Monthly Archives: October 2026

Ranking the MCU Films (so far) part 4

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? How can I justify not putting Thor: Ragnarok or Black Panther in the top 10? Is recency bias really a thing? How can I have Endgame so low, or Fantastic Four so high? 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!

If you haven’t already, you can check out part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here.

Continue reading →

House Ads 7- Power Man & Iron Fist

Posted by comiczombie on

I’m a sucker for some of the buddy cop-style adventures you get with certain characters: Spider-Man & the Human Torch, Hal Jordan & Barry Allen, Nightwing & Wally West, Beast & Wonder Man… you get the idea. Maybe the best example of this kind of relationship is Luke Cage and Danny Rand: the Iron Fist.

Born out of the blacksploitation and kung fu popularity in the 1970’s, these two characters that on the surface have nothing in common are as close as brothers and it’s actually more common to see them together than apart. They’ve each had solo titles the other often guest stars in, they’ve been the leads of more than one Heroes for Hire, and for a while they actually co-starred in a book together: Power Man & Iron Fist, and below are two separate ads that appear for the book, showing the two leads’ very different approaches to getting readers to check out their book:

House Ads 6- Marvel 2099

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!

Also, be sure to check out part 1 here, and part 2 here if you haven’t already!

Continue reading →

House Ads 5- Introducing: X-Factor!

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: