Super Bowl 50 – X-Men: Apocalypse

I’m a fan of the X-Men films, but the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse had me concerned.  The commercial that aired during the Super Bowl has restored some of that faith.  It looks much better than the trailer.  You’ve probably seen it by now, but if not, watch it after the break.

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.

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 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.

I’m Not Sure What To Think About This First X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

Ugh. Is anyone digging this character design?

Apocalypse is a great X-Men villain.  And I really enjoyed X-Men: First Class and loved X-Men: Days of Future Past.  But I’m not sure what to make of this first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.  Nothing really grabs me about it and I hate the look of Apocalypse.  Maybe you’ll feel differently.

That said, I’m sure I’ll be seeing it in the theaters come May 27, 2016.

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 #44: Isaiah Bradley

Diversity in long-standing superhero comics is hard work.  Most of the classic superheroes were white men because they were largely created by white men.  There were a handful of white women in the mix, but minority representation among superheroes has often been rough if not outright painful in the way some creators set about creating a hero of color.

Sometimes the answer is to create a new version of the hero in question, a legacy character, that can be of another race and hope it goes over well.  That can lead to successful characters, like Green Lantern John Stewart, or less successful ones, like the Marvel hero Battlestar, a black man set as a partner to U.S.Agent, himself a onetime Captain America.  Battlestar initially went by the codename “Bucky” until someone realized that was actually a rather racist name and changed it to Battlestar.

But then there’s the curious case of Isaiah Bradley.

What If Disney Princesses Dressed as Superheroines?

What if our favorite Disney Princesses decided to don a new look, and dress up as Superheroines? Who would they be? Well, thanks to Artist Isaiah K Stephens we can see what these amazing women would look like with their alter egos. For example,  Aurora  above has chosen to dress up as Daenerys Targaryen. See Belle, Ariel, and so much more after the break.

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.

Game Review: Legendary

Deck building games are one of my favorite board game genres and Legendary has earned a spot as one of my favorites in this category. Find out why after the break.