The What If Podcast returns to discuss the new Infinity event What Ifs (3 out of 5 ain’t bad, at least), as well as Jessica Jones and Civil War! What’s new, pussycat?
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The What If Podcast hits you up with a bonus episode on Marvel Zombies, Avengers Age of Ultron nerd rants, and Bebop and Rocksteady! Just Andrew The Giant and The Slim James this time, and it was recorded on The Giant’s birthday! Extravaganza!
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The What If Podcast discusses Herb Trimpe, Avengers Age Of Ultron, Daredevil, Agents of SHIELD and…Machine Man? Andrew the Giant also has some intriguing evidence of a potential Punisher inclusion in the Daredevil universe. Also, Maine comic conventions, Dum Dum Dugan, and more!
The WIP is featured on theslimjames.com/wip
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Why, yes it is.
As part of my ongoing quest to finish setting up our house, I have found myself going through many things and trying to find a place for them. This week, I was able to do a few things, so expect a couple updates within the next week. Sorry these aren’t as Crafty as I would have liked, but if you stick them out, I did do a mini-craft that I will post.
On this site we are going to look through many collections that I have been putting together all my life. One of the first things that I had to go through was my card collection. I don’t mean greeting cards, or sports cards here. Although I do still have a box of old baseball cards that I should go through. And I didn’t include my Magic cards, as there are just too many, and I need to sell most of them. Interested? Email us.
No, here I’m going to talk about my comic and miscellaneous, and random other ones that I had acquired, including some that I just bought last month.
Here is my collection, or most of it, semi-sorted into groups. We got some Marvel cards, X-Force, X-Men, Spider-Man, Heavy Metal magazine covers, Arthur Suydam artwork, some Marvel game, TMNT TV show cards, Archer, and even one lone DC card. That’s right, Gangbuster, in all of his glory.
My original plan was to narrow done these cards to a core group that were the best of the best and represented the interests I had. This didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Many cards I eliminated just because I didn’t like the way that they looked (sorry X-Force). Some because I just had no interest in them (Marvel game and Heavy Metal). I mean, don’t get me wrong, some of those cards were cool, but I just don’t think that I liked them enough to put them on display.
Finally I got the ones that I thought were good enough, and diverse enough, to add to my wanna-be-shelf-porn library. As you can see, I only got vertical ones, and I did include two sketch cards and a Magic card. I thought that this would look good in a tasteful frame.
Top row, left to right, they are: Archer (Sterling Duchess), the Deadpool card from the polybagged X-Force #1 (worthless, utterly worthless, even in the bags), a Groot sketch card from last year in Boston.
Middle row: Glow in the dark Ghost Rider, Arthur Suydam artwork, Avengers team card.
Bottom: Aces Weekly sketch card from Dubai Comic-Con, Marvel “comedy” card, MTG Dark Ritual card (not a rare, but a solid card to have in a black deck).
As luck would have it, I was able to find several nice frames at Goodwill, which was having a huge sale. So I was getting frames for under a dollar. These were nice, too. You’ll see some of them in a later post. Unfortunately, the sheets of cards would not fit. So I had to do a bit of cutting and re-arranging. In the process, I switched out a couple of cards. This was mostly done to make it fit, but I also think it looks a bit nicer now, with the horizontal cards.
As you can see, I took out the Avengers card, the hilarious Marvel “joke”, and the Ghost Rider. Looking back now, I think I want to put the Ghost Rider back in and take out the Magic card, but maybe that would just be too much Marvel. In case you can’t tell from the glare, the two horizontal cards that I put in are the Jaws card, and one of Kraven the Hunter with a gunshot wound to the head, which isn’t in the original Kraven’s Last Hunt (or Fearful Symmetry for you snobs), I don’t think.
So where does this go? Well, for now, it goes under my shelf of many things.
Someday that will require updating, and so someday, that too will be an article here on Giant-Size Comic Things, your home for stuff about comics and things. Think you got a better catch phrase? Leave it in the comments.
So apparently despite not actually opening yet, there will be a Guardians of the Galaxy sequel because that’s-the-plan-deal-with-it. Also, sorry Damion Poitier, Josh Brolin is Thanos now. I’m sure Brolin will bring a fine gravitas to the death obsessed despot, and as weird as it sounds, it’s actually encouraging that Marvel Studios will recast when necessary, so that we don’t have to suffer through characters mysteriously disappearing after their first appearance (War Machine) or, for the love of god, rebooted (Hulk). These announcements do add a layer of intrigue to the Guardians of the Galaxy premiere, which I’m already excited to see.
So, this is a bit of a departure from the usual Cartoons and Cereal post. Today, instead of looking at just a 20-30 minute TV show, I want to talk about a feature length movie. It’s still a cartoon, of course. My daughter and I love the Avengers, and so when Andrew the Giant told me about this movie, I thought it would be perfect for us. So we watched it. And now, my daughter just wants to watch it again and again. She enjoyed it that much. I enjoyed it as well, but probably not as much as she did. Let’s look at what we had going on in it.
So it’s some time in the future, as you might have been able to guess by the title. Ultron had attacked the planet years ago, and was successful in defeating the Avengers and taking over the world. The children of some of the heroes were saved and hidden away in a bubble in the Artic Circle by Tony Stark, who survived and acted as a father figure. Jocasta is there too, acting like a robot mother. The children are familiar counterparts to those who know Avengers lore. Torin, the daughter of Thor, has a sword. Henry, the son of Giant-Man and the Wasp, is the youngest of the group, but very smart. Azari is the son of Storm and the Black Panther, and has a tiny waist, like worse than Black Widow in that Captain America poster people complained about. Which leads me to James, the son of Captain America and Black Widow, who wields a holo-shield.
Look at that tiny waist! I guess they all have it, but it looks the worst on Azari.
I may be wrong, as I don’t have my comics with me to check, but I think that this team of Avengers kids appears in the Avengers vol. 4 during a battle with Ultron, which also has an old Iron Man. I could be wrong, but they looked familiar. If I remember, I’ll look that up in a month when I get back to the collection.
Anyways, one day the Vision comes a calling, badly beaten and seeking Tony to repair him. This leads to the kids sneaking around, as kids do, and finding the Iron Avengers, something the Slim James had mentioned in one of his podcasts before. Maybe this one, or this one. They accidently launch them, which draws the attention of Ultron, who turns the robots to his side and attacks. The kids and Vision’s head escape, while Tony is taken prisoner. Of course they try to save him but end up ambushed by robots in the capital city. But, they are saved by an archer, the son of Hawkeye, and someone? I was thinking maybe the Scarlet Witch as the kid has white hair like Pietro, but I don’t think it actually mentions who it was.
Anyways, I’m not going to spell out the rest of the story, as there might be those of you who want to watch it and be surprised by what happens. I will say that it full of nice little Easter eggs for serious fans. I enjoyed seeing a certain green goliath as a Maestro. There were also two scenes ripped straight from Avengers vol. 3, including “Ultron, we would have words with thee!” and a Hulk ripping a artificial intelligence in half over their head. Those were cool.
The actual animation of the show is rather cheap. It’s not nearly as good as that of Avengers Assemble or Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. It is more like that from an earlier Avengers cartoon. The voices are okay, I suppose. Nothing great, but nothing that takes away from the story either. If you have small kids, they’ll like it. If you’re just an older fan, I think it’s safe to say you could skip it.
I do want to see some of the other straight-to-video Marvel movies, and will try to review some of them in the future. Until next time, keep your inner child alive with a healthy dose of Cartoons and Cereal!
Cartoons! And cereal! It’s a great day for both. My daughter and I finished Avengers Assemble, so we are working our way through Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. It’s a fun show full of Hulks. We have classic Hulk, Red Hulk, She-Hulk, A-Bomb (who is Rick Jones), and Skaar (who in the comics is the son of Hulk, I think). Also, we must have missed an episode, because Devil Dinosaur is there, hanging out. (note: we did miss an episode where the gang goes to the Savage Land and adopt DD)
But back to the show at hand. The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. are centered in Vista Verde, which is the town in which Bruce Banner became the Hulk. Hulk is a bit worried about the town, as things just keep attacking. Mayor Stan Lee tries to convince him to stick around, but Hulk just doesn’t know what to do. Luckily a huge maggot bursts up and attacks the town. I say luckily, because at least in that situation, Hulk knows what he should do. It starts with S and ends with H. Give up? SMOOSH. Or smash I guess.
So Hulk and A-Bomb investigate where the maggot came from and end up falling deep, deep down into the Earth. Where do they end up? With the Moloids, who are very quick to crown Hulk their new king. But all is not as it seems down there, and a certain Mole Man does make an appearance, but is he the bad guy? (Spoiler: No. No he isn’t.)
It’s a fun show. I think it’s more light-hearted than the Avengers show, and is down in a very different way. The whole premise of the show is that it is a reality TV show made by Jones. So there are times when we cut away from the action to a “confession cam” where the team can put in their opinions of what is happening. There are also cameras that follow around each member and record all the events. All in all, an enjoyable watch, although Red Hulk will never be one of my favorites, but I don’t think he is supposed to be.
This time around we look at another episode of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble (which clear needs the word Marvel’s in front, incase you thought it was someone else’s Avengers), titled The Ambassador.
Dr. Doom wants to speak at the UN, but has asked, nay demanded, that the Avengers act as his bodyguards. Why does he need their help? Because the Cabal (Red Skull, Dracula, Hyperion, MODOK, and Attuma) are out to get him for rejecting their invitation. As it turns out, he only really wanted Captain America, but had to take the rest with him.
Hyperion strikes first, while Doom is giving his speech (which he does with the aid of a universal translator he invented). (Wait, is it really universal? Will any creature in the universe understand him? Sorry, got off a bit there). MODOK, as the adaptoid, Dracula and Attuma come next and the Avengers find themselves split up and trying to get Doom back to the safety of their tower.
Cap takes the lead and tries to escort him back himself while the rest of the team plays defense. Although how Hawkeye is able to take care of himself is a mystery to me. The Red Skull ambushes Cap and Doom, and then, to everyone’s surprise, Doom saves Captain America’s life! It’s a Christmas miracle. With Doom on his back, Cap sprints the rest of the way to the tower.
But it’s then we discover that it has all been a ploy by Doom to get into the Tower. What did he want? And will the Avengers stop him? all that happens in the last 5 minutes or so of the show, so I’ve basically told you the whole thing. But I’m not going to give away the ending. This show is still fairly recent, so go watch it yourself. It’s a good one.
marvel.wikia.com
Tigra is one of those super heroines that seems only to be around to appeal to a certain demographic. And that demographic are the type of people who find human/animal hybrids to be attractive. I mean, look at her. She is covered by fur and is wearing nothing but a little bikini. What is the point of that? What would she look like if she had nothing? Would anything be visible or would it all just be covered in fur? I mean, she has human looking breasts, which is odd, considering that’s not what cats have. Also, why does she have human hair on her head still? Moving on.
Tigra has been an Avenger for some time, although she has never been a heavy hitter. Her history seems long and confusing, but involves a race called the Cat People, who she is a part of. She has had many problems with her human and feline sides interacting, and when her cat side takes dominance, she tends to be moody, needy, and aggressive.
During the Civil War, she was a spy for Iron Man and infiltrated Cap’s team, only for them to tell her they knew about it all along. She then was hooking up regularly with Hank Pym, which raises another whole host of questions, but I won’t go into them here. It turns out that Pym was a Skrull however, and she became pregnant with his baby and gave birth to a hybrid thing that she has since left with the Cat People. I thought cats were slightly better mothers than that, but oh well.
So there you have it. Eye candy for furries and overall odd heroine.
A point 1 issue from comixology (so not quite an issue 1, but close enough). The point 1 issues were meant to be jumping on points for new readers. So under that guise, let’s take a look. I’ll be honest, I forgot which volume of Avengers this is from, but I think it was 4. Yeah, 4. That’s what I’m going with. It’s fairly recent and was done by Bendis, at the time when Bendis did about 100 Avengers books a month.
The cover shows the team, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, and Bucky-Cap (I think, judging by the costume) coming out of what appears to be a sun in the middle of a city. Pretty bleh stuff in terms of composition, but well drawn. No real recap, other than saying the names of the heroes. We open the story on Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman #2 gliding around a jungle, in search of aliens when she stumbles onto a big old robot. The problem is that the Intelligencia is already there. This group of super villain geniuses has MODOK, Klaw, the Mad Thinker, the Wizard, and the Red Ghost. Theoretically, they should be smart enough to do anything they want. Something tells me that won’t be the case. We then go to Avengers Tower where Abigail Brand, agent of SWORD, is telling Steve Rogers (not Captain America) about what happened to Drew. Rogers doesn’t seem to know anything about this agency but Beast assures him it’s on the up and up. Thanks Beast, for telling me about this secret organization. Rogers seems a little peeved by the fact that people are in more than one group and Spider-Man makes a World of Warcraft joke.
Anyway, the Avengers decide to go check out what happened, since apparently SWORD can’t handle stuff on their own. They go to where Spider-Woman was and check for clues. Iron Man can tell there was something “unearthly” there, which he further elaborates as “something not from the earth.” You are so smart, Tony. Wolverine smells blood and Iron Man picks up something in the air.
Now we see Jessica Drew, naked and imprisoned. From what I remember, she’s been taken prisoner and undressed before, which brings up a disturbing question. These are pyschotic villains who captured her and stripped her down. Are we to think that she wasn’t raped? I don’t think any of these bad guys are known for having positive relations with women and might be kind of… should I say desperate? Anyways, ew. The Wizard and the Mad Thinker divulge their plan to her in typical grandstanding fashion while teh rest of the brain trust looks at the spaceknight. Just as they activate something, a couple of the Avengers teleport(?) in somehow and free Jessica, while the others crash in and knock everyone unconcious. We learn that the spaceknight left an energy trail Iron man could track. Really, eveil geniuses? You couldn’t tell you were leaving an energy trail?
The spaceknight turns on, only to become… ULTRON! I was expecting some huge battle but Thor just smashes him once and then he teleports away, vowing to come back when he’s ready. Tony seems really freaked out by this and apparently this leads into the Age of Ultron, one of last year’s big events.
Overall, I though the issue was kinda of quick, with not much too it. It was interesting seeing the Intelligencia, but as they acted unintelligently, I wasn’t too impressed. It was a stand alone story (or a prequel to what was then a far-away event) so it didn’t make me want to buy the next issue, which dealt with Fear Itself. Not bad for a free read, but not one that I’ll go back to again.
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