Awesome Arena Results: Juggernaut vs. The Blob

A couple of week back, we threw down a new battle in the Awesome Arena. While it was once an exhibition match, it would still settle once and for all who was indeed the true immovable object of the Marvel U. In one corner, Juggernaut. In the other, The Blob. Well, after a week of so of voting, we have a winner!

Juggernaut now stands as the official powerhouse, or rather immovable object, of the Marvel U… at least he is until someone is able to beat him. Have any combatants that you think could beat Juggernaut into last week? Leave a comment and let me know or, better yet, talk about it in the Panels of Awesome forums.

He Didn’t Die: A Look Back At New Ways To Die

With issue #573 of Amazing Spider-Man having hit shelves last week, New Ways to Die officially comes to a close. It was a pretty fun ride but, like most things, it had to end eventually. The timing of the arc really couldn’t have come at a better time. With readers still on the outs with ASM because of the events that took place, or rather didn’t take place, in One More Day, New Ways To Die was finally what readers had been asking for: Spider-Man’s return to the Marvel U.

With the arc having now come to a close, let’s take a look back at some of the better things to come out of the six-part story, shall we?

The Thunderbolts:
Kicking off the New Ways to Die arc was a fantastic appearance by The Thunderbolts. With Warren Ellis having brought Norman Osborn on board the team during his spectacular run on the T-bolts book a couple months back, it seemed almost impossible not to see Osborn collide with Spider-Man at some point. Luckily for us, New Ways to Die was that collision and it sure as hell didn’t disappoint.

Anti-Venom:
What originally seemed like a pretty lame way to bring the symbiotes back into the mainstream actually turned out to be a pretty interesting, well planned-out story. With a full blown battle between Eddie Brock and Mac Gargan in the second part of the arc, it’ll be interesting to see round two between the two maniacs. Another interesting piece of the Anti-Venom puzzle is Mr. Negative who, for whatever reason, seems to be suffering from some sort of disease with Brock now out of the picture.

Tying It All Together:
We had Norman interacting with Harry on the subject of Harry’s Coffee Bean investment, Freak being captured and then used by Oscorp to create new cures for diseases as well as Menace going head-to-head with Green Goblin while interfering in the Mayoral campaign. Overall, many of the stories and subjects that had been crafted since the beginning of Brand New Day really crisscrossed throughout the New Ways to Die arc thanks to the writing of Dan Slott.

Naturally, New Ways to Die did have it’s flaws. There are very few, if any, stories in comics that are completely solid. So, while it was one of the most impressive arcs to hit Amazing Spider-Man in recent memory, here’s a couple of the flaws that I found while reading the stories:

More Wolverine:
A Marvel comic just doesn’t feel quite right if Wolverine isn’t in it.

Continuity Errors:
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Spider-Man, along with the characters who make up his universe, were not supposed to realize that One More Day had actually occurred. That being said, Peter makes numerous references to the fact that Norman doesn’t know he’s Spider-Man anymore. In the final issue of the arc (Book six), Norman reminds Harry that he’s been killed before which, because of the retcon in OMD, shouldn’t have happened. Once again, nobody should even know about Harry’s death since it apparently didn’t happen.

The Spider-Mobile:
Old Man Logan did it so why couldn’t Spider-Man, the original owner of the now infamous vehicle, bring it back out of hiding and use it to fight crime or perform stunts that were once unimaginable? I’m sure Dan Slott could have squeezed it in there somewhere and I’m sure JRJR would have been more than happy to draw that… thing.

All jokes aside, New Ways to Die was pretty entertaining. In the next couple issues, we’ll be taking a look back at what Flash Thompson has been up to since this whole Brand New Day kicked off. With Marc Guggenheim taking over the reigns of Amazing Spider-Man for the time being, I’ll be waiting in anticipation until Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. return to the title. If this arc hasn’t proven to the Spider-Fans that Slott is the main man in the Spidey-Braintrust, I don’t know what else he has to do.

If you’re a Spider-Man fan and, for whatever reason, you haven’t read New Ways to Die, I’d definitely suggest you give it a shot. It’s well worth the time to check out.

Secret Invasion vs. Final Crisis: A Comparison

This past week, both Secret Invasion and Final Crisis happened to be landing in my hands in the same week for the first time in a while. That being said, I think that it’s time to take a look at what both books have brought to the table thus far. While I understand that neither book has reached it’s end yet, there’s really no better time than now to talk about some of each series’ hits and, more importantly, misses.

The Story

With Secret Invasion, the story took off right away. The opening pages of the book immediately piled on mounds of awesome and didn’t stop. With each issue that followed, more and more action, explosions and twists followed by more battles than you could possibly shake a stick at ensued leaving dead Skrulls and even some dead heroes in the rubble that followed. Sure, some issues seemed to be running around in circles but, for the most part, I’ve been pretty happy with what I’ve seen.

Final Crisis, on the other hand, took a couple issues to get going and, even as of issue #4, the story has finally just starting to take shape. The first issue featured a horribly constructed death. The second issue featured the return of a character, as cool as he may be, that the DCU already has far too many of. Issue three showed the consequences of the Anti-Life Equation on humanity. The fourth issue, which was released this past week, featured the return of Darkseid… who’s been dead for a whole 3 months.

Advantage: Secret Invasion

The Art

I was pretty rough on Leinil Francis Yu during his work on New Avengers a while back but his work on Secret Invasion has really impressed me. I think it really has a lot to do with the inks and colors but, regardless of that, Yu’s work has definitely improved over the past little while.

JG Jones has been pretty impressive since his work on 52 a while back. When I heard he was coming on board for the Crisis, I was pretty optimistic and he hasn’t really let me down yet. It’ll be interesting to see just how much damage his departure in the final couple issues will do on the story but, in the meantime, I’m going to try to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Advantage: Final Crisis

The Crossovers

Both titles have been pretty horrendous with the crossovers but Secret Invasion obviously takes the first prize for total amount of crossover books. With all the Avengers books, Ms. Marvel, Iron Man and not to mention all the miscellaneous one-shots to name a few, it’s pretty clear that the event has reached “out of control” status.

Dan Didio, despite telling people that Final Crisis would be pretty self-contained and not include too many tie-in books, has tacked on quite a few tie-in book. While it’s nowhere near as many as the complete takeover of the Marvel U that’s taking place during Secret Invasion, DC’s still getting a little out of control with their Crisis tie-ins as well.

Advantage: Final Crisis

Overall Impact On Their Universes

Secret Invasion, right off the hop, changed things in the Marvel U that will probably have some pretty severe effects on the entire roster of Marvel heroes. While I don’t always agree with events that are so big they require you to hear about it constantly in every book under the company’s banner, Secret Invasion has done one hell of a job breaking stuff in a pretty intriging way.

Final Crisis has seemed almost like it was in it’s own little world for the better part of… well, always. With everything else going on in the DCU like Green Lantern’s Blackest Night, the Batman R.I.P. storyline and Trinity, it’s very difficult to see, if any, changes to the DCU post-Final Crisis.

Advantage: Secret Invasion

Final Tally

So, after looking at all the pros and cons, there really isn’t any clear winner. Hmm… that was a dud. I’m really hoping that Crisis fires up in the next couple issues and becomes somewhat more comprehensible. As for Secret Invasion, it would be nice to see an ending that didn’t involve something ridiculously stupid like Sentry losing to the Hulk or Captain America dying.

Is it really so much to ask?

What’s your take on Secret Invasion or Final Crisis? Leave a comment and let me know or, better yet, leave a comment in the brand spankin’ new Panels of Awesome forums!

New Exiles #12 - Review

The Good…

• End of the first year and this book finally looks somewhat promising.
• Kitty finally seems like she could be an interesting character.
• No use of Gambit, Rogue, Sage or Mystique.

The Bad…

• Kitty vs. Wolverine climax happened off panel.
• No use of Morph or Psylocke.
• Story is still pretty bad.
• The bastardization of what was once a great title continues.

Full Review

Okay, lets face it, when I heard that Exiles was being re-launched as New Exiles, I wasn’t thrilled. I got interested in this book thanks to my love of Blink and was sad to find out she wouldn’t be on the team. Then I heard that Chris Claremont was taking over the writing and I had some hope. I mean, lets face it, the man re-defined the X titles during his tenure at Marvel so I was optimistic that he’d keep New Exiles as awesome as Exiles was before it. But it was not to be.

The writing has been completely uninspired and cheesy, one issue contained the words “This is so weird” no less than 4 times in situations that are not weird at all. The characters are TERRIBLE!!! Mystiq is kind of like Mystique except a dude. Gambit is the sun or Sue Storm and Namor. Nothing in this title really makes sense.

Now that you understand my disgust with what the Exiles have become, I can get to this issue. This has been the best issue of this run so far. The basic point is that the bad guys (Led by Sue Storm as Madam Hydra, and also including evil Wolverine and the Slaymaster) have been traveling dimensions looking for different versions of Psylocke and Sabertooth and killing them. Creed finds out and decides it’s time to take the fight to them and gets his ass handed to him. Just as he is about to be killed he gets phased into the ground and transported (thanks to the spinning of the Earth) a ways away from the fight. Kitty tells him that to keep them hidden, they’ll have to stay phased but that it will prevent him from healing (bad idea.) Eventually, (evil) Wolverine finds them and, since Creed couldn’t heal, continues the ass kicking from earlier. However, Creed gets in a few hits and counters and Wolverine decides to pull out the gun he brought along (which is lame as hell, why would Wolverine use a gun in a fist fight???) and shoot Creed. Kitty phases him and the bullets go through him (good thing too because since Wolverines claws didn’t kill Creed, I bet those bullets would have!!! Ugh.) Anyway, Kitty has seen enough and kicks Creed off of a cliff, and out of harms way (Bullets = Bad, Fall off of a cliff with a hard landing below = A-OK!)

Kitty manages to destroy Wolverine’s gun (Phasing through gun = destroyed gun) but Wolverine manages to get her in the stomach with his claws. She shrugs it off and makes her parents proud by accessing the gymnastics she took as a child and dodging everything Wolverine can throw at her. Eventually, Wolverine claws her in the stomach again, but this time she was phased. She smirks and unphases, which removes Wolverines claws from his fist. The fight ends with a climactic “YEARGHHH!” off panel and Kitty comes down to Creed with a pretty necklace made of Wolverine’s claws, picks up Creed and they go home.

So that was the issue. All things considered, the writing is bad… but not as bad as it was for the first 11 issues. The story was alright, I’m glad to get some closure to part of this story. The art is alright, nothing spectacular, but not that bad. I think I want Claremont off this book. I’ve been saying for awhile that I’d give New Exiles until issue 12 before I decide to drop it. I’ve decided that I’ll buy #13 but I’m going on an issue by issue basis now. If there is one more bad issue anytime soon, I’m done with this series.

New Exiles #12

5 out of 10 stars

Podcasts of Awesome #2 Now Online!

Apparently lightning does in fact strike twice. Such is the case in which the whole crew was able to juggle around enough time to get together once again and fire out another Podcast of Awesome. In this episode, we cover everything from Marvel Apes to The Age of The Sentry to Andrew singing a song from Clerks.

We’re always looking for ideas on how to make our casts better so if you have any feedback, ideas, suggestions or complaints, PLEASE contact us and let us know. Also, keep your eye on Twitter since we’ll be opening up the lines of communication whenever we do a cast and we’ll answer any questions or discuss anything brought to our attention there as well. Granted, it won’t be live but it’ll be almost as good as live… sorta.

So, without further ado, we present to you the second episode of Podcasts of Awesome!

If you dig it, make sure you subscribe to the cast via iTunes or whatever other program you use to get the latest casts to your computer.

All the cool kids are doing it.

Awesome Arena - Juggernaut vs. The Blob

The dust has completely settled in the Awesome Arena since the closing rounds of the Tournament of Evil. A couple weeks ago, a co-worker asked me who would win in a battle between two of the Marvel heavyweight villains and I came to the conclusion that there was really only one way to settle it once and for all. The gates of the arena have been opened up once again and this time it’s Marvel’s Juggernaut taking on Marvel’s Blob in a winner-take-all battle to the death. Both combatants will need your help to come out on top but first, let’s learn a little bit more about them.

Awesome Arena Exhibition Match: Juggernaut (Marvel Comics) vs. Blob (Marvel Comics)

Combatant #1 - Juggernaut

Comic Debut:
X-Men #12 (July 1965)

Background:
Juggeranut, also known as Cain Marko, is the stepbrother of Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men. Marko is portrayed, in his initial appearance, as having been an angry, greedy bully as a child. In his later appearances, it becomes clear that Marko was also bullied by his older, larger schoolmates and physically abused by his father. Along the way, he developed a strong hatred of Xavier as coming from his resentment over how Charles used his powers. While serving together in the Korean War, Cain and Charles stumbled onto the ancient temple of Cyttorak, lost for centuries. On an altar Cain saw the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, and immediately grabbed it. Upon the gem was an inscription, and he read it aloud. When Cain grabbed it, the cavern collapsed. Charles was able to escape, but it took Cain years to dig himself out. Upon escaping, he sought revenge on Xavier as the unstoppable Juggernaut.

Powers / Abilities:
- Superhuman strength, stamina, and durability
- Regenerative healing factor
- Force field generation
- Ability to become virtually unstoppable while in motion

Combatant #2 - Blob

Comic Debut:
X-Men #3 (January 1964)

Background:
Born in Lubbock, Texas, Fred J. Dukes started out as a member of a circus sideshow under the name “the Blob”. He was contacted by Charles Xavier, who told him that he (Dukes) was a mutant. Blob was then asked to join the X-Men. Upon his arrival at the mansion, the other X-Men disliked Dukes for his obnoxious attitude. The Blob then changed his mind and refused Xavier’s invitation, stating that was better than the other X-Men. When Xavier tried to erase Blob’s mind of what has transpired, the Blob escaped. After gathering up the other members of his circus crew, Blob and company attacked the X-Mansion… unsuccessfully.

Powers / Abilities:
- Superhuman strength, endurance, durability and resilience
- Personal gravity field
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

While there aren’t any prizes on the line, your vote will still decide once and for all just who’s the true immovable object in the Marvel Universe. Once the results have all come in, I’ll be sure to send it to Marvel and get them to sign off on it.

I’m kidding, by the way.

[polldaddy poll="1007458"]

The 2008 Manitoba Comic-Con In 500 Words Or Less

Personal Highlights

• Kurt Busiek and Joe Rubinstein commenting on us while making our way to get seated during their presentation.
• The amount of attention produced from Alana’s (Mike Haynes’ significant other) Harley Quinn costume.
• All other costumes in attendance.
• The crowd being sprayed with pumpkin guts during the Battle Swords presentation.
• And of course, the comics, the art, the games, posters, prints, artists, merch, figurines, etc…

The absolute best part about the convention itself was the bigger better location. Rather than being crammed into a small room, attendees were able to roam the massive floor for the entire two days and maybe only brush into in average of 1.67 people rather that, lets say, grind shoulder to shoulder with everybody in attendance.

Personal Dislikes (very few, and mostly unavoidable)

• It rained all weekend and I didn’t want to get my new purchases wet while running to my vehicle.
• I spent money that I really should have been saving.
• I missed out on more than one really good buy because I hesitated.
• I wanted to buy allot more.

None of those things however compared to the annoying guy who wouldn’t stop talking to us and attempting to impersonate Vegeta from DBZ. Had I the opportunity, I’d have hit him across the face with a phone book.

As for purchases, I’m very content with the amount of things I was able to buy with the $150.00 (CAD) I allowed myself to spend over the course of the two days. Also, with the exception of Marvel Apes, Preacher, Deadpool and ASM, none of these are on my actual pull list which leaves me excited to digest some new material.

Trades

• Alpha Flight (Vol.1)
• Hulk: Planet Hulk
• The Boys: The Name of The Game (Vol.1)
• The Boys: Get Some (Vol.2)
• Thor (Vol.1)
• Y: The Last Man – Unmanned (Vol.1)

Comics

• Big Mouth #6
• Dead Pool #3
• History of the DC Universe #1
• History of the DC Universe #2
• Justice League of America #1
• Marvel Apes #3
• Preacher #45,51,64
• The Amazing Spider-Man #570
• The Boys #7-22
• The Inhumans #1-4
• World War Hulk #3

Clothing

• Dharma Initiative Men’s T-Shirt

Considering the total retail dollar amount in trades alone comes out to $115 (USD) and the shirt being twenty-something and change, I think I got pretty fair value for what I spent.

In closing, and to also meet my premeditated word count, The 2008 Manitoba Comic Con & Sci-Fi Expo was exceptional, it was worth every second and every cent. It gave a newer comic book reader a chance to explore a lot of new avenues and talk to many different people about what’s what in comics. Though I’m sure it doesn’t compare to any of the bigger, badder conventions that take place south of the border, it had a lot to offer to everybody in a very comfortable setting. I’m already looking forward to next year.

No Hero #1 - Review

The Good…

• Great writing, as usual, by Warren Ellis.
• Juan Jose Ryp returns with great art that is pretty reminiscent of Black Summer.

The Bad…

• The similarities are pretty high when it comes to No Hero and Black Summer. Some people might not like that.
• The ultra-gore might be a little too much for some people.

Full Review

With Black Summer out of the way, my attention has now shifted towards the next big thing from the Avatar Press camp and, more importantly, from Warren Ellis. I’d been following Black Summer almost religiously and have really taken a liking to his work on Anna Mercury so No Hero seemed like a pretty obvious pick-up for me. The big question is weather or not it would be worth it.
Even though I already knew it would be.

Ellis’ work has been, alongside the writing of Garth Ennis, one of the main reasons that Avatar has grown so popular over the past little while. No Hero is definitely not an exception to that as the writing and overall style of the book really sets itself apart from many of the other, much more mainstream, books that most people have become accustomed to. While the book really does keep that same look and feel as Black Summer, there’s certainly enough here to really keep the two books completely separate, which is nice. After the events of this first issue, alongside the little preview shown of the upcoming issues, it’ll be interesting to see where Ellis goes from here.

What can you say about Juan Jose Ryp? For starters, the guy’s work is just awesome. His ultra-detailed, and therefore ultra-violent style, that Avatar readers have become somewhat accustomed to has returned and brought with it once again the familiar tones and emotions that were running rampant throughout Ellis and his previous title. He’s easily my personal favorite artist working at Avatar and one of the biggest reasons I think I enjoyed this book as much as I did.

So, those of you out there that enjoyed Black Summer and it’s ultra-gore style, No Hero should be an instant pick-up. It has the same dark twist on the world of superheroes that many people really enjoyed about Summer and it also features a great deal of people getting their ears kicked off. Ok, it’s actually only one guy but, in my books, that’s more than satisfying enough. While it might not be the book for everyone, it’s definitely going to have a core audience that really enjoys this title.

Go read No Hero #1. It’s good stuff.

No Hero #1

7.9 out of 10 stars