Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 48

It’s like looking into a mirror of insanity as I feel the same way Magneto while trying to finish this up.

No theme to this post, just trying to clue up some odds and ends.  After the cut I will take a look at series final issues: Red Skull #3, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #4-5, Captain Marvel And The Carol Corps #3-4 and Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #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 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.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars XXXI (M.O.D.O.K. Edition)

If you had told me six months ago that a story about a killer organism that was essentially a giant head with arms and legs would be one of the best Secret Wars books, I would have laughed at you.  Especially after I read and hated the first M.O.D.O.K. short story in Secret Wars Battleworld #1.  (Though, in fairness, that was a different M.O.D.O.K..)

But here we are, and M.O.D.O.K. Assassin has really risen near the top of the heap.  Especially impressive given my low expectations.  I currently have it ranked 18th on the Secret Wars Power Rankings.  M.O.D.O.K. Assassin got better with every issue and is one of the few books that successfully landed the ending.

After the cut I’ll take a CliffsNotes (Coles Notes for my Canadian brethren) style look at M.O.D.O.K. Assassin #1, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin #2, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin #3, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin #4 and you guessed it M.O.D.O.K. Assassin #5.

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

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Seventeen (Last Days Edition)

Marvel’s Last Days branded Secret Wars tie-ins are supposed to give us the stories surrounding “What will our heroes do with their final hours before it all ends?”  Unfortunately, most of these books have very little to do with Secret Wars.  While some deal with the final incursion and its affect on people across the globe, most just deal with wrapping up storylines from each solo title.

After the break I’ll look at Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #9, Punisher #19, Punisher #20, Ms. Marvel #16, Magneto #19, Magneto #20 and Black Widow #19 and their wildly varying degrees of tying into the main event.

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

Podcast Reaction: Villains Edition

This week the podcast came out a day early, but I got a new Kindle Fire and don’t know yet how to download the show before going to work to listen during my lunch break.  And no, downloading at work isn’t an option.  Because reasons.  There are some, but I won’t go into them.  Anyway, here’s the podcast reaction.

I don’t really have anything else to add to the discussion of The Martian.  It’s a great book, and I gave a SPOILER-FREE review for it elsewhere.  Like right here.

Instead, let’s talk about how to make a good villain.

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

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Two

I’m back baby!  With a completely dated look at all things Secret Wars.  In this part we’ll examine Secret Wars #2, and two “Last Days” issues: Captain America And The Mighty Avengers #8 and Magneto #18.

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

Best Superhero Movies That Are NOT DC/Marvel Universe

If Sony get REALLY desperate…

 

For years, Marvel couldn’t get a movie off the ground and DC owned the big screen with Superman and Batman. Eventually, Marvel caught and passed DC; which will try to return to the pinnacle with Batsoup. Today we take a look at the superhero films that excelled despite not having the built in advantage of the DC/Marvel banner. And as a Gabbing Geek bonus, we’ll also tell you where the film’s characters would best fit if you shoehorned it into the DC or Marvel comicverse.  Cuz we’re awesome like that.

Why The X-Men Suck At Their Jobs

Lots of pouches here. It was the 90s.

The X-Men were created for two primary reasons.  One was because Stan Lee needed another superhero team and was feeling kind of lazy, so he threw up his hands and said, “You know what?  They were just born that way!”  The other was as a at-times heavy-handed anti-racism allegory.  The year was 1963, and the Civil Rights Movement was heating things up across the country.  Younger readers of comic books could be taught a lesson on tolerance, and comics were a good medium for that, so here were the X-Men, mutants who were feared and hated by non-mutants for the crime of being born different.  But the X-Men were good and defended regular folks against the evil mutants of the world, in an attempt to prove that not all mutants were evil.

Even given the sliding scale of Marvel time, where everything outside Captain America and the Invaders’ exploits during World War II depicted in a Marvel Comic (barring the upcoming Secret Wars) has taken place over a roughly 12 year time period, the X-Men really suck at their task of promoting tolerance.