House Ads 6

Posted by comiczombie on

Launched in the long, long ago, or 1992, the 2099 line of comics was a glimpse of the Marvel universe over 100 years into the future. The line started with the four titles shown in the ad below: Spider-Man, Ravage, Punisher and Doom. Other than Ravage, a new creation by Stan Lee and Paul Ryan, most of the early 2099 characters were just future versions of existing characters, which didn’t change with the additions of Hulk 2099, Ghost Rider 2099, and X-Men 2099. At least on the surface, it’s just the regular Marvel universe of 1992, but in the future and plus Ravage, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Punisher of the year 2099 kills bad guys, but that’s about the only similarity he has with Frank Castle. Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, has developed to be a little more Peter Parker-like, but when he first showed up that was NOT the case. The Hulk of 2099 is a very, very different monster than Bruce Banner, the Ghost Rider of 2099 is a largely digital being with a chainsaw rather than a motorcycle riding spirit, etc.

Doom is the same guy, traveled to the future with an eye on conquest, which, of course, he does, because Doom rules.

The 2099 line’s crown jewel was Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David and Rick Leonardi. Besides a killer design, the book was shockingly reserved when it came to introducing 2099 versions of all of the Spidey villains, instead it focused on his battle with the all-powerful mega corporation, Alchemax, although they did introduce a 2099 version of the Vulture that was very different and very awesome.

Each book in the line has something to offer. The Punisher book isn’t bad, the Doom book has moments of brilliance (see when Warren Ellis was writing it), and Ravage is written by Stan the Man Lee and has an interesting anti-pollution mission statement. In the second wave of books the X-Men is probably the best.

When I look at the ad below I am filled with nostalgia, but honestly, it still works for me. If I saw this ad in the back of an issue of Al Ewing’s Thor, or the new Chip Zdarsky Avengers book, I would still be interesting in checking these out today.

Ranking the MCU Films (So Far) part 3

Posted by comiczombie on

Dare I try to do the nearly damn impossible and rank the film entries in the MCU?
It’s a very daunting task, because how do you choose between some of these? Is recency bias really a thing? Thunderbolts* over Iron Man? Black Panther not in the top 10? What the f*** am I even doing?

The important thing to remember with the below list is that these are ranked not by cinematic achievement or a carefully plotted out chart or an algorithm to determine what are truly the best MCU entries. These are based solely on how much enjoyment I derive from them. You might think I’m a madman, or that finally (FINALLY!) somebody truly gets you, but regardless of whether or not you disagree with my choices (I’m sure Erik will have a completely different breakdown) I hope you enjoy reading!

Continue reading →

House Ads 5

Posted by comiczombie on

Ah, a tease of one of my all-time favorite Marvel series: X-Factor!

The second spin-off of X-Men (joining New Mutants and pre-dating the Wolverine ongoing series by about 3 years), X-Factor featured the original X-Men Cyclops, Angel, Iceman and Beast as they were joined by the recently resurrected Jean Grey!

The tease below is great; you have no idea what X-Factor is yet, but it directs you to Avengers 263, in which the Avengers find a cocoon-like object at the bottom of Hudon Bay, where the X-Men crashed their ship the night Jean became the Phoenix for the first time (see Uncanny X-Men 101!). They deliver it to Reed Richards for examination, and that takes us to Fantastic Four 286, in which the cocoon is opened and Jean Grey is revealed, alive and well!!

I love how the teaser is a manilla folder that has a copy of X-Factor 1 in it. You can just make out the end of the R at the end of the logo, even if the color is changed on the final cover, and you can see the flames (full cover below for reference). It’s obvious the cover changed from the teaser to the final product, but still, pretty cool.

As a basic teaser to start to get some interest in an idea, this works really well for me, although I will admit that feeling might be a little bit influenced by the fact that I love X-Factor so much.

The full X-Factor issue 1 cover:

Ranking the MCU Films (So Far) part 2

Posted by comiczombie on

Dare I try to do the nearly damn impossible and rank the film entries in the MCU?
It’s a very daunting task, because how do you choose between some of these? I made this list from scratch three times, and it changes shockingly little, so I’m sticking to my guns, I suppose!

The important thing to remember with the below list is that these are ranked not by cinematic achievement or a carefully plotted out chart or an algorithm to determine what are truly the best MCU entries. These are based solely on how much enjoyment I derive from them. You might think I’m a madman, or that finally (FINALLY!) somebody truly gets you, but regardless of whether or not you disagree with my choices (I’m sure Erik will have a completely different breakdown) I hope you enjoy reading!

You can check out part 1 here!

Continue reading →

House Ads 4

Posted by comiczombie on

I mean, what even needs to be said? It’s the best-selling issue in comics history.

I was a little kid when this book came out, and I remember seeing this ad in a book (I want to say it was X-Force #1?) I was so excited. I was calling my local comic book shop every week asking if it was out yet and when the guy finally, FINALLY told me that it was going to come in that week I was counting the minutes until I could finally read it (and stare at the amazing Jim Lee artwork, of course). I even got all of the different covers, the first (and only) time I got multiple copies of the same book just for the covers.

The X-Men have been one of Marvel’s most popular properties for decades, but this was them hitting a new level, and you could almost feel it coming, starting with this ad.

 

House Ads 3

Posted by comiczombie on

After introducing Azrael, who would go on to become the new Batman, it was time to introduce the man who would create a need for a new Batman. Enter: Bane, the man who would break the Bat!

Vengeance of Bane is a cool one-shot story that introduces Bane and tells his super effed up backstory growing up in an island prison in the horribly corrupt nation of Santa Prisca and does a serviceable job establishing why a man from this corner of the world would give two craps about Gotham City or the Batman.

It’s a pretty cool ad, too, as it gives Bane a sense of mystery and menace and teases his look without giving the whole thing away. Also, “the man who will finally break the Batman”? What could that possibly mean? No way some new guy takes out the Batman, right? They wouldn’t do that after just doing to Superman, would they?

WOULD THEY?!?!

Ranking the MCU Films (So Far) Part 1

Posted by comiczombie on

Dare I try to do the nearly damn impossible and rank the film entries in the MCU?
It’s a very daunting task, because how do you choose between some of these? It might have been easier to do a tier-ranking list, but what are you gonna do?

The important thing to remember with the below list is that these are ranked not by cinematic achievement or a carefully plotted out chart or an algorithm to determine what are truly the best MCU entries. These are based solely on how much enjoyment I derive from them. You might think I’m a madman, or that finally (FINALLY!) somebody truly gets you, but regardless of whether or not you disagree with my choices (I’m sure Erik will have a completely different breakdown) I hope you enjoy reading!

Continue reading →

House Ads 2

Posted by comiczombie on

Today’s entry is for an excellent little story that would have far reaching effects on the Batman titles for years: Batman- Sword of Azrael!
Written by Batman legend Dennis O’Neil and drawn by a young Joe Quesada, the story introduces the avenging angel, Azrael, aka Jean Paul Valley, who would meet and fight the caped crusader in this story, which would end with Batman bringing Valley into the fold to train him and help him overcome the brainwashing he had experienced since youth in the cultish Order of St Dumas.

The first of two stories that set up the (then) upcoming Batman: Knightfall, Sword of Azrael is the unofficial first part of the most massive Batman epic of its time and absolutely worth a pickup if you can find a copy.

(Calling Azrael a hero at this point, as the copy does, is a hell of a stretch, considering he is an assassin for a secret society with flaming sword gauntlets. But hey, he looks cool!)

House Ads

Posted by comiczombie on

One of the more underrated aspects about comic books is the in-house ads you find in some issues.

They’re often very memorable for a variety of reasons (not always positive), and more than a few of them are stuck in my brain forever, so I wanted to start talking about a few of them.

I’d like to start with arguably the most famous one to-date, the ad for the 900 number to call to vote to save or kill the Jason Todd Robin.

It famously didn’t go over so well for old Jason, and the ad below was what readers saw before having to make a decision…

CZ#57 : The MCU – Phase Five (Part 2: The Shows) – Podcast

Posted by ErikSlader on

Click here to listen to the new episode!

“I know what kind of god I need to be.” – Loki

Chris, Erik, and Zack (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcasters Assemble⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Neat Cast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) assemble once again, continuing through The Multiverse Saga!

MCU Phase 5 Shows:

  • Secret Invasion
  • Loki (Season 2)
  • What If? (Seasons 2 and 3)
  • Echo
  • Agatha All Along
  • Daredevil: Born Again (Season 1)
  • Iron Heart

Be sure to listen to our previous MCU episodes as well:

  • Issue #9: Ranking the X-Men Movies
  • Issue #10: Ranking the Spider-man Movies
  • Issue #17: Spider-man: No Way Home
  • ⁠⁠Issue #18: Revisiting the MCU: Phase One⁠⁠⁠⁠
  • Issue #22: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Two
  • Issue #24: Daredevil and the Marvel Netflix Shows!
  • Issue #39: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 1)
  • Issue #41: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 2)
  • Issue #46: The MCU – Phase Four (Part 1: The Disney+ Shows)
  • Issue #47: The MCU – Phase Four (Part 2: The Movies!)
  • Issue #54: The MCU – Phase Five (Part 1: The Movies)

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)