Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Hero Case Files #52: Stacy-X

Let me say this in advance…sorry, Jenny.

One of the purposes of the X-Men over the years has been to show they’re a diverse group.  Mutants can come from anywhere, and they don’t always have to be good or noble.  For every Russian farmboy, German circus performer, or African goddess, there was some mutant who came from the wrong side of the tracks and was trying to make the world a better place anyway, the only way the person knew how.

That brings us to Stacy-X.  She was a prostitute.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 45 (Issue 5 Edition)

This week saw the release of Ultimate End #5, the second to last Secret Wars book.  Now we just have to wait a month for the four month delayed finale to get the anticlimactic details on how Doom was defeated and everything basically returned to normal.  Where All-New, All-Different seems to equal “we got Miles now and Wolverine is back (kinda)”.

Click through as I cover the fifth and final issues of the following books: Ultimate End #5, Planet Hulk #5, Secret Wars 2099 #5, Armor Wars #5, Spider-Verse #5, Inhumans: Attilan Rising #5, Inferno #5 and A-Force #5 .

As usual there are spoilers, so take care, especially with Ultimate End which is only days old.  The others have been out a while.

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

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #46: Sage

She seems trustworthy…

Last week, I covered a character that was mostly used by one creator during a comic run for a team book.  That was DC’s Faith.  It seems only fair to do that again this week for Marvel.  Only this time, the creator in question was writing that team for a very, very long time.

This may also just be a retcon gone wrong.  This week, we’re looking at Sage.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 42 (Years Of Future Past Edition)

Marvel has really gotten a lot out of a story line that was surprisingly only two issues of Uncanny X-Men back in 1981.   The Chris Claremont/John Byrne classic has spawned numerous spinoffs and tie-ins and of course the best X-Men movie.

(On a side note, the “future” in the original story was 2013.  Man I’m old.)

Unfortunately, we also got the Secret Wars tie-in/sequel Years of Future Past.  I currently have it ranked as 47th out of 50 in our Secret Wars Power Rankings.  Tom would place it last.  As might Ryan if he hadn’t stopped reading it in disgust.  I’ve already looked at issue 1 and after the break I will finish the series with Years of Future Past #2-#5.

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

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #35: Darwin

Evolved past the need for body hair!

For many years, the X-Men had the backstory that the original team, minus Beast as he was with the Avengers at the time, went on a mission to the mysterious island of Krakoa and disappeared.  Cyclops escaped and he and Professor Xavier put together a new team of mutants who went back to Krakoa and rescued the captured X-Men, making a new team that would go on to become Marvel’s biggest book.

More recently, a retcon came in.  There had been for years talk of a third Summers brother after Cyclops and Havoc, and finally, that story was coming out.  The third went by the codename of Vulcan, and he was part of a brief X-team that attempted a rescue of the original X-Men from Krakoa.  That team appeared to die, and the distraught Cyclops was so upset that Professor X wiped his memory of this second X-Men team before sending out the familiar team that included Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, and Nightcrawler.  Vulcan had managed to survive and came back much later very powerful and evil, but how?

Well, we can thank Darwin for that.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Nineteen

No theme to this edition, just trying to catch up.  After the break I’ll look at Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #2, 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1, 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #2, Inferno #2 and Inferno #3

Also, if you are like me and haven’t read all of Johnathon Hickman’s Avengers run leading up to Secret Wars, be sure to take Tom’s Road To Secret Wars course at gabbinggeekuniversity.com.  The reading materials are online here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7.

And that course is a prerequisite to the other parts of this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Seven (X-Men Edition)

In the late 80’s/early 90’s unless you were wearing a red and blue spider suit, nothing was as big as the X-Men for Marvel.  With the collector boom in full swing, issues were selling millions of copies.  Artists like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri and (shudder) Rob Liefeld were making their mark and establishing the popularity that would allow them to later launch Image Comics.  And an animated series was released that would become one of the most honored and celebrated this side of Batman: The Animated Series.

The writers, artists and editors of the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe also had the related title crossovers nailed.  Whereas now we seem to wait for each company wide event, at that time is was more a question of what the next X-crossover would be?  Inferno, X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner’s Song, Age of Apocolypse to name a few.  While some would crossover into other titles, these were X-Events to the core.

In this post we’ll look at a couple of books inspired by those crossovers (Inferno #1,  X-Tinction Agenda #1), a continuation of that animated series (X-Men ’92 #1) and one outlier from the early 80’s that really set the stage for all X-crossovers to come (Years of Future Past #1).

Also, if you are like me and haven’t read all of Johnathon Hickman’s Avengers run leading up to Secret Wars, be sure to take Tom’s Road To Secret Wars course at gabbinggeekuniversity.com.  The reading materials are online here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six and Part Seven.

And that course is a prerequisite to the other parts of this series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three,Part Four, Part Five, Part Six

Original Geek Art: Peanuts X-Men Mashup

Do you love X-Men? Do you love Peanuts? Well then feast your eyes on this awesome Peanuts/X-Men mashup. There is so much cute going on in this photo I don’t know where to start! How about playing a game of “Find the Woodstock Gambit?” Or how about giving props to artist Amelia Davis – Ms. David – we thank you! And for the rest of you, head over to Etsy to get your own print here.

What 2015 Movie Could Surpass Mad Max on My Top Movies List?

In his mini-review of Mad Max: Fury Road, Ryan accurately says that Mad Max is the best movie of the year. That is true. It sits way atop my list for the year so far. He then says only Episode 7 has a chance to pass it up. Go home, Ryan. You’re drunk. Here are some flicks who can go past even the awesomeness that was Max.

First Look at the New NIGHTCRAWLER!

While I am concerned at the direction of X-Men: Apocalypse, I really loved how Nightcrawler was used in X2.  This picture of Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner gives me a little tingle and hope that I will continue to enjoy this franchise.