Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #60: Ronin

You’ll never guess who’s behind the mask. Seriously. Even I’m not sure here.

When Brian Michael Bendis took over the Avengers titles, he decided to blow up the team.  That was literal in more than a few cases, like Jack of Hearts.  Hawkeye, who Bendis claimed was his favorite character, died in another massive explosion but emerged later thanks to House of M.  These things happen.

But Bendis then brought in a new team that he saw as a chance to do an all-star team like the original Avengers line-up was, but with the all-stars that existed then.  Not all of them made sense, and some of them were questionable picks.  But among the promotional art was a “new” character called Ronin.  Who was Ronin?  Well, that depended on what comic you were reading.

Awesome Cosplay Of The Day

It’s been too long since we’ve had proper representation of the awesome, the wonderful, the glorious, and magical – yes that’s right people – women in cosplay!

May I present to you a Victorian Thor design that cosplayer Koneko YourAverageNerd showed off at Katsucon 2016. See more pictures after the break.

Spiders, Spiders Everywhere Part 8 (Avengers Edition)

As discussed in part three of this series, in his 50+ years of continuity, it has only been the last decade or so that Spider-Man has been a full fledged Avenger.  He was always too much of a loner or often times viewed as a criminal.  It never stopped the Avengers from trying to recruit him though.

After the break, we’ll look at a bunch of cameos from our webbed wonder in the main Avengers book that didn’t make it into the  Spider-Man Complete Chronology.

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.

Where’s Black Widow: Asian Edition

 

This is tame by comparison.

 
I haven’t had an article on Gabbing Geek for a while not because I’ve been to lazy or busy, although both are certainly true the rest of the year, but because I’ve been in China and Hong Kong. And while I’m still overseas I did find a couple of things for sale showing the Asian version of excluding female characters from toy sets. While U.S. fans still ask Where’s Rey in Star Wars sets it was only a brief few months we were asking the same about Black Widow in Age of Ultron sets. If you thought replacing Widow with Ultron was bad, check out what they do in China and Hong Kong after the break. 

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 41 (Issue 4 Edition)

Well, it took a lot longer and was a much more enjoyable journey than DC’s Convergence, but I think I’m officially burnt out on Secret Wars. I’m still looking forward to reading the last two issues, but with the new regular Marvel universe soldiering on almost as if nothing happened, and those two issues being months late, they are almost an afterthought at this point.

But, like the final days of Convergence I still have a lot of books to cover off in my attempt to read everything. Well, moreso, to blog about everything, the reading part is done. To keep myself interested now I have to make a game of it. I see how many times I can bounce Secret Wars and then try to break that record. No wait, that is a different game.

Click through as I cover, for no reason whatsoever, the fourth issue of the following books: Planet Hulk, Armor Wars, Inferno, Spider-Verse, A-Force, X-Tinction Agenda and Ultimate End.

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 XXXVI

The end is near for Secret Wars.  After last weeks releases there are only 4 issues left in the event (I think), two of which are the conclusion to the main series.  After the break I’ll have a look at Secret Wars #7 and two other series that wrapped up: Thors (I’ll look at Thors #3 and Thors #4) and Squadron Sinister with issue #4.

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

Robot Chicken Asks The Question We All Wonder About With Shared Universes

“So I says, ‘Coulson, I’m sure your group of non-powered agents can handle it. We’re pretty busy over here fighting Galactus!’ Haha! And he fell for it! Everyone knows Galactus is over in the Fox Cinematic Universe.”

One of the biggest problems with shared universes in any medium, especially when it comes to super heroes, is where is everybody when you need them?  How come Iron Man or Thor never showed up to help Cap in Captain America: Winter Soldier?  Whenever the Joker shows up to taunt Batman, why can’t he call Superman to take care of him in seconds?  It’s one of those things that Tom Kelly would tell us all to not think about too much.

After the cut, Robot Chicken tackles this subject with an eye to skewing Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

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

Hulk To Bring About The Twilight Of The Gods?

More of this then?

Deadline is reporting the third Thor movie, subtitled Ragnarok, may include a certain Green Goliath.

That’s an interesting development.