Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #61: Bug

His name is Bug. That is possibly the best name anyone could think of.

Once upon a time, Marvel Comics got the comic book rights to, of all things, 2001:  A Space Odyssey.  Anyone who’s seen that movie knows it’s, well, an odd choice for any sort of adaptation for younger readers, but it still happened.  It was also an ongoing series.  Where do you take a story like that once you’ve recounted the story from the movie?  This wasn’t Star Wars with the promise of ongoing adventures for the characters.  Part of the answer for writer/artist Jack Kirby was to create a new character that would cross over to the main Marvel Universe, namely Machine Man.

That was not the only time a licensed character got into the main universe.  That also happened with Bug.

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – Final Standings

Well, it is finally over!  Ok, it was finally over back in the beginning of January, but I’ve finally finished my write ups.  With that done, after the break check out our (well, mostly my) final rankings for all the Secret Wars series.

It was a huge event and most will not be insane enough to read it all.  If you are interested in the main story, you can mostly get by with just reading the main series.  Very few of the other series tie into the main event, and those that do are recapped as needed in the lead book.

Outside of that, I’d recommend giving any of the top 15 a shot.  As for the rest, you can likely just pick and choose the series that interest you.  As said, most have no ties to the core book outside of Doom being God and the story taking place in a domain of Battleworld.  And some barely bother with that.

Let us know what’s ranked too high or too low.

Spider-Man Complete Chronology Update 8 (Couldn’t Stand The Weather Edition)

Everything was going along just fine until disco came along.  I’m probably not the first person to write that sentence.  For our purposes I refer to the fact that even with 3 monthly books and various guest appearances, the wall-crawlers adventures had been pretty straight forward to put in order.  But then came a couple of issues where Peter went to the disco (and then teamed up with the cast of Saturday Night Live) where everything just went all to hell.

Much, much more on this after the break as I try to put this update to rest, not because I’m happy with it…but to save my sanity.  I can’t imagine what this is going to be like when I get to the 90’s…

As usual, spoilers follow from here on out if you’ve missed out on the last 50 years of Spider-Man and are just getting started.

Expect Everyone Outside Of The X-Men and Fantastic Four In Avengers: Infinity War

Co-directors and gluttons for punishment The Russo Brothers have revealed they currently have 67 characters lined up to appear in the two part Avengers: Infinity War.  My immediate reaction was “Holy $#@*!”  That has got to include EVERYONE.  The MCU regulars of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, new blood like Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and Blank Panther.  Even the TV crowd most be represented.  Anyone from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Luke Cage and/or Jessica Jones.  The Captain Marvel movie is scheduled in between Infinity War Parts One and Two so you’d think she’d be involved somehow.  And there are sure to be characters making their debut here as well.  Sounds like a whole lot of awesome.

Joe Russo teases:

“People will not be disappointed in the amount of characters in the movie. The concept of ‘Infinity War’ is that the Marvel universe unites to battle the greatest threat to the world and universe that you’ve ever seen, and we’re going to honor that concept.”

All that said, maybe we need to keep expectations a little in check.  I’m sure we will see a lot of the crowd mentioned above.  And the TV shows do make occasional reference to the movies so they clearly take place in the same universe unlike whatever mess DC has going on.  But keep in mind the phrasing here…67 characters.  There could be villains other than Thanos that appear.  Aunt May is a character.  Night Nurse.  Agent Carter.  Pepper Potts.  The cop picking up Twinkies for his wife before heading over to Nakatomi Plaza.  That S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent with the red shirt on that Thanos kills on an away mission.  You get the point.

And it won’t be any day soon we’ll get much clarification here as Avengers: Infinity War Part One is not scheduled until May 4th, 2018.

Civil War II’s “First Death Will Merely Serve As The Series Marketing Hook”

This time around it’s once again Iron Man vs Cap…tain Marvel?!? And Captain America is on Iron Man’s side!?! This really is All-New and All Different!

At least Marvel is being upfront and honest.  In translation, we know superhero deaths have become mostly meaningless and pretty much everyone makes a return within a year or so.

Civil War II will be released this June, a month after the loose adaptation of the original series hits the big screen in Captain America: Civil War.  The premise to me sounds like a super hero version of Minority Report:

A mysterious new Marvel character comes to the attention of the world, one who has the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy. This predictive power divides the Marvel heroes on how best to capitalize on this aggregated information, with Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and attacks before they occur, and Iron Man adopting the position that the punishment cannot come before the crime.

So who do you think that death will be?  Marvel has already confirmed it won’t be the Human Torch or Spider-Man.  Vote in our poll after the break.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 47 (Guardians Of Knowhere Edition)

With Secret Wars so delayed I thought I might actually get my write ups done before the event finished.  Well, I’ve got approximately 9 days to cover 39 issues.  Not impossible, but going to be tough.   After the break I’ll have a look at Guardians of Knowhere #1-4.  The Bendis/Deodato joint that essentially took the Guradians of the Galaxy shipping slot with the end of the universe.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 46 (Star-Lord and Kitty Edition)

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde is a middle of the pack Secret Wars tie-in.  Currently ranked 22nd in our Power Rankings, it is not a bad read, but doesn’t do much to stand out.  What does make this series a bit unique is that the Star-Lord featured here is the actual, genuine, 100% original Star-Lord from the 616 Marvel Universe.  Outside of the main series, very few of the life raft survivors have appeared anywhere, let alone had their own series.  I’ll take a spoiler-y look at this series after the cut.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 43

The end is near for Secret Wars (well, there is still a month to go), but not for my write ups.  Sigh.  So much to do.  Anyway, last week finally saw the release of Secret Wars #7 Part Two aka Secret Wars #8.  I believe that only leaves the following for this long, long event:

Ultimate End #5 – December 16th
Secret Wars #9 – January 13th, 2016

After the break I’ll take a look at that penultimate Secret Wars issue as well as play some catch-up with the following books: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #3, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #3, Red Skull #2, Silver Surfer #15 and X-Men ’92 (Infinite) #6

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 40 (Korvac Saga Edition)

Raise your hand if you’ve read the original Korvac Saga?  Let’s see…anyone?  Watson, put your hand down, I know you are lying.  I haven’t read it either, and really don’t know much about it besides it had a small Spider-Man cameo.  It took place in almost a dozen issues of Avengers at the end of the 70’s, so I assume they were involved.  And I think I breifly saw the old school Guardians of the Galaxy as I flipped through looking for that Spider-Man appearance.  So, they are in there too.  And that’s about all I know.

Maybe if I did know more I might have more appreciation for the Secret Wars version of things.  If you have read both, let me know.  After the cut I’ll take a spoilery look at the 2015 Korvac Saga #1-#4.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars XXXVII (Infinity Gauntlet Edition)

The Secret Wars version of Infinity Gauntlet has pretty much nothing to do with the original series from 1991.  It has Thanos and Infinity Stones and multiple Infinity Gauntlets, but that is where the similarities end.  Not that that is a bad thing, just a public service message that you don’t need to read the original to read this.  (Though you should, as it is a classic.)

The Secret Wars version of Infinity Gauntlet also has pretty much nothing to do with Secret Wars.  I know Ryan, in particular, really dug the disconnected, What If?-ness of most of the tie-ins, but as a sucker for chronology, they really bugged me.  Why couldn’t this series tie into the main book?  Thanos is one of the key characters there…this book takes place South of The Shield…where Thanos is banished to at one point, etc.

Ah well, I need to let it go.  That said, this is a great stand alone little mini-series.  I previously looked at issues #1 and #2, so after the cut I will finish my look at this series with Infinity Gauntlet #3, Infinity Gauntlet #4 and Infinity Gauntlet #5.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.