That was the ace up my sleeve.

here's something interesting that'll be out this week:

Wow that's a lot of misplaced question marks. Lol.

I alswuad thiugt Valiant kinda ate shit. Like Malibu. Remember Malibu comics? Haha. Anyway, surprised to hear they're still going strong... and doing adaptations, it sounds like? Or did I read that wrong?

Oh well.

I'm reading Secret Empire and it's good.

I do remember Malibu. Actually I've been sorta hunting Malibu stuff lately for nostalgia. I got the first Prime trade coming to me, which isn't easy to find.

This Valiant book stood out to me because the Arrival guy wrote it.

my shopping list for today:

Defenders #2
Elektra #5
GI Joe: Real American Hero #241
Jean Grey #3
Secret Weapons #1
Supergirl: Being Super #4
TMNT #71

I'll prob also grab X-Men: Blue #4 as I'm still behind on this series.

That Elektra is the final issue of this series. Sadly, the same for Supergirl: Being Super which I absolutely adore.

I was reading the new IDW GI Joe sporadically, but kind of hated the art, and have now heard that it's ending soon. But at the same time I've been waiting for another good jump-on of the main series, and a new story arc starts w/ 241. Secret Weapons sounds intriguing.

I've read 3 issues of Secret Empire, including the Free Comic Book Day pre-zero issue, and I have to say, it's a pretty goddamn gripping story. It really is

Captain Anerica (who has always been one of my favorite Marvel characters, but especially since the first Civil War, when he lead the charge against Iron Man, whom I hate, and the registration act, that even a staunch leftist democratic like myself think is an example of extreme government overreach), has been built up into QUITE the fucking villain, let me tell you. Wow.

I know there's some weird parallel reality stuff coming, and that this will all eventually be set right and explained ... or maybe Cap will just be killed again... but from a story-telling perspective it's some top notch shit.

Some of the artwork is just phenomenal, really. I'm enjoying it.

Also, I STILL have no FUCKING idea how to just BUY COMICS on ComiXology for fuck's sake! I went around and around with the goddamn thing for an hour the other day, because I realized the iTunes/iBooks store doesn't have much in the way of new Marvel, and I was determined to figure it out. But no matter what, between the Amazon, Kindle and ComiXology apps, I was not able to fucking BUY A COMIC AND READ IT.

So I said fuck it and just downloaded the Marvel app, and now I'm golden.

NR, please, someday, tell me *what the fuck ComiXology fucking IS* because the nonsenseness of it all is REALLY pissing me off.

Oh, NR, I just read that Secret Empire actually began in Deadpool #27. Just thought you might give a shit.

I don't really get Comixology either. I used to think it was a comic store for indie publishers only? But I think that now it can also import your Marvel/DC purchases too? I dont' know. I somehow have an acct. I think? I have Marvel, DC, Kindle, Google Books apps on my tab. And yet, I read very few digital comics.

It's funny to me that you're into Secret Empire, the one major event that I've skipped from Marvel since I've gotten back into comics. I read Civil War II, IvX, even f'ing Monsters Unleashed hahahaha. Shrug.

I didn't read Deadpool #27. I read lots of Deadpool, but kind of jump in and out of the main series (and spinoffs). But #27 was the wedding to Shiklah I believe? The following "Til Death Do Us..." story was fantastic.

^^ Them's HYDRA colors!!! :)

I'm not gonna lie, I was drawn in by the hype. First the hype about Cap being Hydra... I wanted to see how far they went with it, and if it felt like a ruse to me... then later I was drawn in even more by the previews of issues, and the oustanding art I was seeing.

I'm a big fan of the whole espionage/military/spy side of things in Marvel, and I don't feel like there's enough of it in the big events. Definitely not in the movies. I like the guessing games and the strategy and the bizarre alliances and stuff. I also think HYDRA, as an organization, is one of Marvel's greatest villains. It's one thing Marvel has that nobody else really has. A semi-realistic global totalitarian military regime. That shit is scary. Scarier than a lot of their single serving villains.

I dunno. I dig it.

Found the trade paperback version of the full My Friend Dahmer comic book. already creepy AF.

yeah I saw that Deadpool cover. What's that... #32 I think? I was like "oh no" because I really didn't want a SE crossover issue. And skipped that one.

It's def just a taste thing. Spies/espionage/etc - not my thing. Just not into it.

The other thing is - and the same could be said for pretty much all the really recent Marvel events - I feel like SE will just not have any real consequence. The whole Marvel Legacy thing that's coming in September feels like a Rebirth-esque reset button is being pushed. They're going back to legacy numbering and everything. So I don't know. Maybe the plan for SE is just to blow up the Marvel universe so we can start over?

But again, the bottom line is that the whole spy double-agent thing... it's just not something that interests me.

PS: did you guys know that (80's) GI Joe was actually created with the intention of it being about Nick Fury's son and SHIELD fighting Hydra? But when they couldnt' get an OK from Marvel, they bought the rights to the old GI Joe name, and Nick Fury's son became Duke, Shield became GI Joe and Hydra became Cobra?

That's kind of awesome, right?

I don't know any thing about GI Joe except that I once had a toy that was a black cobra ninja and he was THE BEST for fighting other toys. He always won all the little tournaments I had, and he was evil and cruel and eventually Batman would beat him, after failing once. Sometimes cobra guy would kill Wolverine (which for some reason made Batman super angry and vengeance-crazed).

It was all basically like the movie Kick Boxer.. or BloodSport. All happening in my lap with little men.

was it Snake Eyes, bro?



GI Joe was my shiznit pretty much until TMNT came around. Then TMNT just took over. But man, I had tonssss of GI Joe action figures. And I still got a lot of love for the franchise.

Yep, pretty sure that's the one.

I had him, a really jacked Wolverine with retractable claws, and a couple of Batmen (one looked like a little Michael Keaton, the other was Animated Series style) ... those were my big faves. Also RoboCop. Not a lot of brand consistency, but I had a lot of little dudes. Toys were fun.

I had some cool Marvel/DC figures as a kid too. I remember a pretty badass Daredevil. And def Batman stuff. That 89 movie was huge - HUGE - for me.

But def GI Joe and TMNT were my biggest collections. TMNT for the win. I wish I still had that stuff. I had some crazy ones like Mondo Gecko. I even had Krang's body!

I'm still a nerd, so I still pick up some figures. BUT, totally on the cheap. I'm not a collector by any means. I think every figure I have (which is not a lot) have come from yard sales. And I've never spent over $5 for one.

This conversation is making me want to look up GI Joes though. But I know that's a bad rabbit hole to go down.

You ever see the GI Joe movie? Not the new live action stuff, I mean the animated movie from the 80's. It was awesome.

Also also on the subject (and since I'm just rambling now) I don't know if you guys know about the "Hasbroverse"? In the IDW comics for a while now there's been a Hasbroverse which was established in Revolution and continued through Revolutionaries, and now First Strike, etc... so basically GI Joe, Transformers, MASK, ROM... these franchises have crossed over and now are part of the same shared universe. I don't really know much about MASK or ROM or whatever. But the GI Joe x Transformers stuff is actually pretty cool. I'd actually think that THAT would make a neat movie.

I know I really went off on a tangent there. But if any of this interests you in the least, check out Revolution which was only five issues.

maybe it was Firefly?



Storm Shadow was MY favorite GI Joe action figure



and Jinx

still have GI Joe 12-56 or so in my comic book box

that's awesome.

Wait, wait wait wait wait.... ROM?

As in ROM: Spaceknight?

As in... this motherfucker?



He was a big cult hit in the '80s and early '90s. Based entirely on a toy... given a shit backstory in like three seconds for comic promo purposes, but he ended up being kind of a hit for a while.

I haven't seen ROM in forever! Haven't thought about him much either. Again, very flimsy character ... and dumb... but he had his moments.

I used to like IDW a lot when they came out with their own shit, but now it seems like they're just the Island of Misfit Comic Book Properties. I wish 30 Days of Night was still around.

Lex Nova and the case of the 400 Dead Mexican Girls, BITCHES!

Like I said, pretty sure it was the first one you posted.

Weirdo. ;)

I read Defenders #2 last night and dammit this series is so so excellent. Seriously great. Great writing - Bendis on his game - and fantastic art. There's some fight scenes here that are incredibly drawn. Oh, and great roster already... two issues in and we've gotten bits of Night Nurse, Kingpin, and Punisher already. I'm telling y'all who have been fans of ANY of the Netflix show, this is the comic for you.

Wait, hang on.

Currently the Defenders and other NYC heroes are trapped in a mystical Darkforce bubble that has consumed all of Manhatten. They were trapped there by whoever the hell Madame Hydra currently is (some chick named Elisa who thinks she's Cap's mom even though she is clearly, like, 22?) at Cap's request.

In the issue of Secret Empire I'm currently reading, the Defenders and Cloak and Dagger are trying to maintain some order while Claire Temple (who is a physician here) is treating all manor of illnesses at the hospital. And Kingpin is of course using the situation to turn a profit and is up to no good.

Anyway, is this Defenders story you're reading taking place under a blanket of darkness with Doctor Strange chasing demons around and people dying in the streets? 'Cause if so... you might be reading Secret Empire, buddy!

Cap has also trapped all of Earth's current "heavy hitters" and cosmic types in space and is feeding them to hoards of Chtauri. Captain Marvel is up there, Quasar is up there, the Guardians are up there, and a bunch of other folks I don't quite know. All seemingly facing certain death.

Pretty goddamn compelling story.

no. The story is about Diamondback returning to NY.

When Marvel series overlap w/ events, they brand them. SE crossover issues all use the same SE "bar" at the top of the issue.

I have yet to read anything related to SE. Though there will be some I can't avoid. I know Avengers #9 is going to be a crossover for instance.

oh and yes, that's the ROM I was talking about. Hasbroverse has GI Joe, Transformers, MASK, ROM, Action Man, Micronauts... Honestly, I've only read a little bit of Revolution/Revolutionaries and of the properties involved it's really only GI Joe and Transformers that I know much about, BUT I do actually find the whole thing kind of interesting. I mean... it's like when you're a kid and you have various action figures they could play together. Think of how you (Sev) were saying that you'd have the ninja from GI Joe beating the shit out of other (non-GI Joe) action figures. Well, this IDW stuff makes that kind of thing cannon. It's actually kind of neat.

When I first hear the idea, I thought it was dumb. But when I started reading Revolution, I liked it. Maybe because Callen Bunn knows how to handle writing such a thing. But, honestly the GI Joe x Transformers stuff fits together really well. Sounds strange at first, but works.

also also also Claire Temple isn't even in the Defenders comic book. Claire (in the Netflix shows) is based on the character Night Nurse, but in the comics she was someone named Linda Carter. Night Nurse in the The Defenders comic is Linda Carter, not "Claire Temple."

No, I get it. It works, and there's a lot of potential there if you're into the characters (er... products?) made by Hasbro.

I'm kinda not, but I think it would be cool to have a universe where all these kind of stray properties were able to overlap. A universe where, say, Star Trek (which I totally AN a fan of) characters might run into Optimus Prime or the turtles or what have you. Or... DOCTOR WHO!! Isn't he on IDW right now? I have a few issues I picked up from the bookstore last year but the utterly failed to grab me so I have no idea where they got off to, and can't remember anything from the branding of the whole thing.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see the Doctor get a real proper comic book treatment, and if he were on IDW, he could mingle with his friends across the pond in the Federation... maybe fighting vampires. That would be cool.

(The Doctor did have a series in Britain in the late '70s and early '80s that was picked up by Marvel at the time for US distribution. But that was a long time ago, and I don't feel like it's asking too much to hope for a new series from a sanctioned, or more "official" feeling publisher.)

Yeah, I know, but in Secret Empire there's totally a Claire Temple who's working in an ER and helping JJ and Daredevil and Luke and Danny fix people up.

Looking at the frames right now. Claire Temple.

Shrug?

Yeah was pointing out further that SE and Defenders comics are not connected.

well, apparently the next THREE issues of Avengers are SE related. I hate to say, but this could make/break me reading them for a while. I loved the first six issues (along w/ Waid's ".1" mini-series), but #7 and 8 have been pretty meh. Changed artists and it looks super muddy/ugly to me now, and the Infamous Iron Man crossover stuff has felt like a dropped ball so far. So there's a lot riding on #9 for me next week.

A lot of people are writing off Secret Empire... they just don't want anything to do with it, it seems. But I've gotta say, they're missing out on some of the coolest Marvel artwork out there. And a story that's multifaceted (perhaps TOO multifaceted... I have literally no idea where it actually begins or where it's gone), but the main arc is really something.

Also, NR, I just picked up the hardcover of Civil War II. Just thought I'd let you know.

Funny seeing Iron Man flex against Captain Marvel on the cover. She could kill him with a thought. But from what I've read of the plot, he actually might be on the right side of things this time around. I dunno.

I know Hulk dies. That should be fun.

I'm sure the main arc is great... if it's something you're interested in. It's just really not so for me.

I think I'm also just a bit burned out on the big hero-clash events right now coming off of Civil War II and Inhumans Vs. X-Men. And kind of Monsters Unleashed which at least was a bit more lighthearted to be fair. I don't know.

I also have a hunch that September's Legacy is going to turn into a Rebirth-esque reset and ultimately this SE stuff won't even have consequence 6 months from now.

BTW, Civil War II gets more flack than it deserves. Sure it's unnecessary. Sure it just rehashes things that were already done before. But it is actually pretty well written and beautifully drawn.

Though I bailed halfway through it since I was already reading a bunch of post-CV2 books that basically filled me in on what I had missed.

Hey NR,
I just found this funny little stretch of Deadpool frames (a fight with Black Panther) while I was looking for Google images for something, like, entirely different which I have now forgotten about completely. Hah. Seriously!

Anyway have you read this? It's from 2016, and it gives the issue in which it appears, but I don't want to go on a wild goose chase. I'm trying to figure out if some of the dialogue from the fight -- references to some future-predicting character who is not named, a joke about Cap being brainwashed -- were actually intentional (was the former about or pertaining to Civil War II? Was the latter a Secret Empire Easter egg?)

Anyway, see the silly fight H E R E and let me know whatcha think.

Deadpool should have won this fight. Probably would have if he was really trying. But Panther says, "You cannot harm me." I'm guessing he's referring to his adamentium suit, but Jesus... it's just a suit. He totally could harm you, T'Challa. Harm the fuck outta your ass.

Not sure why everyone's so in love with Black Panther honestly.

I'm all caught up with Secret Empire, and still liking it. Seems like it's actually going to have some ramifications. Big bomb just dropped at the end of the past issue.

Also I read Civil War II in about an hour.
It was GOOD! I mean, it was fucking Minoriry Report with super heroes, but still. It had a lot of good moments and great art and the Inhumans were there, and I actually LIKED Tony Stark for once.

Granted, the Inhumans were there but Black Bplt -- who just totally fucking fascinates me, and who I think I love, and who I'm desperate to know more about -- only appeared on one page in a crowd scene. THAT was frustrating.

Also, Captain Marvel isn't a character I know a hell of a lot about, but ... she kinda sucks if CWII is any indication. She has a great uniform, and seems to be one of the VERY rare Marvel characters who is just, like, ridiculously powerful without her power being conditional (Thor) and without he power being a kind of curse (Hulk, Bolt) that prevents her from being a well rounded, level-headed and dependable hero, and I appreciate that because level-headed ultra-powerful heroes are kind of my favorite thing (Superman). Buuuuut she kinda fucking sucks.

Anyway, for being a comic book PKD ripoff and a bit of a beaten horse thematically, I actually really liked it. I re-read the first Civil War before the movie came out and I was just super irritated by pretty much everything and everyone except Cap throughout the whole book. And the art was lackluster. I think that means I actually enjoyed II more than I, at least as a piece of easy entertainment. Which probably makes me a pariah.

Oh well, back to whatever that task was that I was trying to complete when I saw that Deadpool/Panther stuff.

Hah!

Yep. Marvel Minority Report. But still not bad.

started reading Secret Weapons and it's awesome.






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