No doubt, you have noticed, if you've been here before, that there are some small changes. On the right-hand side of the page, I now have a short intro if you are new here. And, Skrull Invaders reading this, I really do support you in your efforts. I also have, below my links, a voting button so you can vote for my blog on the list of VS blogs. You can vote a maximum of one time per day. On to more important matters...
Okay, so I now have programs that will pop out a random card from Golden Age, Silver Age or Modern Age. All you do is choose, and it gives you a card name and number. I used DocX's search engine to get checklists and then ran through them. Programming can be fun!
Anyway, I ran a Golden Age randomness, and came up with the card Wayne Manor. From DOR, this card is a location that has "Exhaust a GK character you control -> Gain 1 endurance." A simple enough card, and while it may seem like an okay card and maybe filler at first, it also is a whole lot more. My friend built a GCPD deck before I knew him and had it forever. GCPD Officer is an army card that GK got with the text "While GCPD Officer is exhausted, it has reinforcement." An ability that is pretty cool, but really comes to fruition with other cards like Wayne Manor. With Wayne Manor, you always have an ability to exhaust your characters. Sure, you could actually reinforce or try and set something up in another way, but you could also gain 1 and be reinforced. Basically, unless you could take away reinforcement, with something like Blind Sided, you were stuck. You could take out some of his guys, but he wouldn't lose endurance for any of them, and with Gone but Not Forgotten (before it was banned), he would in fact gain life for dying. His deck was a stall deck to try and get to turn 8 or 9, and Gamma Bomb everybody to death, followed up with an Imperiex to finish the opponent off. The first time I saw him use it, he was using dice as life, and had a lot of 6-sided dice. He had 10 of them, each with a 5, to represent his original total. I believe he got at least 5 more dice out that game, and was at a ridiculously high total. His cops were ridiculous and while I was generally able to beat the deck (somehow, I could beat him a lot of the time, even though my deck was pretty crappy), it was still incredibly annoying and powerful.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Rogue
Recently, when I was on Realms, I saw a post for a humorous eBay auction. I decided to check it out. It was for 90 of the MOR Rogue, Power Absorption. Yes, 90 of them. With 90, I could build 22 decks with full Rogue in them and still have 2 left over. Do I really need that many? No. But, at 27 cents a Rogue, I decided to buy them. What the heck? It's only $24. But, I still don't need that many, and they are good for Modern and Silver Age, with the reprint from MVL. So, I have decided to give away some of my Rogues to people who actually want them.
All you have to do is pay the shipping, and I will send you anywhere from 1-4 Rogues. Supplies last for a limited time and none of the foreign Rogues will be given away. Maybe the foil will, but maybe not. We shall see. If you click on the button above, you can pay for your shipping. Just let me know how much you have sent and approximately when, so I'll know you actually paid shipping.
All you have to do is pay the shipping, and I will send you anywhere from 1-4 Rogues. Supplies last for a limited time and none of the foreign Rogues will be given away. Maybe the foil will, but maybe not. We shall see. If you click on the button above, you can pay for your shipping. Just let me know how much you have sent and approximately when, so I'll know you actually paid shipping.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Comics on 2/27
Look! A new post! Yay! Anyway, apparently 5 people (including me) read my blog from Friday to now. Weird.
Blue Beetle 24
Basic Plot: Jaime's family and friends flee from the Reach while Jaime enacts his plan.
Okay, so you figured everybody was pretty screwed after last time, right? I mean, they pulled the scarab off of Jaime and locked him in a room, while his family looked like they died in an explosion. Surprise! They're not dead. Traci 13 shows up to save the day. Bringing cookies. I just like this series. It's just good. Never great, but never bad. It is a consistently good series. This storyline is pretty cool and it is nice to see Jaime fight on and enact his plan without the use of the scarab, although with a lot of the knowledge of the scarab. It's just cool. I like this comic. Everybody facing the Reach? Cool. And by everybody, I mean Peacemaker and the Posse, along with La Dama's crew and Traci 13 fighting with Paco, Brenda and Jaime's family against an alien attack? It's just fun! Oh, and I just still love how Jaime is still going on, including speaking in the Reach/Scarab weird language. Just awesome.
Ultimate Fantastic Four 51
Basic Plot: Thanos fights Reed for the cube. Yes, it is pretty much the cover.
After having part of Manhattan brought into space, it is then teleported to Thanos' planet Acheron. Then Thanos confronts Reed and the FF with an army. After Thing is vanished away to somewhere, Reed proves he can use the cube which makes Thanos walk out and challenge Reed. They fight in the realm of the mind. Thanos wins. It really isn't interesting at all. I don't like UFF after Millar, and this is just boring to me. I don't know. Meh.
New Warriors 9
Basic Plot: The Warriors don't trust Thrasher who is about to trick them.
Okay, so they don't fully trust Thrasher, which makes sense to me as he hasn't told them who he is. Plus he has hidden devices in their outfits. They can phase apparently, but he can control it. This series is kind of fun, although not my favorite. I mean, there is some fun stuff, but all in all, it's just kind of weird. I like the idea of the New Warriors although I don't like not knowing who anybody is. I only really can remember that Jubilee is Wondra and that Jono is there, because Jono is easy and Jubilee is practically the main character next to Thrasher. Eh, I like it and it is good, but I'm not a big fan.
World War Hulk: Aftersmash! Damage Control 2
Basic Plot: The Damage Control crew along with a bunch of superheroes try to clean up New York after World War Hulk.
Okay, I didn't read the first part, but I'm getting it next week. I read this anyway, and I think I can guess at what happened. Either way, it is fun this week. The art is good. I like Salva Espin's style. It is similar to Steve McNiven although slightly more cartoony, and I like cartoony. Plus, the entire thing is both silly and serious at the same time, practically. As Bart Razum confronts the Thunderbolts, and is asked if he is psychotic, he mentions Slapstick being actually crazy and then wonders why Slapstick registered since he is an anarchist. Plus he gets to say to Speedball (okay, Penance, but whatever) what I have always wanted to. It's not your fault, no matter what anybody else says or thinks, including you. Stop hurting yourself as it's not you. Stop being Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3. Seriously. I also love how nobody calls Black Goliath by his actual superhero name, but by the names Black Buck, Big Brother and Big Black. Plus they brought back ARCH-E 5912 who insults everybody. It's just a lot of fun. Oh, and the Chrysler Building is angry.
Captain America 35
Basic Plot: Bucky runs crowd control.
Okay, when I say Bucky, I mean the new Cap, who is Bucky. I am not going to call him Captain America, as he is not Steve Rogers, but is in fact James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes, and I will call him Bucky to distinguish him from THE Captain America. So, things are crazy, what with Faustus's SHIELD agents firing into a crowd and people are against SHIELD, and with drugged water to make people go slightly crazier, it blows wide open and Bucky has to beat up some random people and use sleeping gas. It is pretty cool although when this takes place is kind of confusing. Oh well. It is very good though. I do enjoy the Cap issues.
Thor 6
Basic Plot: Life is different for people in the small town in Oklahoma, as gods are there. Thor decides to free all of the Asgardians that are trapped in their mortal forms.
It is awesome to see Thor drawn by Coipel. Olivier is just a great artist and everything in this series has looked amazing and been cool also. I was always a fan of mythology although more Greek than anything. Boring, right? The one mythology everybody learns about. Anyway, I never was too interested in Thor, but when I did read it, it was fun, and so when I eventually read stuff with Beta Ray Bill, I thought it was awesome. Currently, I have a limited knowledge of Norse mythology, although I still enjoy it. I like what they encompass in these stories. It feels somewhat like an Ultimate Norse, as it is the Norse gods living today with humans and hanging out to an extent. I also like how Donald Blake is like a separate personality of Thor, with it being less that Blake becomes Thor and Thor turns back into Blake, but Thor and Blake just share a single body that changes. Kind of confusing, but cool. I like Thor. It's fun.
Ultimate Spider-Man 119
Basic Plot: Liz tries to deal with being a mutant.
Okay, this is the comic that has been consistently good for 119 issues. Seriously, not a single issue that I have read of Ultimate Spider-Man has been bad. I do love this series. I love the concept of Liz, the mutant-phobe, being a mutant and being Firestar. She hasn't picked a name yet, but given how it is named after the show Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and how Iceman is the other character and that there is a female who flies and has fire abilities. Liz is Ultimate Firestar. Hey, if Harry can be Ultimate Hobgoblin, but not the 616 Hobgoblin (which he wasn't! Seriously!), then I can accept this. Plus, I liked seeing Kong just get pissed off at Peter and tells him to go help Liz who is their friend and that he doesn't want to pussyfoot around any more with Peter being Spider-Man. Although he did say it in front of MJ and Kitty, both of whom he couldn't have known that they knew (although he easily could have assumed that they would since both dated him). Either way, it is funny and awesome that Kong is taking charge of his life more and just doing things. Oh, and Liz doesn't have unstable molecules or things close enough to unstable molecules, so she is naked the entire issue. Kind of awkward when she flames off, which she does twice. Once, she has a towel. The other time, Bobby (Iceman) has to surround her in ice, so he won't be able to see her naked. When Spidey shows up, she just flames on again. Plus, that part is awesome, as Iceman asks how Spidey found them, and he just is like, "Um, duh?" with all of the ice trail behind him. I just realized, everybody at the bonfire except for Liz knew that Peter was Spidey and everybody except for Kong had powers (although Liz didn't know she did, Peter hides his from practically everybody although everybody is a small amount of people, and MJ is kind of over being Ultimate Demogoblin, which she apparently was). So many people know Spidey's identity! We've got:
MJ
Aunt May
Kitty
The FF
The X-Men
SHIELD and lots of SHIELD agents
Kong
Green Goblin (dead?)
Hobgoblin (dead?)
Doc Ock
The rest of the Ultimate Sinister 6, although they might not know his name
Daredevil
Kingpin (saw him, but doesn't know name)
So many people, and this is not a definitive list by any means!
Marvel Zombies 2 #5
Basic Plot: The zombies deal with no longer being hungry and stuff.
Well, it ended with a pop. Not a bang, like last one, but a pop. It ended in a way that was interesting, although not great. I don't know, I really liked how Marvel Zombies ended, with the zombies in space as the Galactus eating planets of people. It was cool. This was kind of dull, I have to say. So, pretty much everybody except for Hulk isn't hungry any more, and Hulk goes on a rampage. Somehow, Dark Phoenix is a lot weaker than she normally is and she gets killed along with Iron Man, Firelord and Hawkeye. Eventually, Reynolds sacrifices himself to Hulk as he thinks Wasp is dead, and Hulk is killed as Banner to stop this type of thing from happening again. Malcom is crazy though and transports the zombies (all of the remaining ones) to somewhere, and then beats Forge up, and is crazy. It is a "The End?", but frankly, I don't know if they could do much any more. The zombies are all somewhere else at this point, and they aren't hungry so it wouldn't really be interesting to follow either group. Oh well. It is kind of interesting to think of where the zombies may be, but not something I care about that much.
Blue Beetle 24
Basic Plot: Jaime's family and friends flee from the Reach while Jaime enacts his plan.
Okay, so you figured everybody was pretty screwed after last time, right? I mean, they pulled the scarab off of Jaime and locked him in a room, while his family looked like they died in an explosion. Surprise! They're not dead. Traci 13 shows up to save the day. Bringing cookies. I just like this series. It's just good. Never great, but never bad. It is a consistently good series. This storyline is pretty cool and it is nice to see Jaime fight on and enact his plan without the use of the scarab, although with a lot of the knowledge of the scarab. It's just cool. I like this comic. Everybody facing the Reach? Cool. And by everybody, I mean Peacemaker and the Posse, along with La Dama's crew and Traci 13 fighting with Paco, Brenda and Jaime's family against an alien attack? It's just fun! Oh, and I just still love how Jaime is still going on, including speaking in the Reach/Scarab weird language. Just awesome.
Ultimate Fantastic Four 51
Basic Plot: Thanos fights Reed for the cube. Yes, it is pretty much the cover.
After having part of Manhattan brought into space, it is then teleported to Thanos' planet Acheron. Then Thanos confronts Reed and the FF with an army. After Thing is vanished away to somewhere, Reed proves he can use the cube which makes Thanos walk out and challenge Reed. They fight in the realm of the mind. Thanos wins. It really isn't interesting at all. I don't like UFF after Millar, and this is just boring to me. I don't know. Meh.
New Warriors 9
Basic Plot: The Warriors don't trust Thrasher who is about to trick them.
Okay, so they don't fully trust Thrasher, which makes sense to me as he hasn't told them who he is. Plus he has hidden devices in their outfits. They can phase apparently, but he can control it. This series is kind of fun, although not my favorite. I mean, there is some fun stuff, but all in all, it's just kind of weird. I like the idea of the New Warriors although I don't like not knowing who anybody is. I only really can remember that Jubilee is Wondra and that Jono is there, because Jono is easy and Jubilee is practically the main character next to Thrasher. Eh, I like it and it is good, but I'm not a big fan.
World War Hulk: Aftersmash! Damage Control 2
Basic Plot: The Damage Control crew along with a bunch of superheroes try to clean up New York after World War Hulk.
Okay, I didn't read the first part, but I'm getting it next week. I read this anyway, and I think I can guess at what happened. Either way, it is fun this week. The art is good. I like Salva Espin's style. It is similar to Steve McNiven although slightly more cartoony, and I like cartoony. Plus, the entire thing is both silly and serious at the same time, practically. As Bart Razum confronts the Thunderbolts, and is asked if he is psychotic, he mentions Slapstick being actually crazy and then wonders why Slapstick registered since he is an anarchist. Plus he gets to say to Speedball (okay, Penance, but whatever) what I have always wanted to. It's not your fault, no matter what anybody else says or thinks, including you. Stop hurting yourself as it's not you. Stop being Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3. Seriously. I also love how nobody calls Black Goliath by his actual superhero name, but by the names Black Buck, Big Brother and Big Black. Plus they brought back ARCH-E 5912 who insults everybody. It's just a lot of fun. Oh, and the Chrysler Building is angry.
Captain America 35
Basic Plot: Bucky runs crowd control.
Okay, when I say Bucky, I mean the new Cap, who is Bucky. I am not going to call him Captain America, as he is not Steve Rogers, but is in fact James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes, and I will call him Bucky to distinguish him from THE Captain America. So, things are crazy, what with Faustus's SHIELD agents firing into a crowd and people are against SHIELD, and with drugged water to make people go slightly crazier, it blows wide open and Bucky has to beat up some random people and use sleeping gas. It is pretty cool although when this takes place is kind of confusing. Oh well. It is very good though. I do enjoy the Cap issues.
Thor 6
Basic Plot: Life is different for people in the small town in Oklahoma, as gods are there. Thor decides to free all of the Asgardians that are trapped in their mortal forms.
It is awesome to see Thor drawn by Coipel. Olivier is just a great artist and everything in this series has looked amazing and been cool also. I was always a fan of mythology although more Greek than anything. Boring, right? The one mythology everybody learns about. Anyway, I never was too interested in Thor, but when I did read it, it was fun, and so when I eventually read stuff with Beta Ray Bill, I thought it was awesome. Currently, I have a limited knowledge of Norse mythology, although I still enjoy it. I like what they encompass in these stories. It feels somewhat like an Ultimate Norse, as it is the Norse gods living today with humans and hanging out to an extent. I also like how Donald Blake is like a separate personality of Thor, with it being less that Blake becomes Thor and Thor turns back into Blake, but Thor and Blake just share a single body that changes. Kind of confusing, but cool. I like Thor. It's fun.
Ultimate Spider-Man 119
Basic Plot: Liz tries to deal with being a mutant.
Okay, this is the comic that has been consistently good for 119 issues. Seriously, not a single issue that I have read of Ultimate Spider-Man has been bad. I do love this series. I love the concept of Liz, the mutant-phobe, being a mutant and being Firestar. She hasn't picked a name yet, but given how it is named after the show Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and how Iceman is the other character and that there is a female who flies and has fire abilities. Liz is Ultimate Firestar. Hey, if Harry can be Ultimate Hobgoblin, but not the 616 Hobgoblin (which he wasn't! Seriously!), then I can accept this. Plus, I liked seeing Kong just get pissed off at Peter and tells him to go help Liz who is their friend and that he doesn't want to pussyfoot around any more with Peter being Spider-Man. Although he did say it in front of MJ and Kitty, both of whom he couldn't have known that they knew (although he easily could have assumed that they would since both dated him). Either way, it is funny and awesome that Kong is taking charge of his life more and just doing things. Oh, and Liz doesn't have unstable molecules or things close enough to unstable molecules, so she is naked the entire issue. Kind of awkward when she flames off, which she does twice. Once, she has a towel. The other time, Bobby (Iceman) has to surround her in ice, so he won't be able to see her naked. When Spidey shows up, she just flames on again. Plus, that part is awesome, as Iceman asks how Spidey found them, and he just is like, "Um, duh?" with all of the ice trail behind him. I just realized, everybody at the bonfire except for Liz knew that Peter was Spidey and everybody except for Kong had powers (although Liz didn't know she did, Peter hides his from practically everybody although everybody is a small amount of people, and MJ is kind of over being Ultimate Demogoblin, which she apparently was). So many people know Spidey's identity! We've got:
MJ
Aunt May
Kitty
The FF
The X-Men
SHIELD and lots of SHIELD agents
Kong
Green Goblin (dead?)
Hobgoblin (dead?)
Doc Ock
The rest of the Ultimate Sinister 6, although they might not know his name
Daredevil
Kingpin (saw him, but doesn't know name)
So many people, and this is not a definitive list by any means!
Marvel Zombies 2 #5
Basic Plot: The zombies deal with no longer being hungry and stuff.
Well, it ended with a pop. Not a bang, like last one, but a pop. It ended in a way that was interesting, although not great. I don't know, I really liked how Marvel Zombies ended, with the zombies in space as the Galactus eating planets of people. It was cool. This was kind of dull, I have to say. So, pretty much everybody except for Hulk isn't hungry any more, and Hulk goes on a rampage. Somehow, Dark Phoenix is a lot weaker than she normally is and she gets killed along with Iron Man, Firelord and Hawkeye. Eventually, Reynolds sacrifices himself to Hulk as he thinks Wasp is dead, and Hulk is killed as Banner to stop this type of thing from happening again. Malcom is crazy though and transports the zombies (all of the remaining ones) to somewhere, and then beats Forge up, and is crazy. It is a "The End?", but frankly, I don't know if they could do much any more. The zombies are all somewhere else at this point, and they aren't hungry so it wouldn't really be interesting to follow either group. Oh well. It is kind of interesting to think of where the zombies may be, but not something I care about that much.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Paranoia
Okay, so I am paranoid in a lot of situations, and this is one of them. Near the beginning of this blog, I decided to see how many people actually read the blog. The easiest way for me to do that was to put a counter (small one) at the very bottom of the page. If you scroll all the way down, you can see it. Here, I'll make it easy to come back to the same spot. THIS IS WHERE YOU WERE!!! Okay, so you probably saw it. Now, I have no idea if that is an accurate representation of the number of people. It could just be that when I go to the page, or anyone else who reads it on a regular basis, it keeps adding, so I'm really not at 1200+ views on my blog. So, to satisfy a curiosity, I'm asking every person who reads this post, and this sentence in particular, to post a comment on this entry. You can just say "Hi" or let me know if you read on a regular basis, or just this one entry or whatever, but I want to try to figure out how many people actually do read this. I know not everybody who reads this will post a comment (unless there are so few people that actually do read this), but I at least want to know how many people will comment if I ask them to nicely. Please. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Pleeeeease.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Deadpool!!!
If you know me at all, you know I love Deadpool. On CarlosTheDwarf's blog today, he mentioned the upcoming Wolverine movie. The pic for it is pretty cool, and I do like Wolverine, so I am somewhat excited about the upcoming flick. Now, I am super-excited. Apparently, they cast someone to play Deadpool in the movie. Ryan Reynolds (at the moment, it is speculation, but still) is apparently going to play Deadpool. Now, I have a reason to be excited for next year. I want next year now. I know it's only February, but I want 2009, so I can have my Deadpool. Iron Man? Meh. Dark Knight? Meh. Wolverine (because of Deadpool)? Hells yeah!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Life is so bittersweet
Okay, so today is tragic for me, as it brings me to the end of the wonderful..., no, I'll let you read for yourself. This is the comic review for today, Wednesday, Feb 20.
Ultimates 3 #3
Basic Plot: Wolverine goes over part of his past, as he convinces the Ultimates to go retrieve Scarlet Witch's body from Magneto.
If you have read my blog, you know I have been extremely disappointed with Ultimates 3, as it was bad, and Ultimates 2 and Ultimates were my favorite stories of all time. I think I have had what I refer to as a "Zoolander" moment, as I had incredibly low expectations and was excited after it was over. My aunt and uncle appear briefly in Zoolander in a single scene, where they were at a party when part of Zoolander was filmed. You know what, I'm not even sure if they do appear, but they were, never mind. I don't like Ben Stiller, as I don't like stupidity in certain (like Ben Stiller) cases. But, it was funny enough that I was able to enjoy it anyway. If you go into something with a low expectation, you can go from being right to being surprised and being happy about it. Ultimates 3 you have to look at from that perspective. It was fun. Not good, but amusing. I still don't know what is going on fully, as there are way too many things happening, but I do know that they have to wrap it up in the next few issues, as Ultimates 3 is only 5 issues long, and they have two issues left. I no longer look at it as the sequel to Ultimates and Ultimates 2, but merely something that semi-relates to Ultimates and Ultimates 2. That makes it better.
The Order 8
Basic Plot: Supernaut and Aralune get out of the mess they were in with the M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W. while Mulholland tries to get out of the mess she's in.
First off, I know that I missed The Order 7, but I picked it up this weekend. It was pretty good. I think I like The Order because it takes place in California, and I like being reminded of where I'm from. Plus, this one was pretty cool all in all. This isn't the greatest series I have read. It isn't bad though, and while practically everybody in it is specially made for this series, it is still pretty good. It no longer has the Initiative stamp that got me to read it in the first place, but it is amusing enough that I will continue to read it as I find it fun.
Ultimate Human 2
Basic Plot: Tony and Bruce work out their problems, while the Leader makes his move.
First off, let me say that I like that Ultimate Pete Wisdom is the Ultimate Leader and that he can't actually support the weight of his head, and has to be in a special wheelchair that supports his head, so he doesn't die. I never liked Pete Wisdom, and so seeing him as a villain is satisfying. The fight was amusing, but not as good as I wanted, although the talk was good. I don't know, but the whole premise is at least amusing. Hopefully, not everybody will just die, although I know Tony at least survives to Ultimates 3. Hulk? Probably. Leader? Maybe, maybe not.
World War Hulk: Warbound 3
Basic Plot: The Leader's Gammaworld is killing everybody within it, and the Warbound try to get everybody out.
I loved the Warbound, and I find it fun to see them fighting to protect people who are trying to kill them. It's classic X-Men all over again. Fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them. They were never evil and never were bad guys (well, maybe the Brood was when she was back on Broodworld) and were only doing what seemed to be right, but are now hated and hunted. This is a fun storyline and I like seeing the Warbound together. I want them to be a team after this, although without Hulk and Miek, and without a single human in the bunch and with Hiroim's Old Power going crazy, I doubt this will happen. Oh well, at least I get to have fun just seeing them in this series. It is a real blast and incredibly fun to see all these characters, as they are actually interesting and deep. What happens next should be fun and interesting.
Runaways 29
Basic Plot: Hah, basic. I don't think I could explain it anyway. The official version is this: "The Runaways find themselves in the middle of a super-powered gang war in 1907! To make matters worse, two figures from the Runaways’ past show their faces. Mr. and Mrs. Yorkes don’t believe that the Runaways played such an innocent role in their daughter’s death. Heads will roll!"
With everything taking place in a superpowered past that is incredibly confusing, I don't know what's going on at all. Why did I pick this up? Well, I love Joss Whedon and I love Michael Ryan. I actually met Michael Ryan and he is a great person and a great artist. Joss Whedon is an amazing writer. With that, I don't really know what is happening. I do know that I was intrigued by the reaction by a young girl (with an older husband who makes her preform her "marital duties") to Xavin (as a female) and Karolina making out. It's a sin to be homosexual, but not to be forced to have sex while a young girl with a much older man. Molly isn't the most mature (in fact is often fairly immature), but is very deep when explaining that the homosexuality (to an extent) is completely normal and that she doesn't want to have somebody her own age to hang out with if that person is homophobic and can't accept her friends. As someone who grew up in San Francisco, I have never had a problem with all types of things that would make people upset and claim to be a sin. I really like this as it shows how much things have changed, although it also makes me think of the people who don't approve of homosexuality today anyway. Sigh...
Ultimate X-Men 91
Basic Plot: Apocalypse kicks everybody's ass.
Seriously, that is the plot. The Ultimate Apocalypse can control mutants, which means that Spidey gets attacked by Kitty (who apparently is patrolling with him, even though they are no longer a couple) and the FF get attacked by Cyclops and the staff of Xavier's. Apocalypse also apparently just gets stronger when attacked, kind of like Darwin from 616 X-Men. He originally wore the outfit he is known for, but when attacked, he gained armor and became more powerful. And as powerful as he is, he also has Ultimate Stryfe and Ultimate Onslaught under his control. Who are they? Who knows? Based off of who Ultimate Cable is, Ultimate Stryfe is a clone of Ultimate Wolverine, which means there could be three Wolverines at the same time. Ultimate Onslaught? Who knows, although he doesn't look as much like Magneto as his 616 counterpart. I'm just wondering how Kirkman figures the X-Men are going to get out of this one. I love you Kirkman, but holy moly, you made a mess. With someone that powerful, what is it going to take to take out Ultimate Apocalypse? Seriously! What?
The Incredible Hercules 114
Basic Plot: Hercules tries to deal with hallucinations and Amadeus makes his choice.
Okay, so I have liked Amadeus Cho, and while I don't like what happened, I can understand why he is doing what he is doing, but I disagree with him. While trying to hack the stone ship so he can take down SHIELD (something I don't fully approve of, but understand), and after taking out a SHIELD agent who was trying to take him out, Black Widow hits him from behind, kocking him onto his stomach. Which is where he keeps his coyote pup, and breaks the coyote's back. This of course drives Amadeus to take drastic measures and he is aiming to completely wipe out SHIELD as vengeance for breaking his coyote pup's back. I liked that coyote, but I don't think he is in the right fully. SHILED should offer him full medical support for his best friend, but he shouldn't go all out and take out a group that actually does a lot of good (for all the bad things they have done, and even with The Devi...I mean Tony Stark leading them, they are still trying to do good). Sorry, but I disagree with Cho. The rest is fun, with Herc's hallucinations being amusing. On a somewhat morbid note, given what happened in the issue, you can go to http://www.puppycho.com and vote on a name for his coyote pup. Considering what happened to the pup, it's somewhat sad.
Amazing Spider-Man 551
Basic Plot: After evading the police, he goes after Menace with Jackpot.
Look at that. Menace also has red, flowing hair. Hmm... Anyway, I am going to ignore that One More Day and Brand New Day have ever taken place and just going to look at this from the perspective of someone that is just looking at the single issue. I love this arc and like the directions Spidey is going in. Spidey is fun, and I think that the story is fun. See, if you look at how it compares to other things, it doesn't fit well, and is confusing, but if you look at it as an individual story that could take place at any time (such as during the 70's or 80's something), it becomes a lot better. I actually enjoy the stories, and still intensely hate their reason for being. These are very much like the classic Spidey stories of old, with it just being set in the present, and things being confusing. Oh, and Sara Ehret may or may not be Jackpot, but it looks like she knows something, but isn't quite Jackpot. Who is Jackpot? I still don't think it's MJ, because that is the obvious answer, although I also didn't think that the new Cap would be Bucky because that was too obvious, and I was wrong there.
Hulk 2
Basic Plot: Red Hulk tears up the Gold Helicarrier.
Okay, WTF? Seriously! I mean, it was sort of obvious that Red Hulk wouldn't be Banner, but who is he? And why is he doing the things he is doing? He shot Abomination with a big gun (and by big, I mean a handgun that looks special designed for Hulk), and then wrecks the Helicarrier to destroy the info they had on the Hulk? Why? What's going on? What is Jeph Loeb's obsession with making things amazingly confusing and then slowly picking the pieces away until you go, "Okay, that was a pretty good story! Not at the beginning, when it was confusing as hell, but now that it is over, it is good." Oh, and why are there different colors? Sure, a Red Hulk, but a Blue Abomination? WTF? Oy, I should stop trying to understand Loeb writing at the moment, and just look back at it after it is all over. At the very least, it was better than Ultimates 3.
Mighty Avengers 9
Basic Plot: After learning the Venom bomb originated in some way or another from Latveria, the Mighty Avengers go after Doom.
Ah, Bendis. Thank you. I am going to miss Bagley when he joins the Dreaded Competition (unless he draws Blue Beetle), and you were able to force him to do a lot of art in this issue. Seriously. 3 double pages in a row of the Mighty Avengers fighting Doom Sentries and everything? Awesome. I mean, when Nextwave did it, it was supposed to be a joke, but this is just awesome and we get to see Bagley make an amazing spread. 3 of them in a row? Thank you Bendis. The story is a little lame, but it is also making up for lost time thanks to Cho being a perfectionist. I also like the parallels between Stark's armor and Doom's armor (both of them have similar readings as they fight). I also love the art at the beginning. It isn't Bagley art, but is done by Djurdjevic who is an amazing painter. He did the alternate covers for the One More Day series, and was amazing with simple characters on white. His 1211 is awesome as Doom time-travels and talks with Morgan Le Fay, who teaches him his magics. It is just awesome. Bendis, thank you for making Baglery do double page fighting spreads before he leaves Marvel for the forseeable future.
Wolverine: Origins 22
Basic Plot: Deadpool keeps trying to kill Wolverine.
God, I hate Steve Dillon and I am starting to dislike Daniel Way. Dillon's art is horrible and makes me ill every time I see it. It's just awful, with no motion, and everything is stiff and I hate it. I don't hate Dillon, just his art. Sorry about the comment in the beginning. Daniel Way does not understand Deadpool at all, unless he has some big plan for him later. If he does, then it better be good. Considering..., I'll save it. Deadpool deserves better. Deadpool reminds me a lot of this person I went to high school with, Nikolai. Nikolai and Deadpool both act stupid and crazy in order to get attention and to be funny. Neither is a rocket scientist, but neither is totally retarded either. Nikolai wasn't the smartest guy at school, but he wasn't stupid either. Deadpool isn't a stupid idiot, although he is an idiot. He'll say random things and use pop-culture references and break the fourth wall and talk to himself (well, the readers, but he doesn't hear responses so it's as good as talking to himself). He's not stupid though. He is also a good fighter. Read Cable and Deadpool, issue 36. While both hands and feet are shackled, he is able to take out Taskmaster. Taskmaster is an amazing fighter and incredibly powerful, and while shackled, Deadpool took him out. Deadpool is competent, he just acts stupid. In this, it seems that Deadpool just is stupid. Everything he is doing makes him look stupid, although without making it seem as though he is trying to be stupid. Hopefully, it'll get better, because I hate that Deadpool gets such poor treatment.
Cable and Deadpool 50
Basic Plot: Deadpool and crew fight off symbiote dinosaurs with the help of Spidey, the Mighty Avengers and the FF.
Wow, two Deadpool issues in a single week. I should be ecstatic, right? Unforunately, even though there was Deadpool, it was bittersweet. Dillon and Way making a mockery of Deadpool in Wolverine: Origins (good because it is a comic with Deadpool, bad because of Dillon and Way). This issue is a bigger issue than normal (good), but is also the finale (bad). See, this is a good issue though, and amazing, and I love Deadpool a lot, so this is an awesome way to go out with a bang. When Spidey confronts him about what he did, he denies it at first, then let's him know that the dinosaurs were his fault (which is true), but the symbiotes weren't his fault. Weasel and Bob back up Deadpool in his assertion, which causes Spider-Man to ask about his sidekicks, which Deadpool responds by talking about how he didn't have to make a deal with Mpehisto to accomplish it. Yay, obvious reference to how retarded the idea of One More Day is! When Bob gets carried away by a symbiote-covered Triceratops, pure humor, and how he accidentally defeats it? Genius! Plus, it seems his wife approved of his kicking a symbiote-Triceratops's ass, as he got texted that she saw him defeat the Triceratops on TV. The heroes fighting the symbiote dinosaurs ask Deadpool to help them out, like Thing or Black Widow, and he gladly helps, and it just fits to me. He isn't quite a hero, still somewhat of an anti-hero, but he is more heroic than before and it fits. I never liked him because he was a hero, but I loved his personality, and that it intact, while he is a hero. It's awesome. The speech he makes near the end is the pure form of what I said. Imagine this being told in his yellow boxes: "They're everywhere. All the city's best heroes. Fighting together. Ms. Marvel and Mr. Wonderful [Wonder Man]. Spider-Woman and Mr. Thing. Dude I don't know [Ares]. Sentry and the Wasp... All of them fighting together...And I'm standing right alongside all of them...And when yo ucome down to it, I sure don't feel out of place here. Of course, maybe standing next to ice-cold super-spy Black Widow might alleviate some of that out-of-place thing a bit. But even so...They don't look at me funny. She says, 'Cover my flank' and I don't make a joke about it. I just do it. And I do it well, because let's never forget...I might be an annoying brain-addled, absurdly conflicted individual...But I can still kick ass better than the best of them." It's true. He is a hero like them. Maybe not like them, but he is still a hero. He can also kick ass, and while brain-addled and conflicted, he is also awesome. When Deadpool saves the say, Ms. Marvel thanks him for it and lets him know and everybody around them know that she thinks he did a good job. And at the end, he just hangs out with his peeps, Weasel, Irene Merryweather, Bob, Alex, Outlaw, and Sandi. And something I think is awesome. At the end, Nicieza wasn't able to do the scripts fully, so Reilly Brown stepped in and completed them. And considering how well it was done, I really think Brown is awesome as a plotter. Wait, that came out right. Reilly Brown plotted well, and... damn it! You get the idea. They also had some nice pin-ups. Mark Brooks did Cable and Deadpool in his Marvel Girl outfit. Patrick Zircher make s hidden images pic with Cable and Deadpool fighting where you can find tons of different random things. Ron Lim did one of Deadpool kicking HYDRA agents upside the head with Cable in the background. And of course, one by the creator (semi-creator) of both, Rob Liefeld, one of the most controversial artists around. Well, now you know why I am both happy and sad. Happy because of the awesomeness that was the last issue of Cable and Deadpool, sad because it was the last issue.
Ultimates 3 #3
Basic Plot: Wolverine goes over part of his past, as he convinces the Ultimates to go retrieve Scarlet Witch's body from Magneto.
If you have read my blog, you know I have been extremely disappointed with Ultimates 3, as it was bad, and Ultimates 2 and Ultimates were my favorite stories of all time. I think I have had what I refer to as a "Zoolander" moment, as I had incredibly low expectations and was excited after it was over. My aunt and uncle appear briefly in Zoolander in a single scene, where they were at a party when part of Zoolander was filmed. You know what, I'm not even sure if they do appear, but they were, never mind. I don't like Ben Stiller, as I don't like stupidity in certain (like Ben Stiller) cases. But, it was funny enough that I was able to enjoy it anyway. If you go into something with a low expectation, you can go from being right to being surprised and being happy about it. Ultimates 3 you have to look at from that perspective. It was fun. Not good, but amusing. I still don't know what is going on fully, as there are way too many things happening, but I do know that they have to wrap it up in the next few issues, as Ultimates 3 is only 5 issues long, and they have two issues left. I no longer look at it as the sequel to Ultimates and Ultimates 2, but merely something that semi-relates to Ultimates and Ultimates 2. That makes it better.
The Order 8
Basic Plot: Supernaut and Aralune get out of the mess they were in with the M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W. while Mulholland tries to get out of the mess she's in.
First off, I know that I missed The Order 7, but I picked it up this weekend. It was pretty good. I think I like The Order because it takes place in California, and I like being reminded of where I'm from. Plus, this one was pretty cool all in all. This isn't the greatest series I have read. It isn't bad though, and while practically everybody in it is specially made for this series, it is still pretty good. It no longer has the Initiative stamp that got me to read it in the first place, but it is amusing enough that I will continue to read it as I find it fun.
Ultimate Human 2
Basic Plot: Tony and Bruce work out their problems, while the Leader makes his move.
First off, let me say that I like that Ultimate Pete Wisdom is the Ultimate Leader and that he can't actually support the weight of his head, and has to be in a special wheelchair that supports his head, so he doesn't die. I never liked Pete Wisdom, and so seeing him as a villain is satisfying. The fight was amusing, but not as good as I wanted, although the talk was good. I don't know, but the whole premise is at least amusing. Hopefully, not everybody will just die, although I know Tony at least survives to Ultimates 3. Hulk? Probably. Leader? Maybe, maybe not.
World War Hulk: Warbound 3
Basic Plot: The Leader's Gammaworld is killing everybody within it, and the Warbound try to get everybody out.
I loved the Warbound, and I find it fun to see them fighting to protect people who are trying to kill them. It's classic X-Men all over again. Fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them. They were never evil and never were bad guys (well, maybe the Brood was when she was back on Broodworld) and were only doing what seemed to be right, but are now hated and hunted. This is a fun storyline and I like seeing the Warbound together. I want them to be a team after this, although without Hulk and Miek, and without a single human in the bunch and with Hiroim's Old Power going crazy, I doubt this will happen. Oh well, at least I get to have fun just seeing them in this series. It is a real blast and incredibly fun to see all these characters, as they are actually interesting and deep. What happens next should be fun and interesting.
Runaways 29
Basic Plot: Hah, basic. I don't think I could explain it anyway. The official version is this: "The Runaways find themselves in the middle of a super-powered gang war in 1907! To make matters worse, two figures from the Runaways’ past show their faces. Mr. and Mrs. Yorkes don’t believe that the Runaways played such an innocent role in their daughter’s death. Heads will roll!"
With everything taking place in a superpowered past that is incredibly confusing, I don't know what's going on at all. Why did I pick this up? Well, I love Joss Whedon and I love Michael Ryan. I actually met Michael Ryan and he is a great person and a great artist. Joss Whedon is an amazing writer. With that, I don't really know what is happening. I do know that I was intrigued by the reaction by a young girl (with an older husband who makes her preform her "marital duties") to Xavin (as a female) and Karolina making out. It's a sin to be homosexual, but not to be forced to have sex while a young girl with a much older man. Molly isn't the most mature (in fact is often fairly immature), but is very deep when explaining that the homosexuality (to an extent) is completely normal and that she doesn't want to have somebody her own age to hang out with if that person is homophobic and can't accept her friends. As someone who grew up in San Francisco, I have never had a problem with all types of things that would make people upset and claim to be a sin. I really like this as it shows how much things have changed, although it also makes me think of the people who don't approve of homosexuality today anyway. Sigh...
Ultimate X-Men 91
Basic Plot: Apocalypse kicks everybody's ass.
Seriously, that is the plot. The Ultimate Apocalypse can control mutants, which means that Spidey gets attacked by Kitty (who apparently is patrolling with him, even though they are no longer a couple) and the FF get attacked by Cyclops and the staff of Xavier's. Apocalypse also apparently just gets stronger when attacked, kind of like Darwin from 616 X-Men. He originally wore the outfit he is known for, but when attacked, he gained armor and became more powerful. And as powerful as he is, he also has Ultimate Stryfe and Ultimate Onslaught under his control. Who are they? Who knows? Based off of who Ultimate Cable is, Ultimate Stryfe is a clone of Ultimate Wolverine, which means there could be three Wolverines at the same time. Ultimate Onslaught? Who knows, although he doesn't look as much like Magneto as his 616 counterpart. I'm just wondering how Kirkman figures the X-Men are going to get out of this one. I love you Kirkman, but holy moly, you made a mess. With someone that powerful, what is it going to take to take out Ultimate Apocalypse? Seriously! What?
The Incredible Hercules 114
Basic Plot: Hercules tries to deal with hallucinations and Amadeus makes his choice.
Okay, so I have liked Amadeus Cho, and while I don't like what happened, I can understand why he is doing what he is doing, but I disagree with him. While trying to hack the stone ship so he can take down SHIELD (something I don't fully approve of, but understand), and after taking out a SHIELD agent who was trying to take him out, Black Widow hits him from behind, kocking him onto his stomach. Which is where he keeps his coyote pup, and breaks the coyote's back. This of course drives Amadeus to take drastic measures and he is aiming to completely wipe out SHIELD as vengeance for breaking his coyote pup's back. I liked that coyote, but I don't think he is in the right fully. SHILED should offer him full medical support for his best friend, but he shouldn't go all out and take out a group that actually does a lot of good (for all the bad things they have done, and even with The Devi...I mean Tony Stark leading them, they are still trying to do good). Sorry, but I disagree with Cho. The rest is fun, with Herc's hallucinations being amusing. On a somewhat morbid note, given what happened in the issue, you can go to http://www.puppycho.com and vote on a name for his coyote pup. Considering what happened to the pup, it's somewhat sad.
Amazing Spider-Man 551
Basic Plot: After evading the police, he goes after Menace with Jackpot.
Look at that. Menace also has red, flowing hair. Hmm... Anyway, I am going to ignore that One More Day and Brand New Day have ever taken place and just going to look at this from the perspective of someone that is just looking at the single issue. I love this arc and like the directions Spidey is going in. Spidey is fun, and I think that the story is fun. See, if you look at how it compares to other things, it doesn't fit well, and is confusing, but if you look at it as an individual story that could take place at any time (such as during the 70's or 80's something), it becomes a lot better. I actually enjoy the stories, and still intensely hate their reason for being. These are very much like the classic Spidey stories of old, with it just being set in the present, and things being confusing. Oh, and Sara Ehret may or may not be Jackpot, but it looks like she knows something, but isn't quite Jackpot. Who is Jackpot? I still don't think it's MJ, because that is the obvious answer, although I also didn't think that the new Cap would be Bucky because that was too obvious, and I was wrong there.
Hulk 2
Basic Plot: Red Hulk tears up the Gold Helicarrier.
Okay, WTF? Seriously! I mean, it was sort of obvious that Red Hulk wouldn't be Banner, but who is he? And why is he doing the things he is doing? He shot Abomination with a big gun (and by big, I mean a handgun that looks special designed for Hulk), and then wrecks the Helicarrier to destroy the info they had on the Hulk? Why? What's going on? What is Jeph Loeb's obsession with making things amazingly confusing and then slowly picking the pieces away until you go, "Okay, that was a pretty good story! Not at the beginning, when it was confusing as hell, but now that it is over, it is good." Oh, and why are there different colors? Sure, a Red Hulk, but a Blue Abomination? WTF? Oy, I should stop trying to understand Loeb writing at the moment, and just look back at it after it is all over. At the very least, it was better than Ultimates 3.
Mighty Avengers 9
Basic Plot: After learning the Venom bomb originated in some way or another from Latveria, the Mighty Avengers go after Doom.
Ah, Bendis. Thank you. I am going to miss Bagley when he joins the Dreaded Competition (unless he draws Blue Beetle), and you were able to force him to do a lot of art in this issue. Seriously. 3 double pages in a row of the Mighty Avengers fighting Doom Sentries and everything? Awesome. I mean, when Nextwave did it, it was supposed to be a joke, but this is just awesome and we get to see Bagley make an amazing spread. 3 of them in a row? Thank you Bendis. The story is a little lame, but it is also making up for lost time thanks to Cho being a perfectionist. I also like the parallels between Stark's armor and Doom's armor (both of them have similar readings as they fight). I also love the art at the beginning. It isn't Bagley art, but is done by Djurdjevic who is an amazing painter. He did the alternate covers for the One More Day series, and was amazing with simple characters on white. His 1211 is awesome as Doom time-travels and talks with Morgan Le Fay, who teaches him his magics. It is just awesome. Bendis, thank you for making Baglery do double page fighting spreads before he leaves Marvel for the forseeable future.
Wolverine: Origins 22
Basic Plot: Deadpool keeps trying to kill Wolverine.
God, I hate Steve Dillon and I am starting to dislike Daniel Way. Dillon's art is horrible and makes me ill every time I see it. It's just awful, with no motion, and everything is stiff and I hate it. I don't hate Dillon, just his art. Sorry about the comment in the beginning. Daniel Way does not understand Deadpool at all, unless he has some big plan for him later. If he does, then it better be good. Considering..., I'll save it. Deadpool deserves better. Deadpool reminds me a lot of this person I went to high school with, Nikolai. Nikolai and Deadpool both act stupid and crazy in order to get attention and to be funny. Neither is a rocket scientist, but neither is totally retarded either. Nikolai wasn't the smartest guy at school, but he wasn't stupid either. Deadpool isn't a stupid idiot, although he is an idiot. He'll say random things and use pop-culture references and break the fourth wall and talk to himself (well, the readers, but he doesn't hear responses so it's as good as talking to himself). He's not stupid though. He is also a good fighter. Read Cable and Deadpool, issue 36. While both hands and feet are shackled, he is able to take out Taskmaster. Taskmaster is an amazing fighter and incredibly powerful, and while shackled, Deadpool took him out. Deadpool is competent, he just acts stupid. In this, it seems that Deadpool just is stupid. Everything he is doing makes him look stupid, although without making it seem as though he is trying to be stupid. Hopefully, it'll get better, because I hate that Deadpool gets such poor treatment.
Cable and Deadpool 50
Basic Plot: Deadpool and crew fight off symbiote dinosaurs with the help of Spidey, the Mighty Avengers and the FF.
Wow, two Deadpool issues in a single week. I should be ecstatic, right? Unforunately, even though there was Deadpool, it was bittersweet. Dillon and Way making a mockery of Deadpool in Wolverine: Origins (good because it is a comic with Deadpool, bad because of Dillon and Way). This issue is a bigger issue than normal (good), but is also the finale (bad). See, this is a good issue though, and amazing, and I love Deadpool a lot, so this is an awesome way to go out with a bang. When Spidey confronts him about what he did, he denies it at first, then let's him know that the dinosaurs were his fault (which is true), but the symbiotes weren't his fault. Weasel and Bob back up Deadpool in his assertion, which causes Spider-Man to ask about his sidekicks, which Deadpool responds by talking about how he didn't have to make a deal with Mpehisto to accomplish it. Yay, obvious reference to how retarded the idea of One More Day is! When Bob gets carried away by a symbiote-covered Triceratops, pure humor, and how he accidentally defeats it? Genius! Plus, it seems his wife approved of his kicking a symbiote-Triceratops's ass, as he got texted that she saw him defeat the Triceratops on TV. The heroes fighting the symbiote dinosaurs ask Deadpool to help them out, like Thing or Black Widow, and he gladly helps, and it just fits to me. He isn't quite a hero, still somewhat of an anti-hero, but he is more heroic than before and it fits. I never liked him because he was a hero, but I loved his personality, and that it intact, while he is a hero. It's awesome. The speech he makes near the end is the pure form of what I said. Imagine this being told in his yellow boxes: "They're everywhere. All the city's best heroes. Fighting together. Ms. Marvel and Mr. Wonderful [Wonder Man]. Spider-Woman and Mr. Thing. Dude I don't know [Ares]. Sentry and the Wasp... All of them fighting together...And I'm standing right alongside all of them...And when yo ucome down to it, I sure don't feel out of place here. Of course, maybe standing next to ice-cold super-spy Black Widow might alleviate some of that out-of-place thing a bit. But even so...They don't look at me funny. She says, 'Cover my flank' and I don't make a joke about it. I just do it. And I do it well, because let's never forget...I might be an annoying brain-addled, absurdly conflicted individual...But I can still kick ass better than the best of them." It's true. He is a hero like them. Maybe not like them, but he is still a hero. He can also kick ass, and while brain-addled and conflicted, he is also awesome. When Deadpool saves the say, Ms. Marvel thanks him for it and lets him know and everybody around them know that she thinks he did a good job. And at the end, he just hangs out with his peeps, Weasel, Irene Merryweather, Bob, Alex, Outlaw, and Sandi. And something I think is awesome. At the end, Nicieza wasn't able to do the scripts fully, so Reilly Brown stepped in and completed them. And considering how well it was done, I really think Brown is awesome as a plotter. Wait, that came out right. Reilly Brown plotted well, and... damn it! You get the idea. They also had some nice pin-ups. Mark Brooks did Cable and Deadpool in his Marvel Girl outfit. Patrick Zircher make s hidden images pic with Cable and Deadpool fighting where you can find tons of different random things. Ron Lim did one of Deadpool kicking HYDRA agents upside the head with Cable in the background. And of course, one by the creator (semi-creator) of both, Rob Liefeld, one of the most controversial artists around. Well, now you know why I am both happy and sad. Happy because of the awesomeness that was the last issue of Cable and Deadpool, sad because it was the last issue.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Things don't work the way they should
Okay, so there are many things in the world that were good ideas, but when they were created, people then realized they were a bad idea. For example, in VS and any CCG/TCG, there are banned cards, because people realize the cards can be too powerful. Occasionally there is errata as opposed to banning, as it can still work the way it was supposed to with a little extra wording. Rama-Tut was errata'd because when he was created, people didn't think there would be cards to get him back from the KO'd pile, allowing for infinite combos as early as turn 3. The Fate Artifacts were an interesting idea, but for the low cost of 0, and with easy equipment searching, it's fairly easy to give a guy +4/+4, flight, range, make him not be the target of effects, and cycle through three cards in your deck. Four Freedoms Plaza was made, never assuming that there would one day be a character that could get all names and identities so that it could easily be abused. Disney movies were amusing and fun when I was growing up. Direct-to-Video? Wow, I can get my Disney movies without having to go to the theater! Wait, these are bad movies. If a movie is direct to video, that means the people who made it thought it wouldn't be good enough for them to make money if they gave it to theaters and made people pay money per person per movie, and felt it would be better if they just allowed people to buy it for slightly more and view it anytime, as it would be better that way. Direct to video means it was a bad movie. Why release it? Or even make it?
Mainly, I bring this up because in Elite Beat Agents, you have an Elite-Meter. If your Elite-Meter drops all the way, you lose and have to start the song over again. It is supposed to drop when you do poorly, and get higher when you do well. See, but the way it is in the game is that it is constantly dropping and that you can keep it stable and make it to the maximum by doing really well. On Diva-mode, on the final song ("Jumpin' Jack Flash"), I made it into the third part of the song, and missed zero beats the entire time I played, and yet I lost. The concept it pretty good, because it means you still have to worry about it falling, but I don't think they planned for the meter to fail you when you have gotten all the beast (albeit a few too many 50's, but still a lot of 300's). I have almost completed the game. I just need to beat one more song, and then I am going to work on getting all 300's throughout the game. But, first, I need to still beat that last song, and hopefully not die while getting every beat.
Mainly, I bring this up because in Elite Beat Agents, you have an Elite-Meter. If your Elite-Meter drops all the way, you lose and have to start the song over again. It is supposed to drop when you do poorly, and get higher when you do well. See, but the way it is in the game is that it is constantly dropping and that you can keep it stable and make it to the maximum by doing really well. On Diva-mode, on the final song ("Jumpin' Jack Flash"), I made it into the third part of the song, and missed zero beats the entire time I played, and yet I lost. The concept it pretty good, because it means you still have to worry about it falling, but I don't think they planned for the meter to fail you when you have gotten all the beast (albeit a few too many 50's, but still a lot of 300's). I have almost completed the game. I just need to beat one more song, and then I am going to work on getting all 300's throughout the game. But, first, I need to still beat that last song, and hopefully not die while getting every beat.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Fatal Five Hundred
Loathe to repeat myself, I decided to use my PRNG (Pseudo-random Number Generator) to go through all the cards on DocX's search engine and find a random card and try to tell the story of it. Well, card 1039 in his search engine landed me at DLS-078, which is Fatal Five Hundred. What a coincidence. I know that exact storyline!
The Fatal Five are a group of supervillains that exist during the time that the Legion of Superheroes exist. They consist of Emerald Empress with her Emerald Eye of Ekron, Mano with his hand of death, Tharok the half-cyborg who is able to control Validus, the incredbly powerful, but near mindless monster and the Persuader, with his Atomic Axe that can cut through anything, not just being limited to the physical, but also the metaphysical. During our time, Superboy and Wonder Girl were going on a date, when suddenly, Superboy vanished into a portal, only to come back seconds later wearing a version of Superman's costume, asking for the help of the Teen Titans. It seems that he had been pulled into the future and was helping the Legion. Then, the Persuader came back in time to attack Superboy. After the Teen Titans try to fend him off, he jumps back in a portal, taunting Superboy to follow him. Superboy then gives Legion Flight Rings to the Titans, making them honorary Legionnaires, and they follow Superboy through the portal. When they get back to the future, they discover that Superboy had been fighting for 5 months and the reason why the Fatal Five are such a threat now. As opposed to being merely five, Persuader used his Atomic Axe to cut though dimensional barriers, allowing approximately 99 other versions of the Fatal Five into our dimesnion (in Legion time), making the Fatal Five into the Fatal Five Hundred. They then arrive at Legion World and attempt to protect it from the FFH. Ultimately, they fail, and Raven teleports them to the former Legion Headquarters, which they had abandoned in favor of Legion World. Brainiac 5 is able to devise a plan, using XS and Kid Flash, using a Cosmic Treadmill, that will send the Fatal Five Hundred back to their respective dimensions. Don't ask me to explain how it works, it is something only a 12th Level Intelligence really could comprehend. Anyway, it succeeds, and the Fatal Five Hundred are disbanded, and the Legionnaires are ripped from the Space/Time continuum or something and the Titans attempt to use Persauder's Atomic Axe to send them home. They arrive in the 21st century, just 6 years from our present, in the year 2014.
It is a fun storyline, and I recommend it. Not the best I have ever read, but fun nonetheless and well worth reading. Plus, the volume it comes in comes with the rest of the story, including the part mentioned at the very end with the Titans of Tomorrow.
The Fatal Five are a group of supervillains that exist during the time that the Legion of Superheroes exist. They consist of Emerald Empress with her Emerald Eye of Ekron, Mano with his hand of death, Tharok the half-cyborg who is able to control Validus, the incredbly powerful, but near mindless monster and the Persuader, with his Atomic Axe that can cut through anything, not just being limited to the physical, but also the metaphysical. During our time, Superboy and Wonder Girl were going on a date, when suddenly, Superboy vanished into a portal, only to come back seconds later wearing a version of Superman's costume, asking for the help of the Teen Titans. It seems that he had been pulled into the future and was helping the Legion. Then, the Persuader came back in time to attack Superboy. After the Teen Titans try to fend him off, he jumps back in a portal, taunting Superboy to follow him. Superboy then gives Legion Flight Rings to the Titans, making them honorary Legionnaires, and they follow Superboy through the portal. When they get back to the future, they discover that Superboy had been fighting for 5 months and the reason why the Fatal Five are such a threat now. As opposed to being merely five, Persuader used his Atomic Axe to cut though dimensional barriers, allowing approximately 99 other versions of the Fatal Five into our dimesnion (in Legion time), making the Fatal Five into the Fatal Five Hundred. They then arrive at Legion World and attempt to protect it from the FFH. Ultimately, they fail, and Raven teleports them to the former Legion Headquarters, which they had abandoned in favor of Legion World. Brainiac 5 is able to devise a plan, using XS and Kid Flash, using a Cosmic Treadmill, that will send the Fatal Five Hundred back to their respective dimensions. Don't ask me to explain how it works, it is something only a 12th Level Intelligence really could comprehend. Anyway, it succeeds, and the Fatal Five Hundred are disbanded, and the Legionnaires are ripped from the Space/Time continuum or something and the Titans attempt to use Persauder's Atomic Axe to send them home. They arrive in the 21st century, just 6 years from our present, in the year 2014.
It is a fun storyline, and I recommend it. Not the best I have ever read, but fun nonetheless and well worth reading. Plus, the volume it comes in comes with the rest of the story, including the part mentioned at the very end with the Titans of Tomorrow.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Comics for 2/13
First off, Happy Valentine's Day!
Ultimate Iron Man II #3
Basic Plot: Trying to make a deal to stop nukes from blowing up NYC, Tony has to agree to give a dangerous man his "robot."
Well, Orson Scott Card is an amazing writer and I am still impressed with Ultimate Iron Man II. I hate Iron Man, I really do. Ultimate Iron Man is different. Originally Ultimate Iron Man was kind of dull as his backstory was exactly the same as 616 IM. Then, Orson Scott Card wrote Ultimate Iron Man which was amazing and made him a much more interesting character. This continues to do the same. Tony is still an arrogant little prick, but an interesting arrogant prick, and it is fun to see him try to succeed in his plan, when he calculates all these things in his head, while everything falls to pieces around him. Hmmm, maybe I like it so much because it shows the failings of Iron Man as he tries to survive in the world. Oh well. I definitely recommend both this series and the previous one.
Punisher: War Journal 16
Basic Plot: The Gibbon wants revenge on the Punisher.
Holy crap, they're using the Gibbon? Seriously, the Gibbon? I love classic Spidey, so I know who the Gibbon is (Martin Blank always was teased for acting like a monkey, when he semi-resembled and acted like a human gibbon. He wanted to help Spidey fight crime, but Spidey turned him down, so he became a villain). Talk about obscure characters. He only has one appearance in VS, and that is on the card "Legion of Losers", along with Kangaroo and Grizzly (who don't have cards). Anyway, apparently Punisher blew up a bar with a whole bunch of supervillains and Gibbon can't look himself in the mirror anymore and has decided to kill the Punisher. It's a nice one-shot story, where he eventually realizes the Punisher is a good person in general, and that he shouldn't try to kill him. Oh, and Princess Python? And she's blind also? WTF? Oy, although still a good story.
X-Force 1
Basic Plot: Cyclops wants a Black-Ops X-Men team to take out Stryker's men.
Okay, so William Stryker was not an army-guy who thought that all mutants should die. He had a military background, but was a faithful Christian who thought that mutants were abominations before the Lord and that it was his job to destroy them all. Read God Loves, Man Kills. Do it. Go. I'll wait. Have you read it? Wasn't that amazingly good. It isn't very cheerful or happy, but one of the best stories of all time. Anyway, Stryker's Purifiers have high-tech weaponry and have infiltrated SHIELD, and stole something, killing 16 SHIELD members in the process. Wolverine, X-23, Thunderbird and Wolfsbane have gone after them, deciding that they should die before any more harm comes to mutants. I mostly got it because I do like Wolverine and X-23 and want to see them tear stuff up, especially since the art is Clayton Crain who is an amazing artist. It's an amusing story at the moment, although I'm not sure how "hardcore" it's going to get. We shall see.
Fantastic Four 554
Basic Plot: Johnny wants to form a rock band. Sue wants to help people who have been caught in superhero/supervillain battles with her new female superteam. Reed and his first love reconnect.
Okay, I said I wouldn't read FF anymore, but you know what? Mark Millar. Bryan Hitch. yes, the creators of The Ultimates are now at work on FF, and you know what? It's pretty good. Almost no fighting involved so far, and almost nothing has actually happened, but it still is good. I don't know what they have that makes everything they do together amazing, but it is really good. Bryan Hitch is an amazing artist and one of the best I have ever seen. Alex Ross and Bryan Hitch are around the same for me, with Alex being more iconic, but Hitch being more comic-oriented and modern. Millar is my favorite epic-writer. He wrote Ultimates and Ultimates 2 really well, did a good job on Civil War (and not everything in it was his writing, since it was so epic that what happened in it really was decided by many people, but the issues themselves were really good, despite the end result not being the greatest). When he wrote UFF, I loved that, and it was a lot better than the current UFF, which just isn't as good. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch working on something together? Count me in! And it is really good. Seriously.
Nova Annual 1
Basic Plot: Richard Rider becomes Nova in the past, and faces the threat of the Phalanx in the far future.
Basically, Nova has two separate stories, with a third at the end that happens in the present. It is somewhat confusing, as neither of the first two are true, while the last one is what is actually happening. Nova's first mission wasn't against a swarm of Phalanx, being helped by Rhomann Dey, but it is here. Hopefully the Phalanx won't make their way to Earth and enslave everybody, being the last place the Phalanx have as a base. Who knows, though? It could happen. Just like Days of Future Past could happen. And Hulk: The End could happen. They won't, but they could technically happen. The future story is more of a What if...? story than an actual one. Oh, and it probably won't happen too because Captain America is dead, although revived here. I think one of my favorite little parts is when the Earth heroes are attacking the Corps (which Nova refounded) and off to the side is a hero with a blue outfit and red cape, who you can't really see who it is, but looks suspiciously like Superman. At the end, Nova finds himself on Kvch, the Technarchy homeworld, ready to do whatever he can to stop the Phalanx, who are an offshoot (hated offshoot, but offshoot nonetheless) of the Technarchy. And Warlock is apparently going to be in Nova, which is awesome. Warlock was always my favorite New Mutant (of the original New Mutants) and I am glad to see he will hopefully help Nova in defeating the bastard child of the Technarchy.
Amazing Spider-Man 550
Basic Plot: Spidey runs from the registered heroes, faces Menace, and ends up having to maybe fight the police.
Menace certainly is interesting. The mask and outfit make it difficult for me to tell whether or not it is a man or woman behind the incredibly ugly mask. Just leaving it open. Probably a guy, but if it isn't, I told you right here that it might not be a guy. Anyway, this really does feel a lot more like classic Spidey, the way I like him. He has trouble with everything and has no one to really turn to. He runs from everybody, has no job, money or apartment and ends up getting his ass handed to him by Menace, who feels a lot like a Goblin, Green, Hob, Demo or whatever. I just like the stories, although hate why they exist. It is hard for me to get past the reason why they are doing this, and what exactly has happened.
New Avengers 38
Basic Plot: Luke Cage is pissed off about Jessica running to Tony Stark.
I really can't wait for Secret Invasion. I really can't. This leadup is amusing me, but I need more actual Skrulls. I agree with both Luke and Jessica in regards to what each should do. I really hate the Registration Act, and support Luke fighting it, although I do think that Jessica and the baby are safer with Tony and the Mighty Avengers, who are the "good guys." Luke arguing with her was amusing, but kind of long, and I didn't think that an entire issue with them arguing was the best thing ever. Hopefully next issue is more interesting and Skrully.
Ultimate Iron Man II #3
Basic Plot: Trying to make a deal to stop nukes from blowing up NYC, Tony has to agree to give a dangerous man his "robot."
Well, Orson Scott Card is an amazing writer and I am still impressed with Ultimate Iron Man II. I hate Iron Man, I really do. Ultimate Iron Man is different. Originally Ultimate Iron Man was kind of dull as his backstory was exactly the same as 616 IM. Then, Orson Scott Card wrote Ultimate Iron Man which was amazing and made him a much more interesting character. This continues to do the same. Tony is still an arrogant little prick, but an interesting arrogant prick, and it is fun to see him try to succeed in his plan, when he calculates all these things in his head, while everything falls to pieces around him. Hmmm, maybe I like it so much because it shows the failings of Iron Man as he tries to survive in the world. Oh well. I definitely recommend both this series and the previous one.
Punisher: War Journal 16
Basic Plot: The Gibbon wants revenge on the Punisher.
Holy crap, they're using the Gibbon? Seriously, the Gibbon? I love classic Spidey, so I know who the Gibbon is (Martin Blank always was teased for acting like a monkey, when he semi-resembled and acted like a human gibbon. He wanted to help Spidey fight crime, but Spidey turned him down, so he became a villain). Talk about obscure characters. He only has one appearance in VS, and that is on the card "Legion of Losers", along with Kangaroo and Grizzly (who don't have cards). Anyway, apparently Punisher blew up a bar with a whole bunch of supervillains and Gibbon can't look himself in the mirror anymore and has decided to kill the Punisher. It's a nice one-shot story, where he eventually realizes the Punisher is a good person in general, and that he shouldn't try to kill him. Oh, and Princess Python? And she's blind also? WTF? Oy, although still a good story.
X-Force 1
Basic Plot: Cyclops wants a Black-Ops X-Men team to take out Stryker's men.
Okay, so William Stryker was not an army-guy who thought that all mutants should die. He had a military background, but was a faithful Christian who thought that mutants were abominations before the Lord and that it was his job to destroy them all. Read God Loves, Man Kills. Do it. Go. I'll wait. Have you read it? Wasn't that amazingly good. It isn't very cheerful or happy, but one of the best stories of all time. Anyway, Stryker's Purifiers have high-tech weaponry and have infiltrated SHIELD, and stole something, killing 16 SHIELD members in the process. Wolverine, X-23, Thunderbird and Wolfsbane have gone after them, deciding that they should die before any more harm comes to mutants. I mostly got it because I do like Wolverine and X-23 and want to see them tear stuff up, especially since the art is Clayton Crain who is an amazing artist. It's an amusing story at the moment, although I'm not sure how "hardcore" it's going to get. We shall see.
Fantastic Four 554
Basic Plot: Johnny wants to form a rock band. Sue wants to help people who have been caught in superhero/supervillain battles with her new female superteam. Reed and his first love reconnect.
Okay, I said I wouldn't read FF anymore, but you know what? Mark Millar. Bryan Hitch. yes, the creators of The Ultimates are now at work on FF, and you know what? It's pretty good. Almost no fighting involved so far, and almost nothing has actually happened, but it still is good. I don't know what they have that makes everything they do together amazing, but it is really good. Bryan Hitch is an amazing artist and one of the best I have ever seen. Alex Ross and Bryan Hitch are around the same for me, with Alex being more iconic, but Hitch being more comic-oriented and modern. Millar is my favorite epic-writer. He wrote Ultimates and Ultimates 2 really well, did a good job on Civil War (and not everything in it was his writing, since it was so epic that what happened in it really was decided by many people, but the issues themselves were really good, despite the end result not being the greatest). When he wrote UFF, I loved that, and it was a lot better than the current UFF, which just isn't as good. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch working on something together? Count me in! And it is really good. Seriously.
Nova Annual 1
Basic Plot: Richard Rider becomes Nova in the past, and faces the threat of the Phalanx in the far future.
Basically, Nova has two separate stories, with a third at the end that happens in the present. It is somewhat confusing, as neither of the first two are true, while the last one is what is actually happening. Nova's first mission wasn't against a swarm of Phalanx, being helped by Rhomann Dey, but it is here. Hopefully the Phalanx won't make their way to Earth and enslave everybody, being the last place the Phalanx have as a base. Who knows, though? It could happen. Just like Days of Future Past could happen. And Hulk: The End could happen. They won't, but they could technically happen. The future story is more of a What if...? story than an actual one. Oh, and it probably won't happen too because Captain America is dead, although revived here. I think one of my favorite little parts is when the Earth heroes are attacking the Corps (which Nova refounded) and off to the side is a hero with a blue outfit and red cape, who you can't really see who it is, but looks suspiciously like Superman. At the end, Nova finds himself on Kvch, the Technarchy homeworld, ready to do whatever he can to stop the Phalanx, who are an offshoot (hated offshoot, but offshoot nonetheless) of the Technarchy. And Warlock is apparently going to be in Nova, which is awesome. Warlock was always my favorite New Mutant (of the original New Mutants) and I am glad to see he will hopefully help Nova in defeating the bastard child of the Technarchy.
Amazing Spider-Man 550
Basic Plot: Spidey runs from the registered heroes, faces Menace, and ends up having to maybe fight the police.
Menace certainly is interesting. The mask and outfit make it difficult for me to tell whether or not it is a man or woman behind the incredibly ugly mask. Just leaving it open. Probably a guy, but if it isn't, I told you right here that it might not be a guy. Anyway, this really does feel a lot more like classic Spidey, the way I like him. He has trouble with everything and has no one to really turn to. He runs from everybody, has no job, money or apartment and ends up getting his ass handed to him by Menace, who feels a lot like a Goblin, Green, Hob, Demo or whatever. I just like the stories, although hate why they exist. It is hard for me to get past the reason why they are doing this, and what exactly has happened.
New Avengers 38
Basic Plot: Luke Cage is pissed off about Jessica running to Tony Stark.
I really can't wait for Secret Invasion. I really can't. This leadup is amusing me, but I need more actual Skrulls. I agree with both Luke and Jessica in regards to what each should do. I really hate the Registration Act, and support Luke fighting it, although I do think that Jessica and the baby are safer with Tony and the Mighty Avengers, who are the "good guys." Luke arguing with her was amusing, but kind of long, and I didn't think that an entire issue with them arguing was the best thing ever. Hopefully next issue is more interesting and Skrully.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Comics tomorrow
Right now, we have freezing rain, and getting my comics was one of the most harrowing tasks I have partaken in. I go down, then back up a lot of steps, in a very steep approach to RPI from Downtown Troy where the comic shop is. Freezing rain and lots of steps is not fun. I have them, but other things to do as well, so the review will be tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Stupid Holocaust...
I just hate the...Wait, that came out wrong. Hold on, let me back up. It's not because I'm Jewish that I'm mentioning hating Holocaust, because I'm not referring to the event during World War II, I'm referring to the character card that recently came out. Recently, the UDE points store put up new cards for people to get from the MAA set. Exciting! So, now I will finally get my zombies and a couple other cards, but two more cards that had not been seen before are now available. Breeding Pens, Age of Apocaylpse and Holocaust, Age of Apocalypse. Breeding Pens is okay, although I'm still not fully sure I want to build the full on Horsemen Deck, so it is kind of pointless to me, but Holocaust is annoying. Now, we get back to where we were...
Okay, so he is a 9/9 with Flight and Range for a 5-drop when he comes out and can drop below an average 5-drop fairly easily. Unfortunately, his second ability completely annihilates any deck I build to face this that has +1/+1 counters. Beast Boy Legend deck? Destroyed. New and Improved Pawns? Wiped Out. Zombie Atlas? Obliterated. Okay, so his ability is conditional. If you put him in your Horsemen deck, you probably have a lot of counters, and you might feel safe removing them, although maybe not. Still, if he burned for all counters you had, I'd be fine with that. If he burned only if he had counters on him, I'd be fine. No, though, he burns for every counter in play whenever he becomes stunned. Very conditional, but ultimately incredibly powerful and could be game-winning easily.
Okay, so he is a 9/9 with Flight and Range for a 5-drop when he comes out and can drop below an average 5-drop fairly easily. Unfortunately, his second ability completely annihilates any deck I build to face this that has +1/+1 counters. Beast Boy Legend deck? Destroyed. New and Improved Pawns? Wiped Out. Zombie Atlas? Obliterated. Okay, so his ability is conditional. If you put him in your Horsemen deck, you probably have a lot of counters, and you might feel safe removing them, although maybe not. Still, if he burned for all counters you had, I'd be fine with that. If he burned only if he had counters on him, I'd be fine. No, though, he burns for every counter in play whenever he becomes stunned. Very conditional, but ultimately incredibly powerful and could be game-winning easily.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Elite Beat Agents
Have you ever heard of this game. It is an amazing rhythm game for the Nintendo DS. I just got it recently and it is so great. The basic theme is that there are people who are in trouble and they need help. The Elite Beat Agents then come out of nowhere somehow, and get everybody to dance to the music, and everything gets better and gets solved. Confused? Here is an example: There is a mother who reports the weather and has the weekend off to spend with her kid who wants to go on a picnic. Unfortunately, her bosses tell her that the chance of rain this weekend is 100%, so she will have to break her promise to her kid or say that it is going to be clear (when it is obviously going to be rain). So, she gets a fan out and tries to blow away the clouds. When you pass the first part, all the people who live in the same building tell her that they saw the show and that they want to help, and so they all blow fans right at the clouds, making them depart a little. She then tries to suck them up with a vacuum cleaner and a hang glider. Then, after another level is passed, the Air Force comes by and lets her know they saw the show and want to help, so they fly around a lot, blowing more clouds away. Then, after dancing a lot, she still needs more help and the animals of the forest come out and start dancing to make it go away. Eventually, the clouds disappear and she takes her kid on a picnic, with the best burgers ever.
See?
It is do addictive, but so great. One of the greatest games I have played, for its humor and for its great gameplay. Also, it is really hard to do well, but I am getting better.
See?
It is do addictive, but so great. One of the greatest games I have played, for its humor and for its great gameplay. Also, it is really hard to do well, but I am getting better.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Annihilation
As opposed to the past weeks, this week, I built a deck that actually follows a storyline. It was made for a contest on VsParadise that revolved around making a team that is a team in comics, that doesn't exist yet in VS. The example was the Rouges which is a team I have helped to fake create. Since this was around the time we were voting on Marvel Universe, I was very into getting Annihilation into VS. Annihilation wasn't voted for and many people said that MHG was basically Annihilation, aside of course from the fact that there was no Annihilus, no Nova, and not much to represent it in general. Of course, there were still some cosmic stuff that related to Annihilation, but not much. When this contest came around, I realized, "Wait a minute, I can actually make the United Front! Not only that, but I can explain every single card that goes into the deck and why characters are at the drop they are and everything! Awesome!" One more thing, the contest had a rule where you can choose a team that your deck has and that every single character in your deck gets that affiliation. I chose Heralds for reasons that should be obvious.
To Save a Universe...
Characters
5 Kree Soldiers, Army
4 Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Space Ways
4 Gamora, Protector of the Time Gem
2 Air-Walker, Gabriel Lan
4 Richard Rider<>Nova, Xanadarian Nova Corps
2 Stardust, Merciless Warrior
4 Drax the Destroyer, Protector of the Power Gem
1 Red Shift, Rift Walker
3 Super-Skrull, Kl'rt
1 Firelord, Harbringer of Havoc
2 Ronan, Supreme Public Accuser
1 Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd
1 Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
Plot Twists
4 Absorba Shield
4 Creaton of a Herald
4 Elemental Battle
3 The Power Cosmic Unleashed
4 Sworn Enemies
4 Intergalactic Summit
Locations
3 The Kyln
Let's run through every card in the deck to see why it is there.
Kree Soldiers because they were the main race fighting the Annihilation Wave, and they are easy to have as a 1-drop. Surfer, at the beginning, wasn't nearly at his "Herald" level status, but still went to Galactus (fetches high cost). Gamora played a big part as Nova's girlfriend and as a fighter, and she proves here that she can fight the soldiers that are after her by herself. Air-Walker was pretty much just destroyed by Ravenous, but was able to stall for time. Nova was the leader of the Corps, and even after they lost the main battle, he won the war by taking out a single guy after everything had finished. Stardust was powerful in helping, but wasn't able to do much early on, and was lost early. Drax held a big role in this, by just being a beast. He was incredibly powerful and helped everybody a lot, although he did it by himself, without anything crazy happening. Red Shift wasn't there for long, but was able to help get the United Front away from the planet Annihilus was attacking in a critical battle. Kl'rt had an important role, and became more powerful, and helpful, when he joined with others to help fight Annihilus. He affiliated himself with Skrulls, being one, the Negative Zone with Praxagora, Nova Corps (however represented) by helping Nova along and the Kree affiliation when he went to help Ronan. Firelord got to the main part of it late, but powerful, and pissed off because of Air-Walker. Ronan was incredibly helpful in the battle and was able to shut down Ravenous and everything he was trying to change. Silver Surfer came back later and changed the tide of the war, with one simple action. Galactus came back and it was over.
Absorba Shield because Air-Walker, while not quite powerful enough to defeat others, was able to hold them back long enough for better things (Silver Surfer) to happen. Creation of a Herald because Galactus remade Silver Surfer into his herald, giving him all the power he once wielded, making him more powerful, and recreating him. Elemental Battle, because Firelord had to fight Ravenous with his fire, plus he held him off, stalling for time. The Power Cosmic was Unleashed when Surfer released Galactus from his imprisonment, and a lot of heralds also gave their all to this battle, unleashing cosmic blasts. Drax came face to face with his Sworn Enemy for the last time in one of the most awesome scenes ever. Using Richard Rider as the main part, an Intergalactic Summit was formed to defeat Annihilus.
When The Kyln was around, it kept Tenebrous and Aegis under lock and key (at least until they were destroyed).
So that was pretty much my post. Nobody else posted, so I won, but this is a representation, to an extent, of Nova fighting the Annihilation Wave against Annihilus with his United Front.
There really isn't a way, at the moment, to represent the Annihilation Wave. With only one copy of Annihilation, and then, no bug soldiers or Ravenous, you have almost nothing. These are the cards that currently exist that would go into a deck, although couldn't make one:
Annihilus, Destroyer of Life (MOR-156)
When MOR came out, Negative Zone was a two-bit team with two characters and a location. Now, it has 6 characters, two locations and a plot twist. Not a lot. Hopefully, with all the support NZ got in the MU vote, we'll see more and be able to build a deck. Until then, we still have the leader of the Annihilation Wave, the one who literally wanted to destroy all life.
The Annihilation Wave (MTU-218)
Um, duh? But it is pretty cool. On turn 5, you can wipe out all stunned characters with the Wave. Not quite as much as I would want, but whatever.
Negative Zone (MOR-158)
Wow. That is a horrible card! You discard one card to get it up and then lose two if you want to use it. Oy! Still, it is a Negative Zone and they still have reps from the Negative Zone when they invade.
Negative Zone, Shadow Dimension (MHG-210)
Much better. Still one to get it going, but can get any character to your hidden area and can bring people out of hiding. Again, it represents how Negative Zone still helps Annihilus and his crew.
Thanos, Courting Death (MTU-155)
Okay, the art is almost, but not quite, straight out of Annihilation. He even has little girl Death with him. Plus, Thanos is just awesome and helped Annihilus out.
The Fallen One, The Forgotten (MHG-025)
He became Thanos' servant after Galactus and was his servant when Thanos confronted Aegis and Tenebrous.
Terrax, Harbringer of Ruin (MHG-024)
Terrax was corrupted into helping Annihilus. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here.
Paibok, the Power Skrull (MHG-188)
Just like Terrax. Just helped because he was captured and made to fight.
Only 8 cards that really would represent the Annihilation Wave. Sigh... Any questions can be asked. All will be answered to an extent.
To Save a Universe...
Characters
5 Kree Soldiers, Army
4 Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Space Ways
4 Gamora, Protector of the Time Gem
2 Air-Walker, Gabriel Lan
4 Richard Rider<>Nova, Xanadarian Nova Corps
2 Stardust, Merciless Warrior
4 Drax the Destroyer, Protector of the Power Gem
1 Red Shift, Rift Walker
3 Super-Skrull, Kl'rt
1 Firelord, Harbringer of Havoc
2 Ronan, Supreme Public Accuser
1 Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd
1 Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
Plot Twists
4 Absorba Shield
4 Creaton of a Herald
4 Elemental Battle
3 The Power Cosmic Unleashed
4 Sworn Enemies
4 Intergalactic Summit
Locations
3 The Kyln
Let's run through every card in the deck to see why it is there.
Kree Soldiers because they were the main race fighting the Annihilation Wave, and they are easy to have as a 1-drop. Surfer, at the beginning, wasn't nearly at his "Herald" level status, but still went to Galactus (fetches high cost). Gamora played a big part as Nova's girlfriend and as a fighter, and she proves here that she can fight the soldiers that are after her by herself. Air-Walker was pretty much just destroyed by Ravenous, but was able to stall for time. Nova was the leader of the Corps, and even after they lost the main battle, he won the war by taking out a single guy after everything had finished. Stardust was powerful in helping, but wasn't able to do much early on, and was lost early. Drax held a big role in this, by just being a beast. He was incredibly powerful and helped everybody a lot, although he did it by himself, without anything crazy happening. Red Shift wasn't there for long, but was able to help get the United Front away from the planet Annihilus was attacking in a critical battle. Kl'rt had an important role, and became more powerful, and helpful, when he joined with others to help fight Annihilus. He affiliated himself with Skrulls, being one, the Negative Zone with Praxagora, Nova Corps (however represented) by helping Nova along and the Kree affiliation when he went to help Ronan. Firelord got to the main part of it late, but powerful, and pissed off because of Air-Walker. Ronan was incredibly helpful in the battle and was able to shut down Ravenous and everything he was trying to change. Silver Surfer came back later and changed the tide of the war, with one simple action. Galactus came back and it was over.
Absorba Shield because Air-Walker, while not quite powerful enough to defeat others, was able to hold them back long enough for better things (Silver Surfer) to happen. Creation of a Herald because Galactus remade Silver Surfer into his herald, giving him all the power he once wielded, making him more powerful, and recreating him. Elemental Battle, because Firelord had to fight Ravenous with his fire, plus he held him off, stalling for time. The Power Cosmic was Unleashed when Surfer released Galactus from his imprisonment, and a lot of heralds also gave their all to this battle, unleashing cosmic blasts. Drax came face to face with his Sworn Enemy for the last time in one of the most awesome scenes ever. Using Richard Rider as the main part, an Intergalactic Summit was formed to defeat Annihilus.
When The Kyln was around, it kept Tenebrous and Aegis under lock and key (at least until they were destroyed).
So that was pretty much my post. Nobody else posted, so I won, but this is a representation, to an extent, of Nova fighting the Annihilation Wave against Annihilus with his United Front.
There really isn't a way, at the moment, to represent the Annihilation Wave. With only one copy of Annihilation, and then, no bug soldiers or Ravenous, you have almost nothing. These are the cards that currently exist that would go into a deck, although couldn't make one:
Annihilus, Destroyer of Life (MOR-156)
When MOR came out, Negative Zone was a two-bit team with two characters and a location. Now, it has 6 characters, two locations and a plot twist. Not a lot. Hopefully, with all the support NZ got in the MU vote, we'll see more and be able to build a deck. Until then, we still have the leader of the Annihilation Wave, the one who literally wanted to destroy all life.
The Annihilation Wave (MTU-218)
Um, duh? But it is pretty cool. On turn 5, you can wipe out all stunned characters with the Wave. Not quite as much as I would want, but whatever.
Negative Zone (MOR-158)
Wow. That is a horrible card! You discard one card to get it up and then lose two if you want to use it. Oy! Still, it is a Negative Zone and they still have reps from the Negative Zone when they invade.
Negative Zone, Shadow Dimension (MHG-210)
Much better. Still one to get it going, but can get any character to your hidden area and can bring people out of hiding. Again, it represents how Negative Zone still helps Annihilus and his crew.
Thanos, Courting Death (MTU-155)
Okay, the art is almost, but not quite, straight out of Annihilation. He even has little girl Death with him. Plus, Thanos is just awesome and helped Annihilus out.
The Fallen One, The Forgotten (MHG-025)
He became Thanos' servant after Galactus and was his servant when Thanos confronted Aegis and Tenebrous.
Terrax, Harbringer of Ruin (MHG-024)
Terrax was corrupted into helping Annihilus. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here.
Paibok, the Power Skrull (MHG-188)
Just like Terrax. Just helped because he was captured and made to fight.
Only 8 cards that really would represent the Annihilation Wave. Sigh... Any questions can be asked. All will be answered to an extent.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
My comic buys on 2/6/08
Only two comics came out this week that I was interested in. Thankfully, the What if...? from last week was back in. Three comics for you to see me talk about.
What if...? Spider-Man versus Wolverine
Basic Plot: As opposed to going back home after killing Charlemagne, Spidey stays in Europe.
I did like the Spidey v Wolverine story, so this was a pleasant surprise. Pleasant because I liked the story and was interested. Surprise because it is a somewhat obscure story. Instead of going back home because he was "over his head", Logan talked him into helping someone else, Charlie's sister. Okay, explanation time. In Spider-Man v Wolverine, there was a killer in Berlin killing mob people or something and it was interesting enough that Spidey went to get pics for the Daily Bugle with Ned Leeds, whereas Wolverine and the killer were lovers, and he went back to stop her or help her. See, she was going to be killed by the KGB eventually, and she and Wolverine knew about it, but Spidey thought he would be able to save her. Wolverine was going to help her by killing her painlessly as opposed to being tortured to death. Ned Leeds ended up dead for some reason that I am not sure of (although he was later revealed to be the Hobgoblin's pawn dresses as the Hobgoblin and was killed because of that or something). What happens is Spidey is manipulated by Charlie into killing her, and he is tortured by his punching her, killing her. In the 616 universe, he goes to MJ where he cries on her shoulder and he gets back to being normal. How that is affected by Brand New Day, who knows? In this universe, he saves the kid, although ends up killing someone else and watching Wolverine kill a bunch of people and he changes. In an effort to save Charlie's sister, who looks somewhat like Gwen Stacy, he decides to stay and protect her. With that, he and Wolverine, along with Alex (Charlie's sister) and a trainer of killers, they pulled a lot of missions, including killing and death. Spidey became more dark and also mastered his Spider-Sense so that as opposed to just danger right before it hits, he got premonitions and was pretty much a psychic. Plus he got a much more awesome costume, although he was darker and even shot somebody when he probably could have knocked him out. All in all, it's crazy and I like it and think it makes a lot of sense following the story. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't even had a Mary Jane.
Amazing Spider-Man 549
Basic Plot: Spidey tries to deal with Jackpot and the new goblin-esque villain.
Oy, another goblin. Then again, Harry's back, so who knows what could happen. Jackpot is pretty much MJ in an outfit. Super powers? Who knows. She has red hair and acts a lot like MJ. She may or may not be, but either way, this could be interesting. I am liking the story, like I have said, although I still dislike the reason behind it, and I don't think I'll ever be fine with it. It's been said that he's still an Avenger and also that nobody really knows his identity. Apparently you'll see him with the Avengers in issue 555. Aggh, I really hate how this is all so confusing in terms of what has actually happened now. What has happened? Who knows? People know he revealed his identity but just can't remember who it was beneath the mask. Sorry, I should just talk about the issue which just makes me think of the classic Spidey stories which were the best, except that these are also trying to tie in to the rest of the MU, with the Registration Act and everything, so it's just weird now. Sigh...
Annihilation: Conquest 4
Basic Plot: Warlock tries to bring te fight to Hala. Ronan has Phalanx-proof Sentries that he is going to send to wipe out Hala.
I have to say that I really don't like this as much as the original, and I am getting in trouble with myself for trying to compare it. It's okay, but not nearly what Annihilation was. I mean, I just really don't know what to say about it. It's an okay story, just not amazing. I really wish it was better and that I could rant about it, but that's just not what's going to happen. Again, Raney's art really doesn't look as good as it has before, with this style of inking and coloring, and I just really wish it were better. All in all, though, it's just not as good and I can't help but compare it. Two more issues to go. Yay.
What if...? Spider-Man versus Wolverine
Basic Plot: As opposed to going back home after killing Charlemagne, Spidey stays in Europe.
I did like the Spidey v Wolverine story, so this was a pleasant surprise. Pleasant because I liked the story and was interested. Surprise because it is a somewhat obscure story. Instead of going back home because he was "over his head", Logan talked him into helping someone else, Charlie's sister. Okay, explanation time. In Spider-Man v Wolverine, there was a killer in Berlin killing mob people or something and it was interesting enough that Spidey went to get pics for the Daily Bugle with Ned Leeds, whereas Wolverine and the killer were lovers, and he went back to stop her or help her. See, she was going to be killed by the KGB eventually, and she and Wolverine knew about it, but Spidey thought he would be able to save her. Wolverine was going to help her by killing her painlessly as opposed to being tortured to death. Ned Leeds ended up dead for some reason that I am not sure of (although he was later revealed to be the Hobgoblin's pawn dresses as the Hobgoblin and was killed because of that or something). What happens is Spidey is manipulated by Charlie into killing her, and he is tortured by his punching her, killing her. In the 616 universe, he goes to MJ where he cries on her shoulder and he gets back to being normal. How that is affected by Brand New Day, who knows? In this universe, he saves the kid, although ends up killing someone else and watching Wolverine kill a bunch of people and he changes. In an effort to save Charlie's sister, who looks somewhat like Gwen Stacy, he decides to stay and protect her. With that, he and Wolverine, along with Alex (Charlie's sister) and a trainer of killers, they pulled a lot of missions, including killing and death. Spidey became more dark and also mastered his Spider-Sense so that as opposed to just danger right before it hits, he got premonitions and was pretty much a psychic. Plus he got a much more awesome costume, although he was darker and even shot somebody when he probably could have knocked him out. All in all, it's crazy and I like it and think it makes a lot of sense following the story. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't even had a Mary Jane.
Amazing Spider-Man 549
Basic Plot: Spidey tries to deal with Jackpot and the new goblin-esque villain.
Oy, another goblin. Then again, Harry's back, so who knows what could happen. Jackpot is pretty much MJ in an outfit. Super powers? Who knows. She has red hair and acts a lot like MJ. She may or may not be, but either way, this could be interesting. I am liking the story, like I have said, although I still dislike the reason behind it, and I don't think I'll ever be fine with it. It's been said that he's still an Avenger and also that nobody really knows his identity. Apparently you'll see him with the Avengers in issue 555. Aggh, I really hate how this is all so confusing in terms of what has actually happened now. What has happened? Who knows? People know he revealed his identity but just can't remember who it was beneath the mask. Sorry, I should just talk about the issue which just makes me think of the classic Spidey stories which were the best, except that these are also trying to tie in to the rest of the MU, with the Registration Act and everything, so it's just weird now. Sigh...
Annihilation: Conquest 4
Basic Plot: Warlock tries to bring te fight to Hala. Ronan has Phalanx-proof Sentries that he is going to send to wipe out Hala.
I have to say that I really don't like this as much as the original, and I am getting in trouble with myself for trying to compare it. It's okay, but not nearly what Annihilation was. I mean, I just really don't know what to say about it. It's an okay story, just not amazing. I really wish it was better and that I could rant about it, but that's just not what's going to happen. Again, Raney's art really doesn't look as good as it has before, with this style of inking and coloring, and I just really wish it were better. All in all, though, it's just not as good and I can't help but compare it. Two more issues to go. Yay.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Comic Book Doctors
Okay, so I was thinking about the comic book world, and was wondering about comics book doctors. When I think comic book doctors, the first one that comes to mind is Dr. Doom, who never finished college, and is not actually a doctor. I was wondering how many other doctors in comics are not or are doctors.
Dr. Doom-No
He never finished college, although he could get an honorary degree in Latveria, so he could have an honorary doctorate.
Dr. Strange-Yes
His origin story tells you whether or not he is. He was a brilliant, but arrogant surgeon who lost use of his hands and then became Master of the Mystic Arts.
Dr. Fate-No
Just a mystic sorcerer and the most powerful of the Lords of Order who inhabits different people (through his mystical helmet and stuff).
Dr. Light-Yes
Dr. Arthur Light was actually a doctor, not a medical doctor, but a doctor nonetheless.
Dr. Light-Yes
Kimiyo Hoshi was an astronaut and a medical doctor. Wow, nice life.
Dr. Light-Yes
Finlay was a doctor and the Dr. Light before Arthur (retconned).
Dr. Octopus-Yes
Again, like Arthur Light, not a medical doctor, but a doctor.
Dr. Polaris-Yes
An actual doctor, who knew? Yes, even medical doctor. He used magnets to try and heal people, and the Earth's magnetic field, etc. Crazy.
Dr. Sivana-Yes
He is a doctor, and definitely uses his crazy for evil, although not a medical doctor.
Dr. Mid-Nite-Yes
All three versions of Dr. Mid-Nite have been medical doctors. I have an issue where he does actually deliver a baby.
Crime Doctor-Yes
Even with his Elton John glasses, he still is a medical doctor.
Dr. Death-Yes
Who is Dr. Death? Batman's first recurring villain. Seriously. And he is a doctor.
Dr. Psycho-Yes
He is a crazy little dwarf, but a doctor nonetheless.
Dr. Occult-No
As far as I can tell, Occult is not actually a doctor, and was just given the name. Plus, I learned, and this is awesome, he was created in 1935, 3 years before Superman. Sure, he wasn't a superhero then (really isn't much of one now), but he is an existing character in the DCU who was created before Superman. The more you know, right?
Dr. Ub'x-No
Well, I know he never got a medical degree from Earth, and I'm not sure if they have doctorates on H'lven, but really, he probably could get a doctorate.
Dr. Bedlam-No
Again, no need for a doctorate where he came from, but probably would have gotten one if on Earth.
Dr. Darrk (Ebeneezer Darrk)-Yes
My guess is that he was in fact a doctor, although not a medical one, although I do not know for sure.
Dr. Destiny-No
Just a common crook who wanted a good name to defeat the Justice League.
Dr. Tzin-Tzin-No
Seriously, he got a card in the first DC set? He's apparently had 4 freaking appearances. Looking him up is pretty pointless. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry.
Dr. Alchemy-Yes
I'm pretty sure at least the first one was, and the second one, at the very least, shared a psychic connection with the first one.
Dr. Mist-No
Who? An obscure Global Guardians member who has nothing to do with doctors from what I can tell.
Dr. Impossible-No
Again, as far as I can tell, he has no doctorate, and might have had no opportunity to have gotten one, but still doesn't have one to the best of my knowledge.
Dr. Double X-Yes
Who? Damn, there are a lot of obscure doctors in comics, although this one is a doctor.
Dr. Moon-Yes
Creepy as hell and a doctor who is crazy. Let's move on, shall we?
Dr. Cyber-No
I'm assuming no, because nothing is known about them, either of them, so I really have nothing to go on.
Dr. Phosphorous-Yes
I assume only a nuclear physicist (only), but I don't really know. I don't know much, do I?
Dr. Poison-No
Oy, more obscure villains. I don't think so, but am not positive about either being doctors.
Dr. Spectro-No
Nothing to prove it, but nothing that tells me he is or should be.
Dr. Thirteen-Yes
A parapsychologist who doesn't like/believe in magic who is an actual doctor. Sucks for him that his daughter it Traci Thirteen, a well-known sorceress.
Doc Samson-Yes
He is a psychologist, but is a doctor of something, so he qualifies.
Dr. Bong-Yes
While I may not know if he held a doctorate when he was first shown, he did by the time he tried to treat Deadpool, so he is a doctor (not medical).
Dr. Hauptmann-Yes
Just because he is a crazy scientist who has all these ideas, I am going to assume that he is.
Dr. Demonicus-Yes
An obscure Avengers villain who holds a Ph.D. in genetics.
Dr. Dorcas-Yes
He was a doctor enemy of Namor until he died. He created Tiger Shark (who I think just died in Punisher: War Journal).
Dr. Druid/Droom-Yes
Another medical doctor, with other various degrees.
Dr. Faustus-Yes
He holds a doctorate and is a total whackjob who I dislike because he tortured Bucky/Winter Soldier/Captain America. Huh, still feels weird to call Bucky Captain America.
Doctor Glitternight-No
WTF? Glitternight? Sigh... Anyway, being an extradimensional being, I sincerely doubt Glitternight has a doctorate of any kind.
Dr. Minerva-Yes
Holds what would pass for a doctorate from the Kree. She graduated from the Kree Science Academy, so I think the title holds. One of the few aliens I can say that about.
Dr. Spectrum-No
None of the Dr. Spectrums hold any type of doctorates, although the Squadron Supreme (original Squadron) one does have a college degree in aeronautics.
Dr. Sun-Yes
He is actually a doctor, although a Chinese one, so it doesn't count. Just kidding.
Well, those are the doctors I can think of and can find anything about. If you can think of others or can actually provide proof for any of the ones I am unsure of, please do. Oh, and these are only the people with doctor in their name. I know other characters hold doctorates, but none of them claim to be a doctor in their name.
Dr. Doom-No
He never finished college, although he could get an honorary degree in Latveria, so he could have an honorary doctorate.
Dr. Strange-Yes
His origin story tells you whether or not he is. He was a brilliant, but arrogant surgeon who lost use of his hands and then became Master of the Mystic Arts.
Dr. Fate-No
Just a mystic sorcerer and the most powerful of the Lords of Order who inhabits different people (through his mystical helmet and stuff).
Dr. Light-Yes
Dr. Arthur Light was actually a doctor, not a medical doctor, but a doctor nonetheless.
Dr. Light-Yes
Kimiyo Hoshi was an astronaut and a medical doctor. Wow, nice life.
Dr. Light-Yes
Finlay was a doctor and the Dr. Light before Arthur (retconned).
Dr. Octopus-Yes
Again, like Arthur Light, not a medical doctor, but a doctor.
Dr. Polaris-Yes
An actual doctor, who knew? Yes, even medical doctor. He used magnets to try and heal people, and the Earth's magnetic field, etc. Crazy.
Dr. Sivana-Yes
He is a doctor, and definitely uses his crazy for evil, although not a medical doctor.
Dr. Mid-Nite-Yes
All three versions of Dr. Mid-Nite have been medical doctors. I have an issue where he does actually deliver a baby.
Crime Doctor-Yes
Even with his Elton John glasses, he still is a medical doctor.
Dr. Death-Yes
Who is Dr. Death? Batman's first recurring villain. Seriously. And he is a doctor.
Dr. Psycho-Yes
He is a crazy little dwarf, but a doctor nonetheless.
Dr. Occult-No
As far as I can tell, Occult is not actually a doctor, and was just given the name. Plus, I learned, and this is awesome, he was created in 1935, 3 years before Superman. Sure, he wasn't a superhero then (really isn't much of one now), but he is an existing character in the DCU who was created before Superman. The more you know, right?
Dr. Ub'x-No
Well, I know he never got a medical degree from Earth, and I'm not sure if they have doctorates on H'lven, but really, he probably could get a doctorate.
Dr. Bedlam-No
Again, no need for a doctorate where he came from, but probably would have gotten one if on Earth.
Dr. Darrk (Ebeneezer Darrk)-Yes
My guess is that he was in fact a doctor, although not a medical one, although I do not know for sure.
Dr. Destiny-No
Just a common crook who wanted a good name to defeat the Justice League.
Dr. Tzin-Tzin-No
Seriously, he got a card in the first DC set? He's apparently had 4 freaking appearances. Looking him up is pretty pointless. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry.
Dr. Alchemy-Yes
I'm pretty sure at least the first one was, and the second one, at the very least, shared a psychic connection with the first one.
Dr. Mist-No
Who? An obscure Global Guardians member who has nothing to do with doctors from what I can tell.
Dr. Impossible-No
Again, as far as I can tell, he has no doctorate, and might have had no opportunity to have gotten one, but still doesn't have one to the best of my knowledge.
Dr. Double X-Yes
Who? Damn, there are a lot of obscure doctors in comics, although this one is a doctor.
Dr. Moon-Yes
Creepy as hell and a doctor who is crazy. Let's move on, shall we?
Dr. Cyber-No
I'm assuming no, because nothing is known about them, either of them, so I really have nothing to go on.
Dr. Phosphorous-Yes
I assume only a nuclear physicist (only), but I don't really know. I don't know much, do I?
Dr. Poison-No
Oy, more obscure villains. I don't think so, but am not positive about either being doctors.
Dr. Spectro-No
Nothing to prove it, but nothing that tells me he is or should be.
Dr. Thirteen-Yes
A parapsychologist who doesn't like/believe in magic who is an actual doctor. Sucks for him that his daughter it Traci Thirteen, a well-known sorceress.
Doc Samson-Yes
He is a psychologist, but is a doctor of something, so he qualifies.
Dr. Bong-Yes
While I may not know if he held a doctorate when he was first shown, he did by the time he tried to treat Deadpool, so he is a doctor (not medical).
Dr. Hauptmann-Yes
Just because he is a crazy scientist who has all these ideas, I am going to assume that he is.
Dr. Demonicus-Yes
An obscure Avengers villain who holds a Ph.D. in genetics.
Dr. Dorcas-Yes
He was a doctor enemy of Namor until he died. He created Tiger Shark (who I think just died in Punisher: War Journal).
Dr. Druid/Droom-Yes
Another medical doctor, with other various degrees.
Dr. Faustus-Yes
He holds a doctorate and is a total whackjob who I dislike because he tortured Bucky/Winter Soldier/Captain America. Huh, still feels weird to call Bucky Captain America.
Doctor Glitternight-No
WTF? Glitternight? Sigh... Anyway, being an extradimensional being, I sincerely doubt Glitternight has a doctorate of any kind.
Dr. Minerva-Yes
Holds what would pass for a doctorate from the Kree. She graduated from the Kree Science Academy, so I think the title holds. One of the few aliens I can say that about.
Dr. Spectrum-No
None of the Dr. Spectrums hold any type of doctorates, although the Squadron Supreme (original Squadron) one does have a college degree in aeronautics.
Dr. Sun-Yes
He is actually a doctor, although a Chinese one, so it doesn't count. Just kidding.
Well, those are the doctors I can think of and can find anything about. If you can think of others or can actually provide proof for any of the ones I am unsure of, please do. Oh, and these are only the people with doctor in their name. I know other characters hold doctorates, but none of them claim to be a doctor in their name.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hmmm...
Well, I took a look at how long my summary of Identity Crisis was, and realized that it would take up almost 4 whole pages on Microsoft Word, at close to 3000 words. Sure, Identity Crisis itself is a lot longer, but this was my summary of it, without any of the art, and it was incredibly long. I can't believe I wrote that much (even though it wasn't my thoughts, it still is my choice of what to include and everything). Seriously, just read Identity Crisis. My summary cannot give you all of the emotion that is included in Rags Morales' art, or even how much is just by what Brad Meltzer told him what to do.
On another note, I wanted to thank everybody who voted for my Manhunter Giant deck that Rian Fike just announced was the winner of his challenge. I am surprised that I won, although I do appreciate that people did think my deck was awesome for whatever reason. I was somewhat obsessed with the idea of abusing Manhunter Giant around that time (I also submitted a deck to CarlosTheDwarf for the Mimic/Rogue abuse that abused Manhunters and Mnahunter Giant). It's nice to see me being victorious at something. Yes, I really wore that outfit to prom (although it was underneath the tux until I got there, at which point I put the entire thing on. My biggest problem with wearing Deadpool stuff or a Deadpool outfit? People mistake him for Spider-Man.
Yes, they both wear red masks. They also both have white where their eyes are and black around it. Spidey has webs on his mask, giant white lenses, and a small outline of black around it. Deadpool has small eyeslits, about as big as his eyes, and giant black ovals around the slits, and no webs. It kind of annoys me when people confuse them, but I have to let it go, as I realize people don't know who Deadpool is, even though they should know.
This blog is awesome and I love ranting, but we'll see how we do with it. I do need to put a big focus on school right now, so I might have to lower the amount of times I post (from once a weekday to maybe three or two times a week). Stay tuned for more information.
On another note, I wanted to thank everybody who voted for my Manhunter Giant deck that Rian Fike just announced was the winner of his challenge. I am surprised that I won, although I do appreciate that people did think my deck was awesome for whatever reason. I was somewhat obsessed with the idea of abusing Manhunter Giant around that time (I also submitted a deck to CarlosTheDwarf for the Mimic/Rogue abuse that abused Manhunters and Mnahunter Giant). It's nice to see me being victorious at something. Yes, I really wore that outfit to prom (although it was underneath the tux until I got there, at which point I put the entire thing on. My biggest problem with wearing Deadpool stuff or a Deadpool outfit? People mistake him for Spider-Man.
Yes, they both wear red masks. They also both have white where their eyes are and black around it. Spidey has webs on his mask, giant white lenses, and a small outline of black around it. Deadpool has small eyeslits, about as big as his eyes, and giant black ovals around the slits, and no webs. It kind of annoys me when people confuse them, but I have to let it go, as I realize people don't know who Deadpool is, even though they should know.
This blog is awesome and I love ranting, but we'll see how we do with it. I do need to put a big focus on school right now, so I might have to lower the amount of times I post (from once a weekday to maybe three or two times a week). Stay tuned for more information.
Identity Crisis, and how VS has made it possible
Well, I enjoyed it last week, so it's back this week. This time, let's go through a DC storyline so that I'm not showing favorites (even though I like Marvel more).
Identity Crisis is my favorite DC storyline of all time, and it is at least within the top 5, if not 3, of my all time favorite comic storylines. For this edition, we shall go over Identity Crisis. Just a note of warning, this is an incredibly deep and mature storyline and has mature concepts that aren't light. Please just don't continue, if you don't think you'll be able to handle these concepts maturely.
Plot Summary: It all starts with Elongated Man and Firehawk on patrol. There was a tip that two punks were selling something special, which in comics, means a giant robot, or something like that. So, while waiting, they start talking about Elongated Man and his wife. Ralph Dibny wanted to be a celebrity. He may not have been one, but he always liked being known. So he lived without a secret identity. Any random person could know or learn, if they didn't already that Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man was married to Sue Dibny. Sue was even made an honorary Justice League member. Nobody else who wasn't a superhero got that treatment. Sue helped Ralph and his teammates, and was liked by pretty much everybody. Ralph tells Firehawk how they met, when he was back helping the Flash (Barry Allen). While Flash was the great hero, everybody looked at Flash and admired Flash, except for Sue. She was intrigued by this stretchable sleuth that hung out with and helped Flash. They loved each other, and moved on from there. Every year on his birthday, which means every year at some random time, she tries to trick him and give him a surprise birthday party. Elongated Man is an amazing detective, probably second best only to Batman, and always knows what is going to happen and when. His birthday was months away, but he knew that his party was this night, and he was going to act surprised when she gave him the magnifying glass that he had drooled over before. Sue knew that he would solve it, but she also knew he wouldn't guess the other surprise. After calling Alfred, and thanking him for helping her find that magnifying glass, she finds someone else in the house. As she panics, she calls Ralph, who immediately asks Firehawk to fly him home. When he gets there, the sprinklers are on and he sees her body, burned, and dead. Her gift to him is shown as the magnifying glass, now broken, but also a pregnancy test showing that she was pregnant. As he mourns, the League tries to figure out how somebody could have killed her. The houses that hold League members are protected by Apokoliptian, Thanagarian, Martian, Kryptonian technology, plus stuff Batman came up with (A great line, mentions all of the different techs, plus all the scary stuff Bruce came up with). No alarms were sounded, nobody just broke in. Nobody could have even just phased in. Meanwhile Green Arrow has the Ray, the Atom, the Metal Men and Mister Miracle all help him try to find how someone got in and who it could have been. They can't find anything, and that is disturbing. At her funeral, Ralph gets up to talk, but can't hold his face together (literally), and he is pulled away. With everything going on, after the funeral, all the superheroes try to find who did it. They all go in separate ways, except for Ralph, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Zatanna, who meet with Ralph, who wants them to go after Dr. Light. Meanwhile, Flash and GL decided to wonder why everybody was going after a villain except for these five, and spy upon the heroes. Hawkman is able to see Wally vibrating, making himself practically invisible. Green Arrow realizes Kyle must be there also and calls him out. On the way to Dr. Light's, they tell Flash and GL why Dr. Light is their number one suspect. A long time ago, when they had the satellite, they were off on a mission, and nobody was on the satellite except for Sue, who wanted to just see the stars, because she was bored. Dr. Light snuck onto the satellite, for what reason, nobody knows, but either way, his reason changed and he decided to have fun. It is never explicitly stated in the comics, but the intent is clear, and Dr. Light raped Sue. She put up a fight, but didn't stand a chance. When the League got back, it was practically over. Everybody piled on top of Light and he wsa taken down by Elongated Man wielding Hawkman's mace. When they teleported Sue and Ralph directly to a hospital, they had other problems. Ralph had not known about this, but the League, that consisted of Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Carter Hall, Atom and Zatanna, voted whether or not to mess with his mind using Zatanna's magic. Light was crazy at this point, and was ranting about how he was going to tell everybody at prison, create visuals using his powers, then find out everybody's wife or girlfriend and go after them. With a vote of four to three, they wiped Light's memory of the event and altered his personality to make him an idiot. Light was originally a League enemy, but ended up being the punching bag for the Teen Titans. How did that happen? His mind was altered and he became a loser. While this was explained to Flash and GL, Light decided that he needed help and needed protection from the heroes that were after him angrily for a reason he was unsure of. He hired Deathstroke, the Terminator, who was ready to take them all on. Forgetting what Ralph had at stake, the League doesn't fully pay attention as he rushes in and gets caught in an explosion provided by Deathstroke. Deathstroke's next move is to take out Flash, by exploding mines beneath the street, making Wally run right into his sword, which he twists to make Wally stay down (not kill, but not be able to move super fast for a time). He then goes after Zatanna, punching her in the liver, making her vomit and not be able to speak or cast spells (as her spellc all require backwards speech). Next, he goes after Carter, taking him out by slicing his harness off that holds his wings on, making him fall to the ground. He then takes out Green Arrow, by chopping the backs off of all the arrows in his quiver. When Black Canary tries to sing, he gets behind her and traps her head in a bag, handcuffing her, so she can't get it off. He then looks around for Atom, and seeing him, even while tiny, aims a laser pointer at Atom. The Atom is hit by the laser pointer, and is knocked back, and making himself large, so he is not killed by hitting something, knocks right into Carter, knocking them both out. At this point GL has to take Deathstroke on. Slade just grabs his hand and crushes his fingers. The ring works on will and with seeing everything that has just taken place, he doesn't have the will to take on Slade. Fortunately, Green Arrow grabs one of his arrows and stabs it right into Deathstroke's empty eye socket, enraging him, making him not think and just lash out, allowing the League to all pile on top of him, in a way very similar to what took place when they attacked Light on the satellite, making Light remember what happened, gaining all his memories and his old personality back, making everything super bright, taking Deathstroke with him, running away. As they are confronted by Superman, who wants to know why they are going after Light, Wally helps them out by saying how Ralph had an encounter with him once, and wanted to let him go after Light himself. Superman then tells them how it couldn't be Dr. Light because her body was burned after she was already dead (how this exonerates Light, I'm not sure, but whatever). Green Arrow then needs to tell Wally about how Light wasn't the only one they erased the memory of. Every time a villain took over a hero's body or snuck into their dreams or anything, Zatanna would have to wipe their memories so they wouldn't remember who the heroes were. Batman and Superman always were too busy for the wrap-up, and after the villains were defeated, they went back to their respective cities as Joker or Lex was up to no good. But the villains still needed to be dealt with and memories were taken. Light was different as he also had his personality changed, but he wasn't the first or the last person that was changed by Zatanna's magic. In a sub-plot, Captain Boomerang tries to deal with the fact that he may have a son. Then, as Robin tries to deal with his dad, Jean Loring, Atom's wife is attacked and is hung by a noose and goes stiff. Atom goes through the phone lines and jumps out, destroying the rope, and taking her down, trying to make her breathe. As she finally breathes, he is relieved. This time, Green Arrow goes right to the top, as opposed to all the other League membres. He gets Superman to help investigate. Superman recognizes the knot that was used and has Oracle look up who uses that type of knot, discovering Slipknot used to use that exact knot. Wonder Woman and Green Arrow go to Slipknot in prison and make him tell them what he knows. He doesn't know anything, which leads the JL to believe that it has something to do with the Suicide Squad, which is the only thing that Dr. Light (believed to have done the first murder) and Slipknot (believed to have done the second attempted murder) have in common. Clark tells Bruce that the League is looking at the Squad, which Batman easily casts aside, as there would be no benefit. Captain Boomerang actually meets with his son, who lets him know that a reporter tried to have a picture of him with a boomerang, which he threw back at the reporter, slicing off his earlobe. Green Arrow, in a move that is somewhat desperate goes to Hal Jordan's grave, standing on it, so that the Spectre will appear. They laugh and talk for a while before Arrow asks Hal to tell him who killed Sue, which Hal says he can't do. He has to answer to a higher power (DC God) and cannot just do things on his own. It hurts him a lot though that he can't actually help. Lois is then threatened, with a letter letting her know that she's next and that the killer knows who her husband is (the letter 's' in husband is surrounded by a Superman like triangle). Green Arrow then confronts Deadshot, Merlyn and Monocle. As they aim at him, GL, Flash and Hawkman break through the walls, easily taking care of the villains, who know nothing, as it is all over, as no villains seem to know anything. Unfortunately, during one of these confrontations, Firstorm is stabbed through with Shining Knight's sword by Shadow-Thief. He then, flies in the air and explodes, dying. Atom and Jean get back together, after they realize how short life can be. Captain Boomerang and his son practice throwing boomerangs, and as Owen (his son) throws a razor boomerang directly at his dad, he runs quickly and carries his dad away before the boomerang hits, running with superhuman speed. Robin, as he is about to leave to go on patrol is then confronted by his dad, who doesn't want him to leave. Tim is able to convince his dad that he is better off trying to help than just watching about it on TV. As Jack (Tim's dad) goes into the kitchen, there is a box on the table, with a note on it saying "Jack Drake" with the 'r' in Drake circled, like Robin's R on his outfit. Inside the box is a note and a gun. The note simply says, "Protect Yourself." Jack then calls Oracle, asking for his son, whom Oracle contacts, all while trying to keep Jack calm and trying to help. Someone jumps onto Jack's roof, just as Robin is contacted. Batman turns the Batmobile around, racing towards Jack's house. Robin and his dad talk to each other, with his dad telling him that he loves him and Tim trying to get him out of there. Batman asks for the Flash, but he oculdn't be reached. As Robin and his dad have what could be their last conversation, Owen Mercer gets a message from his dad, letting Owen know that he has a big job that'll get his name back on the map. Boomerang breaks into Jack's house and is shot by Drake, just as he lets go of a razor-sharp boomerang, hitting Jack right in the heart, as they both die. When Batman and Robin get to the house, Tim throws off his costume and races for his dad, who is already dead. Batman holds him, letting him know that he's got him. Before this, Robin had not been an orphan, but now both Batman and Robin are orphans. Owen goes to the house where his dad was killed, asking for his dad's body so that it can be buried, but the cops or feds or somebody won't let him, saying that all these villains have just come back, so they really can't just let the body be out in the open. Everybody deals with the losses, Green Arrow hugs his kid, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, mothers and fathers all have been lost (Hal Jordan is like a brother, Terra was Geo-Force's sister, Aquaman's son, Martian Manhunter's daughter, Elongated Man's wife, Sue Dibny, Iris West's husband, Barry Allen, Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, and Bruce Wayne's father, Dick Grayson's father and Tim Drake's father). Life continues, with Merlyn, Deadshot and Monocle going free on technicalities, Dr. Light having an evil smile as he remembers what he was, Owen Mercer putting on the Captain Boomerang suit, Deathstroke shooting an arrow near Green Arrow with the arrow through his mask where he was stabbed in the eye socket. Flash looks for Deathstroke, but can't find him, but Wally asks one more question. During the battle with Deathstroke, when Dr. Light blinded everybody, he projected an image of the League taking him down, with Batman in the image. Wally asks why Batman wasn't mentioned the first time around. Ollie, looks down, then lets Wally know why. Batman wasn't mentioned because they took Batman's memories as well. Batman usually wasn't there for the clean-up afterwards and had gone back to Gotham, but because it had been Sue who had been attacked, he came back, just as Zatanna was wiping Light's mind. Bruce would never allow them to wipe the mind of someone and would have them let go from the League and have extreme things done to them. Zatanna had to stop Batman, and they had to take his memories as he would never allow it and they had to do it. Ollie then makes a big speech about how superheroes don't wear the masks merely to protect themselves, but to protect family and friends as well. If super villains knew who a superhero's mother was or wife or anything, nobody would be safe, but with the mask, people are more safe. Batman tries to track Calculator down, but Calculator already knew Bats would look for him wherever it was. As Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific keep examining the body, they find something about her brain as Batman tries to find out who benefits. There were two tiny indentations in Sue's brain, in the shape of footprints, just as Batman asks J'onn to find Ray (Atom) and to keep him where he is. Ray and Jean are back together, and the issue ends. The next issue starts in Ray and Jean's place. As Wildcat wonders why Atom would do something like that, Jean asks who left the note and gun to Jack Drake. Ray then wonders, and asks her how she knew about the note. Batman responds to other people, "Ray, it's not Ray...", as you realize that it had to have been Jean Loring, Atom's wife who killed Sue, "attacked" herself and hired Captain Boomerang to kill Jack Drake. She figured that if she made Sue faint, or whatever, Ralph would race back to her, Clark would go to Lois and maybe, Ray would go to Jean, and they could get back together. Who benefits when the family member of a superhero is killed? The family members of all the other superheroes. Jean stays defiant, asking Ray what he's going to do. Knock her out with a punch? So he takes her to Arkham, where they lock her up. Atom feels so bad about himself, that his ex-wife would kill a friend just to get him back, that he shrinks down and keeps shrinking down until he vanishes. Again, everything gets back to normal, and in the epilogue, Ralph talks to Sue, telling her everything, even though he knows she isn't there, but just telling her nonetheless, letting her know that he loves her.
Phew, sorry that is so long. I still don't feel I did it justice, but whatever. Move on, Pi.
Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny (DJL-007)
It is sad, but the story and everything started because of him, not keeping his identity secret and, of course...
Sue Dibny, Charismatic Coordinator (DJL-062)
The person who was killed in the beginning. A great individual and the only card with her.
Dr. Light, Master of Holograms (DGL-040)
I feel this is the one that represents him best. Maybe, Dr. Light, Furious Flashpoint would serve better, but that is set after Identity Crisis, when he is getting revenge for what happened to him. Of course, I feel that this card is even more disturbing when you consider that Dr. Light can make a hologram of Sue (bring her into play) and that it would actually make sense, as she is a 1-drop with a "come into play" effect.
Identity Crisis (DJL-181)
Of course, but now you know why it has the effect it does. When someone is killed, everybody rushes back to their homes.
Oliver Queen<>Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero (DJL-016)
Aside from probably being the main character, he also represents, along with the next few cards, the people that erased Light's mind and erased others as well.
Hal Jordan, Hard-Traveling Hero (DJL-011)
They always fought, but were also the best of friends, but as their flavor text shows, very different viewpoints (big and small picture), but they still do what they think is right for the people.
Barry Allen<>The Flash, Scarlet Speedster (DJL-003)
One of the people who voted for the mind-wipe, in fact the one who broke the vote. Important indeed, even if he wasn't even alive by the time of Identity Crisis.
Zatanna, Zatanna Zatara (DJL-025)
A JLA version of Zatanna, who also voted for the mind-wipe and who actually preformed the wipe.
Ray Palmer<>The Atom, World's Smallest Hero (DJL-018 and DCL-025)
Another of the supporters of the wipe, plus an important character in the story itself.
Carter Hall<>Hawkman, Eternal Champion (DCR-006)
Not on the JLA, but the only version of Carter in the game. He also voted for the wipe, but beyond that, didn't fulfill much of a role, other than being on the League within the League.
Dinah Laurel Lance<>Black Canary, "Pretty Bird" (DJL-006)
She voted against the wipe. Plus, this incarnation does show the connection between her and Green Arrow (he called her "Pretty Bird"), and they were together then.
Satellite HQ (DJL-034)
Where Sue was when Dr. Light found her. It was important, although very sad, obviously.
Captain Boomerang, "Digger" (DJL-113)
One of his two versions, this one shows how much of a bad guy he is and how he did things that were just wrong. An important character in the story, he is still a letch, even by the villains' standards.
Brother I Satellite (DCR-105)
As a direct result of Identity Crisis, Batman gets paranoid of all the superheroes and beings with superpowers and creates Brother I in order to protect people from superbeings.
Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin (DCR-128)
Ever wonder where that art is from? Now you know. Although they switched out Elongated Man for Plastic Man, but the basic concept is the same.
The Calculator, Crime Broker (DCR-142)
Another big part of Identity Crisis, although always in the background, helping out villains constantly.
Eclipso, Jean Loring (DCR-179)
Yes, Eclipso was not in Identity Crisis, but Jean Loring, the host of Eclipso on this card, was. Plus, she became Eclipso because of Identity Crisis.
Absolute Dominance (DCR-183)
The scene where Kyle's fingers get crushed by Deathstroke is awesome. The card is awesome and represents it well.
Blinding Rage (DCR-184 and DCL-250)
Another scene from Identity Crisis, although not quite. The card has them piling on top of Batman, when that never happened. Zatanna just cried out, "Namtab pots!", and he stopped. They did pile on top of Dr. Light though and this card represents both of these things merging to make things confusing.
Defend Youself! (DCR-187)
Not quite Protect Yourself, but the same concept, plus it has Jack Drake, with the gun and note, plus the box and the shadow of a boomerang in the background.
Magical Lobotomy, Magic (DCR-193)
Zatanna wiped Light's memories using a, what's the term? That's right, a magical lobotomy.
Watch the Birdie! (DCR-203)
Ouch, getting stabbed in the eye socket would make anyone mad. Again, from the fight with Deathstroke.
Blinding Light (DLS-174)
While it takes place after, it is because of Identity Crisis that Dr. Light goes from chump to super villain who almost took out all the people who ever were Titans.
Owen Mercer<>Captain Boomerang, Digger's Son (DLS-220)
An important part of Identity Crisis, Captain Boomerang's son was shown and he took after his dad for a while until he wanted to help his half-brother (Bart Allen).
Atomize (DCL-043)
Jean killed Sue and hanged herself with the help of being super-small using Ray's tech to Atomize herself.
Identity Crisis is my favorite DC storyline of all time, and it is at least within the top 5, if not 3, of my all time favorite comic storylines. For this edition, we shall go over Identity Crisis. Just a note of warning, this is an incredibly deep and mature storyline and has mature concepts that aren't light. Please just don't continue, if you don't think you'll be able to handle these concepts maturely.
Plot Summary: It all starts with Elongated Man and Firehawk on patrol. There was a tip that two punks were selling something special, which in comics, means a giant robot, or something like that. So, while waiting, they start talking about Elongated Man and his wife. Ralph Dibny wanted to be a celebrity. He may not have been one, but he always liked being known. So he lived without a secret identity. Any random person could know or learn, if they didn't already that Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man was married to Sue Dibny. Sue was even made an honorary Justice League member. Nobody else who wasn't a superhero got that treatment. Sue helped Ralph and his teammates, and was liked by pretty much everybody. Ralph tells Firehawk how they met, when he was back helping the Flash (Barry Allen). While Flash was the great hero, everybody looked at Flash and admired Flash, except for Sue. She was intrigued by this stretchable sleuth that hung out with and helped Flash. They loved each other, and moved on from there. Every year on his birthday, which means every year at some random time, she tries to trick him and give him a surprise birthday party. Elongated Man is an amazing detective, probably second best only to Batman, and always knows what is going to happen and when. His birthday was months away, but he knew that his party was this night, and he was going to act surprised when she gave him the magnifying glass that he had drooled over before. Sue knew that he would solve it, but she also knew he wouldn't guess the other surprise. After calling Alfred, and thanking him for helping her find that magnifying glass, she finds someone else in the house. As she panics, she calls Ralph, who immediately asks Firehawk to fly him home. When he gets there, the sprinklers are on and he sees her body, burned, and dead. Her gift to him is shown as the magnifying glass, now broken, but also a pregnancy test showing that she was pregnant. As he mourns, the League tries to figure out how somebody could have killed her. The houses that hold League members are protected by Apokoliptian, Thanagarian, Martian, Kryptonian technology, plus stuff Batman came up with (A great line, mentions all of the different techs, plus all the scary stuff Bruce came up with). No alarms were sounded, nobody just broke in. Nobody could have even just phased in. Meanwhile Green Arrow has the Ray, the Atom, the Metal Men and Mister Miracle all help him try to find how someone got in and who it could have been. They can't find anything, and that is disturbing. At her funeral, Ralph gets up to talk, but can't hold his face together (literally), and he is pulled away. With everything going on, after the funeral, all the superheroes try to find who did it. They all go in separate ways, except for Ralph, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Zatanna, who meet with Ralph, who wants them to go after Dr. Light. Meanwhile, Flash and GL decided to wonder why everybody was going after a villain except for these five, and spy upon the heroes. Hawkman is able to see Wally vibrating, making himself practically invisible. Green Arrow realizes Kyle must be there also and calls him out. On the way to Dr. Light's, they tell Flash and GL why Dr. Light is their number one suspect. A long time ago, when they had the satellite, they were off on a mission, and nobody was on the satellite except for Sue, who wanted to just see the stars, because she was bored. Dr. Light snuck onto the satellite, for what reason, nobody knows, but either way, his reason changed and he decided to have fun. It is never explicitly stated in the comics, but the intent is clear, and Dr. Light raped Sue. She put up a fight, but didn't stand a chance. When the League got back, it was practically over. Everybody piled on top of Light and he wsa taken down by Elongated Man wielding Hawkman's mace. When they teleported Sue and Ralph directly to a hospital, they had other problems. Ralph had not known about this, but the League, that consisted of Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Carter Hall, Atom and Zatanna, voted whether or not to mess with his mind using Zatanna's magic. Light was crazy at this point, and was ranting about how he was going to tell everybody at prison, create visuals using his powers, then find out everybody's wife or girlfriend and go after them. With a vote of four to three, they wiped Light's memory of the event and altered his personality to make him an idiot. Light was originally a League enemy, but ended up being the punching bag for the Teen Titans. How did that happen? His mind was altered and he became a loser. While this was explained to Flash and GL, Light decided that he needed help and needed protection from the heroes that were after him angrily for a reason he was unsure of. He hired Deathstroke, the Terminator, who was ready to take them all on. Forgetting what Ralph had at stake, the League doesn't fully pay attention as he rushes in and gets caught in an explosion provided by Deathstroke. Deathstroke's next move is to take out Flash, by exploding mines beneath the street, making Wally run right into his sword, which he twists to make Wally stay down (not kill, but not be able to move super fast for a time). He then goes after Zatanna, punching her in the liver, making her vomit and not be able to speak or cast spells (as her spellc all require backwards speech). Next, he goes after Carter, taking him out by slicing his harness off that holds his wings on, making him fall to the ground. He then takes out Green Arrow, by chopping the backs off of all the arrows in his quiver. When Black Canary tries to sing, he gets behind her and traps her head in a bag, handcuffing her, so she can't get it off. He then looks around for Atom, and seeing him, even while tiny, aims a laser pointer at Atom. The Atom is hit by the laser pointer, and is knocked back, and making himself large, so he is not killed by hitting something, knocks right into Carter, knocking them both out. At this point GL has to take Deathstroke on. Slade just grabs his hand and crushes his fingers. The ring works on will and with seeing everything that has just taken place, he doesn't have the will to take on Slade. Fortunately, Green Arrow grabs one of his arrows and stabs it right into Deathstroke's empty eye socket, enraging him, making him not think and just lash out, allowing the League to all pile on top of him, in a way very similar to what took place when they attacked Light on the satellite, making Light remember what happened, gaining all his memories and his old personality back, making everything super bright, taking Deathstroke with him, running away. As they are confronted by Superman, who wants to know why they are going after Light, Wally helps them out by saying how Ralph had an encounter with him once, and wanted to let him go after Light himself. Superman then tells them how it couldn't be Dr. Light because her body was burned after she was already dead (how this exonerates Light, I'm not sure, but whatever). Green Arrow then needs to tell Wally about how Light wasn't the only one they erased the memory of. Every time a villain took over a hero's body or snuck into their dreams or anything, Zatanna would have to wipe their memories so they wouldn't remember who the heroes were. Batman and Superman always were too busy for the wrap-up, and after the villains were defeated, they went back to their respective cities as Joker or Lex was up to no good. But the villains still needed to be dealt with and memories were taken. Light was different as he also had his personality changed, but he wasn't the first or the last person that was changed by Zatanna's magic. In a sub-plot, Captain Boomerang tries to deal with the fact that he may have a son. Then, as Robin tries to deal with his dad, Jean Loring, Atom's wife is attacked and is hung by a noose and goes stiff. Atom goes through the phone lines and jumps out, destroying the rope, and taking her down, trying to make her breathe. As she finally breathes, he is relieved. This time, Green Arrow goes right to the top, as opposed to all the other League membres. He gets Superman to help investigate. Superman recognizes the knot that was used and has Oracle look up who uses that type of knot, discovering Slipknot used to use that exact knot. Wonder Woman and Green Arrow go to Slipknot in prison and make him tell them what he knows. He doesn't know anything, which leads the JL to believe that it has something to do with the Suicide Squad, which is the only thing that Dr. Light (believed to have done the first murder) and Slipknot (believed to have done the second attempted murder) have in common. Clark tells Bruce that the League is looking at the Squad, which Batman easily casts aside, as there would be no benefit. Captain Boomerang actually meets with his son, who lets him know that a reporter tried to have a picture of him with a boomerang, which he threw back at the reporter, slicing off his earlobe. Green Arrow, in a move that is somewhat desperate goes to Hal Jordan's grave, standing on it, so that the Spectre will appear. They laugh and talk for a while before Arrow asks Hal to tell him who killed Sue, which Hal says he can't do. He has to answer to a higher power (DC God) and cannot just do things on his own. It hurts him a lot though that he can't actually help. Lois is then threatened, with a letter letting her know that she's next and that the killer knows who her husband is (the letter 's' in husband is surrounded by a Superman like triangle). Green Arrow then confronts Deadshot, Merlyn and Monocle. As they aim at him, GL, Flash and Hawkman break through the walls, easily taking care of the villains, who know nothing, as it is all over, as no villains seem to know anything. Unfortunately, during one of these confrontations, Firstorm is stabbed through with Shining Knight's sword by Shadow-Thief. He then, flies in the air and explodes, dying. Atom and Jean get back together, after they realize how short life can be. Captain Boomerang and his son practice throwing boomerangs, and as Owen (his son) throws a razor boomerang directly at his dad, he runs quickly and carries his dad away before the boomerang hits, running with superhuman speed. Robin, as he is about to leave to go on patrol is then confronted by his dad, who doesn't want him to leave. Tim is able to convince his dad that he is better off trying to help than just watching about it on TV. As Jack (Tim's dad) goes into the kitchen, there is a box on the table, with a note on it saying "Jack Drake" with the 'r' in Drake circled, like Robin's R on his outfit. Inside the box is a note and a gun. The note simply says, "Protect Yourself." Jack then calls Oracle, asking for his son, whom Oracle contacts, all while trying to keep Jack calm and trying to help. Someone jumps onto Jack's roof, just as Robin is contacted. Batman turns the Batmobile around, racing towards Jack's house. Robin and his dad talk to each other, with his dad telling him that he loves him and Tim trying to get him out of there. Batman asks for the Flash, but he oculdn't be reached. As Robin and his dad have what could be their last conversation, Owen Mercer gets a message from his dad, letting Owen know that he has a big job that'll get his name back on the map. Boomerang breaks into Jack's house and is shot by Drake, just as he lets go of a razor-sharp boomerang, hitting Jack right in the heart, as they both die. When Batman and Robin get to the house, Tim throws off his costume and races for his dad, who is already dead. Batman holds him, letting him know that he's got him. Before this, Robin had not been an orphan, but now both Batman and Robin are orphans. Owen goes to the house where his dad was killed, asking for his dad's body so that it can be buried, but the cops or feds or somebody won't let him, saying that all these villains have just come back, so they really can't just let the body be out in the open. Everybody deals with the losses, Green Arrow hugs his kid, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, mothers and fathers all have been lost (Hal Jordan is like a brother, Terra was Geo-Force's sister, Aquaman's son, Martian Manhunter's daughter, Elongated Man's wife, Sue Dibny, Iris West's husband, Barry Allen, Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, and Bruce Wayne's father, Dick Grayson's father and Tim Drake's father). Life continues, with Merlyn, Deadshot and Monocle going free on technicalities, Dr. Light having an evil smile as he remembers what he was, Owen Mercer putting on the Captain Boomerang suit, Deathstroke shooting an arrow near Green Arrow with the arrow through his mask where he was stabbed in the eye socket. Flash looks for Deathstroke, but can't find him, but Wally asks one more question. During the battle with Deathstroke, when Dr. Light blinded everybody, he projected an image of the League taking him down, with Batman in the image. Wally asks why Batman wasn't mentioned the first time around. Ollie, looks down, then lets Wally know why. Batman wasn't mentioned because they took Batman's memories as well. Batman usually wasn't there for the clean-up afterwards and had gone back to Gotham, but because it had been Sue who had been attacked, he came back, just as Zatanna was wiping Light's mind. Bruce would never allow them to wipe the mind of someone and would have them let go from the League and have extreme things done to them. Zatanna had to stop Batman, and they had to take his memories as he would never allow it and they had to do it. Ollie then makes a big speech about how superheroes don't wear the masks merely to protect themselves, but to protect family and friends as well. If super villains knew who a superhero's mother was or wife or anything, nobody would be safe, but with the mask, people are more safe. Batman tries to track Calculator down, but Calculator already knew Bats would look for him wherever it was. As Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific keep examining the body, they find something about her brain as Batman tries to find out who benefits. There were two tiny indentations in Sue's brain, in the shape of footprints, just as Batman asks J'onn to find Ray (Atom) and to keep him where he is. Ray and Jean are back together, and the issue ends. The next issue starts in Ray and Jean's place. As Wildcat wonders why Atom would do something like that, Jean asks who left the note and gun to Jack Drake. Ray then wonders, and asks her how she knew about the note. Batman responds to other people, "Ray, it's not Ray...", as you realize that it had to have been Jean Loring, Atom's wife who killed Sue, "attacked" herself and hired Captain Boomerang to kill Jack Drake. She figured that if she made Sue faint, or whatever, Ralph would race back to her, Clark would go to Lois and maybe, Ray would go to Jean, and they could get back together. Who benefits when the family member of a superhero is killed? The family members of all the other superheroes. Jean stays defiant, asking Ray what he's going to do. Knock her out with a punch? So he takes her to Arkham, where they lock her up. Atom feels so bad about himself, that his ex-wife would kill a friend just to get him back, that he shrinks down and keeps shrinking down until he vanishes. Again, everything gets back to normal, and in the epilogue, Ralph talks to Sue, telling her everything, even though he knows she isn't there, but just telling her nonetheless, letting her know that he loves her.
Phew, sorry that is so long. I still don't feel I did it justice, but whatever. Move on, Pi.
Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny (DJL-007)
It is sad, but the story and everything started because of him, not keeping his identity secret and, of course...
Sue Dibny, Charismatic Coordinator (DJL-062)
The person who was killed in the beginning. A great individual and the only card with her.
Dr. Light, Master of Holograms (DGL-040)
I feel this is the one that represents him best. Maybe, Dr. Light, Furious Flashpoint would serve better, but that is set after Identity Crisis, when he is getting revenge for what happened to him. Of course, I feel that this card is even more disturbing when you consider that Dr. Light can make a hologram of Sue (bring her into play) and that it would actually make sense, as she is a 1-drop with a "come into play" effect.
Identity Crisis (DJL-181)
Of course, but now you know why it has the effect it does. When someone is killed, everybody rushes back to their homes.
Oliver Queen<>Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero (DJL-016)
Aside from probably being the main character, he also represents, along with the next few cards, the people that erased Light's mind and erased others as well.
Hal Jordan, Hard-Traveling Hero (DJL-011)
They always fought, but were also the best of friends, but as their flavor text shows, very different viewpoints (big and small picture), but they still do what they think is right for the people.
Barry Allen<>The Flash, Scarlet Speedster (DJL-003)
One of the people who voted for the mind-wipe, in fact the one who broke the vote. Important indeed, even if he wasn't even alive by the time of Identity Crisis.
Zatanna, Zatanna Zatara (DJL-025)
A JLA version of Zatanna, who also voted for the mind-wipe and who actually preformed the wipe.
Ray Palmer<>The Atom, World's Smallest Hero (DJL-018 and DCL-025)
Another of the supporters of the wipe, plus an important character in the story itself.
Carter Hall<>Hawkman, Eternal Champion (DCR-006)
Not on the JLA, but the only version of Carter in the game. He also voted for the wipe, but beyond that, didn't fulfill much of a role, other than being on the League within the League.
Dinah Laurel Lance<>Black Canary, "Pretty Bird" (DJL-006)
She voted against the wipe. Plus, this incarnation does show the connection between her and Green Arrow (he called her "Pretty Bird"), and they were together then.
Satellite HQ (DJL-034)
Where Sue was when Dr. Light found her. It was important, although very sad, obviously.
Captain Boomerang, "Digger" (DJL-113)
One of his two versions, this one shows how much of a bad guy he is and how he did things that were just wrong. An important character in the story, he is still a letch, even by the villains' standards.
Brother I Satellite (DCR-105)
As a direct result of Identity Crisis, Batman gets paranoid of all the superheroes and beings with superpowers and creates Brother I in order to protect people from superbeings.
Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin (DCR-128)
Ever wonder where that art is from? Now you know. Although they switched out Elongated Man for Plastic Man, but the basic concept is the same.
The Calculator, Crime Broker (DCR-142)
Another big part of Identity Crisis, although always in the background, helping out villains constantly.
Eclipso, Jean Loring (DCR-179)
Yes, Eclipso was not in Identity Crisis, but Jean Loring, the host of Eclipso on this card, was. Plus, she became Eclipso because of Identity Crisis.
Absolute Dominance (DCR-183)
The scene where Kyle's fingers get crushed by Deathstroke is awesome. The card is awesome and represents it well.
Blinding Rage (DCR-184 and DCL-250)
Another scene from Identity Crisis, although not quite. The card has them piling on top of Batman, when that never happened. Zatanna just cried out, "Namtab pots!", and he stopped. They did pile on top of Dr. Light though and this card represents both of these things merging to make things confusing.
Defend Youself! (DCR-187)
Not quite Protect Yourself, but the same concept, plus it has Jack Drake, with the gun and note, plus the box and the shadow of a boomerang in the background.
Magical Lobotomy, Magic (DCR-193)
Zatanna wiped Light's memories using a, what's the term? That's right, a magical lobotomy.
Watch the Birdie! (DCR-203)
Ouch, getting stabbed in the eye socket would make anyone mad. Again, from the fight with Deathstroke.
Blinding Light (DLS-174)
While it takes place after, it is because of Identity Crisis that Dr. Light goes from chump to super villain who almost took out all the people who ever were Titans.
Owen Mercer<>Captain Boomerang, Digger's Son (DLS-220)
An important part of Identity Crisis, Captain Boomerang's son was shown and he took after his dad for a while until he wanted to help his half-brother (Bart Allen).
Atomize (DCL-043)
Jean killed Sue and hanged herself with the help of being super-small using Ray's tech to Atomize herself.
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