Tag Archives: Marvel comics

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.

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:

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.

 

15 Underused Marvel Characters

Posted by comiczombie on

Marvel sure has some great characters; characters that, thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pretty much the whole world knows. Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, the Black Widow… you can probably keep going without me.

But for every Spider-Man or Wolverine out there, there are (literally) hundreds of characters that, for whatever reason, either never really hit a chord with fans, or had a run of popularity, usually pretty brief, that they’ve never been able to duplicate. And while everyone loves Marvel’s big guns, if you ask any comic reader, they will probably have at least one lesser known, if not outright obscure, character that they’ve always loved that they’d love to see get another shot in the spotlight.

There are far too many to narrow it down to any kind of ranking, and it’s such a subjective topic, so instead of ranking the ‘top whatever’, here are 15 (for now) characters that, hopefully, we can all agree are under-represented in Marvel comics. Anyone we left off that you think deserves a spot on the list? Let us know!

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Top 100 Villains 5-1

Posted by comiczombie on

4427-wizard_lms_dc_villains_vs_marvel_vi

Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly, we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics.

(Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

Continue reading →

Top 100 Villains 10-6

Posted by comiczombie on

4427-wizard_lms_dc_villains_vs_marvel_vi

Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does, or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics.

(Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

Continue reading →

Issue #41: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 2 of 2) – Podcast

Posted by ErikSlader on

Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 2 of 2) – Podcast

“Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it’s here. Or should I say… I am.” – Thanos

Chris, Erik, and Zack (⁠⁠⁠Podcasters Assemble⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Effin Cultured⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠The Neat Cast⁠⁠⁠) assemble once again to *finally* finish off The Infinity Saga!

MCU Phase 3 Movies (part two):

  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
  • Captain Marvel (2019)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2019)
  • Spider-man: Far From Home (2019)

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

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

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Top 100 Villains 20-11

Posted by comiczombie on

4427-wizard_lms_dc_villains_vs_marvel_vi

Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does, or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics.

(Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

Continue reading →

Top 100 Villains 30-21

Posted by comiczombie on

4427-wizard_lms_dc_villains_vs_marvel_vi

Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics. (Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

Continue reading →