Home » Tag: marvel comics

July 22nd, 2008

Categories: Comic books, Geek living, The 7

Annoying brothers and sisters affect even the greatest heroes and villains of comic book world.  These pairs (and quartet) of spandex wearing freaks make sibling rivalry a moral lesson for us all, and page filler until the next battle.  These are the siblings worth watching fight and frolic, no matter the awkwardness.

7. Starmen, Jack and David Knight

The original Starman, Ted Knight, had two loving sons with different take’s on their father’s career choice. David quickly followed his father into super heroics while Jack looked down on the colorful profession. After their father’s old foe, the Mist, murdered David did Jack take over the Starman mantle. With the Cosmic Staff and a pair of goggles, Jack Knight fought crime with the annual assistance of his brother’s ghost, who imparted wisdom from the beyond to help Jack foil the doers of evil.

northstar_aurora 6. Northstar and Aurora

Canadian super-siblings Northstar and Aurora spent most of their youth separated after their parents’ death. The two coincidently reunited as members of Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, discovering they earn bonus super powers when in physical contact. When the two touched, they emitted a beam of light that made people feel happy and peaceful. How sweet. The power didn’t work on themselves, however, since they had a falling out leading Aurora to augment her powers so she never needed to touch her gay brother again. Homophobe.

(more…)

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

July 3rd, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

secret_wars Marvel Comics created the idea of a universe where all of their characters interacted. Their limited series, Secret Wars, brought that universe to the next level. Marvel took its top heroes and its top villains, placed them on an alien planet, and pitted them against each other. The result spawned spin-off stories in each character’s respective titles, a sequel series, dozens of toy lines, the alien costume that would eventually become Venom, and, above all, the concept of a maxi-series. DC’s eventually Crisis on Infinite Earths owes itself to the Secret Wars as that series showed publishers could find major sales in manufactured events that everyone knew would eventually end. Epic story lines that dominate the major publishers came because of the commercial success of the Secret Wars.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

May 27th, 2008

Categories: Comic books, Movies and music, Technology, The 7

Stan “The Man” Lee made his career helping create the Marvel Universe, but in his twilight years, Stan has gotten a second career in movie cameos. Stan Lee has appeared in almost all Marvel Comics movies and makes surprise appearances in TV shows, cartoons, and the occasional DC property. This list ranks the geekiest, most comic book friendly Stan Lee cameos with no bearing on the actual quality of the movie (it’s almost an inverse relationship).

lou_stan_lee_hulk 7. The Hulk as security guard with Lou Ferrigno

Not only was this Stan Lee’s first speaking role in a Marvel movie, but “The Man” got to work security with the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno in a double whammy of geekery.

6. Fantastic Four 2 as rejected wedding guest

Poor Stan Lee. He co-creates almost the entire Marvel Universe, but he not one even sends him a wedding invitation. Stan Lee arrives assuming it was an over sight only to be not only turned away, but not even recognizes. How shameful.

(more…)

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Read comment

March 27th, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

jla_first In 1960, DC Comics realized if you add popular characters together, they equal a more popular comic book. With all new versions of their staple characters like the Flash and Green Lantern, DC Comics decided to join them with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman for the juggernaut of all super-teams. Gardner Fox wrote the Justice League of America and their adventures fending off foes that each hero couldn’t handle on their own. The result was a massive success leading DC’s publisher Jack Liebowitz to brag to the Martin Goodman, the publisher of Marvel Comics. Goodman then charged write and editor Stan Lee to create Marvel’s own super-team. And well, nothing much came of that.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

February 20th, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

daredevil_quesada Die-hard comic fans loved bragging about film director Kevin Smith’s love of comics.  The acclaimed indie director was growing in mainstream popularity when he decided to take some time away from making real money to actually writing comics.  Smith teamed up with artist Joe Quesada to relaunch Daredevil in what turned out to be a creative renaissance, however controversial, for the character.  Smith went on to write several other popular runs and is partly credited with bringing more mainstream talent to the comic book community.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

February 19th, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

Wolverine didn’t make friends his first day of school.  The metal clawed mutant joined the X-Men in 1975 as part of a series revamp.  But writer Chris Claremont struggled to write him and artist Dave Cockrum hated him.  No one knew this Canadian anti-hero would become the best at what he does - selling comic books.

Wolverine’s breakout moment came during the Dark Phoenix Saga.  Hellfire Club fat man, Harry Leland, increased Wolverine’s mass so he crashed through the ground into the sewers, left for dead.  With the X-Men captured and hope dying away, Wolverine emerges from the sewer, more pissed off than if Cyclops had beat him in snarling match.  Wolverine single-handled claws (well, two-handedly) through the Hellfire Club’s henchmen, freeing the X-Men and saving the day, until of course the Dark Phoenix tries to kill everybody, but that’s a moment for another day…

Wolverine, from Marvel Comics

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

February 5th, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

Marvel vs. DC, from Marvel and DC For decades, Marvel and DC fans loved debating who would win, pitting Superman versus Thor or the Hulk and Batman versus Captain America.  Our dreams came to a reality when Marvel and DC released DC Vs. Marvel in 1996.  Fans could vote on the highest profile battles making the debate all the more real.  The fights, however short (some were only two pages) were fan fodder for years and even spawned the Amalgam Universe where Marvel and DC characters merged in creative and interesting ways.  The saddest part is that because of corporate rivalries, the Amalgam Universe hasn’t been able to continue except for several one shots in 1997.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

January 31st, 2008

Categories: Geek-Out Moment

Captain America Comics #1, from Marvel Comics He might be dead, replaced, and forgotten, but we will always remember the original Captain America.  Steve Rogers punched his way into our Nazi-hating, flag-loving hearts with his ironically Arian blond hair and blue eyes and rugged good looks.  Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created the super-hero icon in 1940, a year before Pearl Harbor, to amazing popularity (and some controversy).  Captain America proved to be an inspiring figure during World War II both in the comics and out, outselling major magazines like Time during the 1940s until his comic was canceled in 1954.  Marvel Comics revived the character in 1964, proving Captain America had an appeal that could cross generations.  Captain America has been a staple of the Marvel Universe, acting as the de facto leader and moral compass.  Marvel has Captain America assassinated in 2007 with his former sidekick Bucky taking over the mantle.  I’m sure this will last.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

January 21st, 2008

Categories: Comic books, Internet, Movies and music, Television, The 7, Video games

Wikipedia has been a great tool for geeks to finally write down all the crap we used to have to remember.  And now we can share that knowledge with the world wide web.  Wikipedia allows anyone to not only edit articles, but to start their own speciality encyclopedias.  This list ranks the geekiest, most complete wikia dedicated to the topics geeks care most about.  It’s not simply which site has the most articles, but how deep into the subject did it take to find that many articles.  And how geeky those articles are.  That counts.

 

7. Transformers Wiki

Want to know how more than meets the eye the Transformers really were?  Check out the Transformers Wikia.  There are more than 5,500 articles to transform your thinking about giant robots, from the comics to the cartoons to the movies, in every generation of the series.

tardiswiki 6. Doctor Who Wiki

The fan community of the longest running sci-fi series have written more than 7,600 articles about the ten different Doctors and all his enemies and friends.  It’s like time travel without the motion sickness.

(more…)

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

January 15th, 2008

Categories: Comic books, File-sharing, Internet, Legal issues

komics_live The crawl is turning into a steamroll as Marvel Comics has targeted another comic book torrent tracker, Komics-Live.  According to Lying in the Gutters, Marvel threatened legal action against the web site.  The site was down for several days and recently returned with no Marvel files.

Marvel send legal notices to torrent trackers Z-Cult and ComicSearch a few months ago and it seems the comic publisher is looking to follow in RIAA and MPAA’s foot steps.  No lawsuits yet.

The interesting part of the Lying in the Gutters post is the affect of Marvel’s legal notices has increased comic book traffic on the leading torrent site, Pirate Bay.  Users of these niche torrent sites are just switching to different providers meaning Marvel’s takedown strategy is not having a noticeable effect on stopping comic book downloads.  As I have written before, there are so many sources for pirated content, trying to take each down one by one is impossible. 

Marvel further has a large force in Pirate Bay.  The Sweden based website has been vocal in its opposition to all copyrights and has survived years of legal threats from the RIAA and MPAA.  The Swedish government even raided Pirate Bay’s servers and found nothing illegal since Pirate Bay doesn’t host any of the infringing content itself.

It’s worrisome to see Marvel continuing this strategy and questionable what they hope to gain.  Because Marvel’s own download service does not offer the same experience - small selection, lower quality, and no download option.  Very compelling.

| | | |

| Print | Subscribe | Related posts | Post comments

12»