guess if I have to make this comic related, I borrowed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from a teacher, so there you are.

So, just to recap. Nothing much, sixteen, whoo, Extraordinary Gentlemen, there you are, recap. Okay, bye.

Villain Spotlight: Dr. Insano

The almighty comic book reviewer known as Linkara may be great and hilarious, but what always gets me is that he has his own Rogues Gallery. Obviously since he reviews comics that's the idea, but for some reason that just strikes me as awesome. These villains of course include the (as of knowledge) one-shot Phantasm, the awesome Mechakara, Neautro (he's mentioned quite a bit), Marzgirl (Okay, maybe not her, but I need more people on the list) and of course, Dr. Insano.

Insano is a mad genius and...wait, this can't be right...Okay, mad genius and President of the United States of America. How did he get into office? I mean one of his promises was to cut off Canada and attach it to Australia. Besides, who would vote for someone named 'Dr. Insano?' IT DOSN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!

Anyway, other deeds done by Insano include taking over the giant robot Neautro to destroy Linkara (failing) numerous attempts at directly attacking Linkara, and...yes, I need to start watching Spoony Experiment, then maybe this article would suck a little less.

Whatever is said, Insano shall not rest until the world is his! And how will he achieve this mad scheme of world domination? WITH SCIENCE!