Continue reading '3 Panel Reviews - Avengers: The Initiative #19'
Tag Archive for 'Secret Invasion'
Dark Reign is at Marvel Comics as Secret Invasion ends, Nick wonders if Bucky is the emo Captain America, Neal is creeped out by the cover to Wolverine: First Class #12, Punisher: War Zone is a great date movie, Elisha Cuthbert uses a body double in He Was a Quiet Man, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is awesome, and GrandCentral sucks for turning off invites.
So Secret Invasion ended Thursday and introduced some big changes to Marvel's heroes over the next few months. Something of note is that Marvel Comics "declassified" their preview covers and solicitation copy for a bunch of Avengers books thru February.
On our next show - Podcast Episode 059 on Tuesday, December 9th - I'll be talking about these recently released covers and descriptions. Way I see it, the AudioShocker will be one of the first podcasts to share our opinions on these changes.
Below is a huge list of links in chronological order of release date. The biggest thing you need to know is that Norman Osborn a.k.a. the Green Goblin is now legally in charge of the government sanctioned Avengers and Tony Stark has become the scapegoat for the entire Skrull invasion of Earth. (Here's more info on the fallout of SI)
Marvel's declassified previews:
SECRET INVASION: DARK REIGN #1
I might have missed a few comics here and there, but these titles are most of the biggies that will be affected by the end of Secret Invasion and the start of Dark Reign.
9. Can I read New Avengers again already!?! I'm sick of this Secret Invasion flashback shit. Bendis, I am thoroughly impressed by your ability to tell a nearly seamless crossover event. But I want my NA's back. You know, the ones that kicked a lot of ass and had great adventures IN THE PRESENT... not in some sort of retcon past.
8. Is Gleaming the Cube ever going to get a new DVD release? The world's greatest skateboarding action-drama has been languishing in near obscurity for almost 10 years thanks to stupid movie companies and their DVD publishing. Gleaming the Cube should be in discount bins at Walmart, not out-of-print!
7. When did wholesome become a codeword for underage slut? Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, the Cheetah Girls, and the list goes on and on. WTF???!!! I don't want to see sexualized high school girls! I want to see full grown sexy women! Who the hell is behind the marketing of these young girls because they should be ashamed (and slapped).
6. Where can I get a quality copy of Darkstalkers for the PS1? I looked on Amazon and I found a copy for a decent price but it was still a pretty high price. This leads me to my next question, which is...
5. Which version of Darkstalkers should I get for the PS1??? Ross has the third one and he likes it. But I'm kind of a snob about this stuff -- I don't need all the characters, I just need the best playability. Case in point: I'll take Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes over Marvel vs. Capcom 2 any day. Same with Street Fighter II Turbo over Street Fighter Alpha 3. But before I can even buy one of these damn Darkstalkers games, I need to know...
4. What's a good website for buying old school video games? I love to play NES and PS1 games, but I have to search all around when I want to buy one. I need a good website for getting any used game I want.
3. Does anyone know a GOOD social networking profile aggregator that will let me view information from multiple MySpace profiles simultaneously? I've tried like 10 of these damn aggregators in the past few days and they all pretty much suck. Power.com would be perfect except it only allows for one MySpace account.
2. Who is going to be the next Black Panther? From the looks of it, it can't be Storm (hint: BP has brown eyes on the cover of February's first issue). So is it going to be T'Challa's sister, Shuri, or what?!
1. What the fuck is a "meme"!?! Ross tried to explain it to me, but I still don't get it. So it's something that people pass around online? Could that be more fucking ambiguous?!!! I need a quality definition and Wikipedia just isn't cutting it.
Next: The Top 9 Botanists of the 18th Century!
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
9. Nighthawk - There's a reason this list starts with Kyle Richmond: he's stepped up (during and) since Civil War, but not enough to be a rising star. Simply put, Nighthawk is more important in the Marvel Universe now than he was previous to Civil War. Not by a lot, mind you. Just more than before. I thought that his starring role in Last Defenders was a trippy superhero hoot, and I hope that writers continue to push his story further in the direction that Joe Casey kindly put him on.
8. Iron Man - I would be remiss to not include the Iron Avenger in my countdown. Plain and simple, Tony Stark has become the new Wolverine. Now that he has a breakout Hollywood blockbuster under his belt, his street cred is only going up. For readers of Marvel Comics since Civil War, Tony's star status is a no-brainer. In fact, he's bordering on overexposure lately, and that's why he's so low on this list. The fact remains that Iron Man is more integral to the Marvel Universe now than ever, and it's safe to say that things will be staying like that for quite some time to come.
7. Hercules - The Lion of Olympus is now the proud owner of his own critically acclaimed solo series (shamelessly stolen from Hulk), and from the looks of things, he's going to be in Mighty Avengers after Secret Invasion. After smashing the shit out of Clor in the final issue of Civil War, Herc has been on the fast-track to fandom. He's been the star of some of the best event tie-in stories of the past few years, and if things keep going the way they are right now, Hercules will be one of Marvel's biggest stars in the upcoming decade.
6. Luke Cage - Carl Lucas was the breakout star of New Avengers following Avengers Disassembled. But following Civil War, Luke took leadership of the team and became this top selling title's lead character. Luke is now a bonafide staple of the Marvel Universe after languishing on the sidelines for decades. Need proof? Cage gets name-checked by Q-Tip in his new album Renaissance on the track "Dance On Glass," where Q-Tip calls himself the "Luke Cage of the loose leaf page."
Continue reading 'The Top 9 Marvel Universe Characters That Have Stepped Up Since Civil War'
Arguing about Hancock, Jason Bateman, Gotham Chopra, Love Guru, Darrell Hammond, Kung Fu Panda, Teeth the movie, The Cool Kids, Twitter Feet, Avatar: The Last Airbender returns next week, perky positive girl, Mandy Moore, Weeds, Spider-Man, multidimensional superheroes, Kill All Parents, Vix #1, Secret Invasion and Final Crisis shirts at Hot Topic, scenesters, and more.
Neal takes the week off as we talk about The Simpsons season 12, Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, firing squads, ramen, canasta, Leona Lewis, Last Defenders #2, Thunderbolts #120, Secret Invasion Fantastic Four #1, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, X-Men Legacy #211, T'Challa, Black Panther movie, Avatar, and some more stuff.
I guess I expected Secret Invasion #1 to be a bit more shocking. Not that it wasn't good - Lenil Yu's pencils look strong with Mark Morales on inks and Laura Martin on colors; Brian Michael Bendis delivers a strong script. But the overall story felt much like your typical issue of New Avengers. That's a good thing, of course. But not necessarily an event comic thing.
I certainly wasn't out and out taken aback by any Skrull development that happened. Surprised a bit? Maybe here and there. But no "knock me on my ass" moments like the first issue of Civil War. I remember finishing Civil War #1 with my mouth agape, shocked at the words of Iron Man. It had attitude like the Bad Boys movies and hyper-real visuals. Secret Invasion, on the other hand, has a decidedly slow burn pace that feels more like a political thriller than a big action movie.
And I'm sure that's the point. I imagine that Bendis wants this story to read a bit more mature and subtle than the past two Marvel Comics spring / summer events (the aforementioned Civil War and World War Hulk). To that end, he is successful. However, I didn't drop my jaw anywhere. I didn't even scream anything out loud, often a sign that I'm lost in the fictional illusion of the story to my delight.
But like I said, the book is good. I'm not going to be spoilerish, that is unless talking about the fulfillment of expectations counts as spoilers (which, this reader believes, can have way more spoiler potential than learning about the plot). It is excellent to see Luke Cage as a pivotal player in the Marvel Universe, even if Lenil Yu doesn't know which way his tiara should be facing (ooo, watch out for spoilers!!!).
My favorite part of the issue? Three words: Reed Richards spaghetti. Mr. Fantastic needs to score a licensing deal with Ragu now. Visually, this moment is a close second only to Clor getting his robotic brains bashed out by Hercules. It's creepy and fascinating at the same time.
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