Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars XXXII (Anthology Edition)

This cover is all lies.

There’s been quite a few short stories during these last few months of Secret Wars.  I’ve liked a handful of them, but a lot of them have missed the mark badly.  (Ryan would beg to differ, but we all know what Ryan’s like.)

I’ve already looked at Secret Wars Battleworld 1 and 2 and Secret Wars Journal Parts 1-3  in some detail.  After the cut I will finish those series with Secret Wars Battleworld #3, Secret Wars Battleworld #4, Secret Wars Journal #4 and Secret Wars Journal #5.  As well, I’ll also look at the equally unimpressive Secret Wars Secret Love #1.  

Related links:
Secret Wars Power Rankings
Tom’s Road To Secret Wars: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7.
Other parts of this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #28: Madame Xanadu

Look! It’s an iconic hero!  No, it’s not Wonder Woman!

Once upon a time, many moons ago, the Gabbing Geeks held their first Watercooler discussion to talk about iconic characters who hadn’t gotten a movie yet or had one in development.  Jenny, for some reason, chose Madame Xanadu.

Now, I don’t know how Jenny defines “iconic”.  I would define it as a character that is so recognizable that even people outside the fan group recognize the character.  Superman is an iconic hero.  So is Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman.  Iron Man probably is thanks to Robert Downey Jr.  Other characters may be recognizable to people who are fans of comics in general, but not necessarily of the character itself.  Aquaman, the Flash, and Captain America probably all fit that group.

But Madame Xanadu?  Well, Jenny had offered to fill in a Misplaced Hero file during my vacation for this character, so Jenny believed that Madame Xanadu is somehow both misplaced and iconic…

Which is she?  Check after the cut.

Podcast Reaction: The Pre-Avengers 2 Edition

The real hero of the movie will be the guy with the vacuum cleaner.

This week on the podcast, Jenny and the guys were discussing nothing but the Avengers.  They had spelling contests, some weird thing that involved guessing obscure Avengers heroes, and for some reason Madame Xanadu, and some running bit about Nick Fury being much more awesome that he’s been depicted to be up to this point.

Yeah, I think I’m with Jenny on that one.  Nick isn’t really an Avenger.

Are Characters Without An Announced Superhero Hero Movie Losers?

There are SO many Marvel/DC superhero movies that have already made it to the Silver Screen.  Superman.  Batman. Spider-Man.  X-Men.  Green Lantern.  Hulk.  Iron Man.  The Rest of the Avengers.  GotG.  Daredevil.  Fantastic Four.  Blade.  Even Ghost Rider!  There are even more announced in the DC/Marvel slates; franchises such as Dr Strange, Suicide Squad, Black Panther, and of course the legendary AQUAMAN.  So how bad do you think the others feel who aren’t even announced?  How sad they must be!  Who has the biggest reason to complain?  Click on for the answer!

The Problem With Superman

I’ve never regularly collected Superman comics.  As you can probably guess by what I tend to write about, I’ve always been more of a Spider-Man fan with Batman a very, very close second.

Nothing against the big blue boy scout, and I’m not even sure why he ranks so low on my interest level.  Maybe he is too powerful and I relate more to the hero that is more worried about getting home with a cake for his Aunt May’s dinner party than how to beat the Shocker this go round.

Slightly Misplaced Comics Heroes Case File #6: Phantom Lady

She may not really be a phantom, but she sure is a lady.

Gabbing Geek Jenny recently challenged the readers to come forth if they could name a female character that:

• Does not have a male version
• Has not cameoed in a movie or TV show
• Has an origin story older than the mid 90s
• And that Jenny herself has read

Her answer to this riddle, when trying to figure an iconic hero that hadn’t gotten his or her own movie yet, was Madame Xanadu.  While Xanadu is a fine character, often associated with DC’s various mystical books and teams, she may not be the best character to dub as “iconic”.

See, a better answer may have been a more obscure character, Phantom Lady, also owned by DC, who actually is considered the epitome of Golden Age “good girl art”.  There’s no Phantom Man to go with her, she was created in the 40s, and her only appearance on TV or in a movie was a single episode of Batman:  The Brave and the Bold alongside the rest of the Freedom Fighters.  Of course, if Jenny had read of Phantom Lady, maybe that would have made the cut.  Or perhaps not, as we shall see…

Awesome Cosplay Of The Day: Madame Xanadu!

HA! I knew I wasn’t the only person who knows and respects Madame Xanadu. Check out this awesome cosplay by Florencia Sofen Muir. Source goes to Clint & Julian Cosplay.

Gabbing Geek Water Cooler: Iconic Comic Book Characters Without Their Own Movie

The Gabbing Geek water cooler is a lot more interesting now that Tom and Jimmy are here.  Before they joined, any time Watson, Jenny, and I stood around the cooler talking about an interesting subject Watson would tell us to shut up and “Save it for the podcast!”  (It’s true, I do. – Watson)  Which is really awkward when we’re just trying to order at a restaurant.

But now that we have more people we can actually have water cooler conversations without Watson shutting it down.  And so we thought we’d kick off this first Gabbing Geek Water Cooler chat with the following topic.  Superhero movies are all the rage.  Seriously.  Look it up.  And yet there are so many great characters that still don’t have movies announced.

I tried to find a funny water cooler picture and came across this one from the North Delaware Happening website. And I realized nobody does funny like people in North Delaware, so I went with it.

The question is this–in the modern superhero movie age (defined as starting with Iron Man) what iconic comic book character still doesn’t have a movie announced/released that needs one?