Wednesday, September 30, 2015

I Love The 90's: The Secret Defenders

Happy Hump Day People!!!!!






Remember this series from the 90's?

Yup, the Secret Defenders.

And would you look at that cover to issue? My god if that doesn't tell you it's a 90's comic, I don't know what to tell you.

Let's look at the assembled roster of heroes presented to us:

-Wolverine: Besides being a member of the short-lived NU FF with Spider-Man, Hulk, and Ghost Rider, this was another instance on Marvel's part to further capitalize on Wolverine's huge popularity by placing him non-X-Men team to boost sales. This wouldn't be the last time this would happen either, as well know all-too well, especially in the 00's where he was pretty much a member of every team Marvel had up until his recent death.

-Spider-Woman: It's probably hard to believe it now, but once upon a time Julia Carpenter, a.k.a. Spider-Woman was pretty popular. She was a West Coast Avenger around this time frame and had a decent enough fan base. Now she's dead and pretty much forgotten by most comic fans outside of hardcore comic nerds who know their history.

-Nomad: Like poor Julia, so too was one Jack Monroe popular(-ish). Well popular enough to earn his own solo title for a couple years. Jack was the former sidekick/Bucky of a retconned into being evil Captain America substitute, and  had a really hard life growing up. After his solo series ended, he pretty much bounced around the MU aimlessly until he was killed off  for shock value by the Winter Soldier/O.G. Bucky when writer Ed Brubaker resurrected Bucky once he took over Captain America.

-Darkhawk: Like Nomad, he too was ounce popular enough to earn his own solo title for awhile.
Like so many before him, Darkhawk was yet another attempt by Marvel at duplicating the same basic formula of youthful everyman suffers tragedy and gains incredible power that made Spider-Man such a mainstream hit. Except Darkhawk, much like his predecessors failed to achieve the same long-lasting success that the wall-crawler had. By the time the 90's ended, so too did the Darkhawk experiment, and the poor guy would be relegated to hell that is comic limbo, hoping to be used again. Which isn't to say he didn't enjoy membership in a few teams like the West Coast Avengers( Reserve Member) the New Warriors, and the Loners. He just didn't make it like he really should've.

Playing Charlie to these super-powered "Angels" was Dr. Strange.

The premise you see, was that using magic tarot cards, he'd pick seemingly random heroes for whatever mission needed undertaking.
Once the whole thing was over, everybody would go their separate ways, and Dr. Strange would do this again and again with other sets of seemingly random crime-fighters. And he certainly did starting all the back to 1993.





So really, if you think about it, this incarnation of the Defenders was really more of a non-team than even the original non-team group.

Eventually Dr. Strange was forced to hand the reins of the whole operation over to Dr Druid( One of the worst Avengers ever).


That's pretty much when the series went to shit, since they started using new, but really bland and generic "heroes" who were super dark, and looked and acted more like villains than anything else.


The series was then cancelled in 1995 with #25.

I remember picking up the first issue(probably because of the shiny foil cover like everyone else did) and thinking it was alright, mostly for the characters they used (with the exception of Nomad. Didn't really know or care much about him), but stopped buying subsequent issues after that; partly because of lack of interest and because of availability. I mostly bought comics off the racks (god I miss those days!) and didn't start really start visiting comic shops on a regular basis until I got older.


The last issues I bought were the ones where Thanos assembled his own team of Secret Defenders (Well really Offenders). This was back when Ron Marz wrote the series for a very brief time, and I instantly loved the concept of a team of super-villains playing the roles of the heroes of sorts, especially with someone as bad-ass as Thanos leading them. The whole Infinity Trilogy was my jam as a kid, so I was already very familiar with Thanos. Add in other members like Rhino, Titanium Man (Remember when Paul McCartney wrote a song with him in it?) Nitro, and the Super-Skrull.


It may not exactly have been a new concept, but outside of a passing knowledge of the Suicide Squad at that point, it was still fresh to me. Hell, I didn't even mind the really rough art by Tom Grindberg. And trust me it was really fucking tough to look at sometimes.

Anyhoo, the concept of the Secret Defenders works for me, and could still if Marvel could really get behind it and put a decently exciting creative team on the book.

I'm saying it'll sell Deadpool or X-Men circa early 90's numbers, but with the right writer and artist on board, there's no telling how far it could go.

So what about you guys? Did you ever pick this up back in the day? And if you did, what were your favorite stories and rosters?



Tuesday, September 29, 2015

"Give Me Silver, Blue And Gold..."



I don't know if you guys have already heard this or not, but Warner Bros. announced recently that they're going ahead and planning on making a buddy movie about Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle.
Which is great right? About time. Problem being, they're not using the beloved Blue Beetle we all know and love, Ted Kord. Nope, they're using the Jamie Reyes version. *Sigh* Lame.

Well our boys just found out about it, well Ted hasn't. Yet....


















The End

Well, it kinda is. After all a lot of bad decisions in comics are being done under the banner/excuse of trying to show more diversity, be it gender or race.

Just horrible.....

Monday, September 28, 2015

Ant Is The New Black

















The End

Man, Jan sure is a...a....Ho.
What's sad is this actually how she used to be portrayed back in the day. I mean remember when she used to make goo-goo eyes at Thor? And openly too! Right in front of Hank!
No wonder he eventually popped her one....

Thursday, September 24, 2015

So, Who Would Win?: The Question VS. The Chameleon

TGIT!!!!!!

Finishing out the week with the latest edition of So, Who Would Win? with natural bout between two sons of Ditko, Steve Ditko that is, as I pit the Question against the Chameleon.

I say natural, because visually and to an extent conceptually, these two seem like natural enemies to me.


On one hand you have Vic Sage, a.k.a. The Question, who's main gimmick as a character and superhero is being able to disguise himself using a special chemical process that renders his face blank. Like the old Dick Tracy villain the Blank-blank.


On the other, you have a guy like Dmitri Anatoly Smerdyakov Kravinoff ( Try saying that fives times fast. I dare ya') a.k.a. The Chameleon, who's main gimmick is to disguise himself as anyone he chooses to be.

Like I said, sounds like these two would be natural enemies given their shared gimmick.

Now of course I realize there's really no way the Chameleon would and could conceivably come out on top of all this, but man, imagine the fun mind games a guy like the Chameleon would have with ol' Vic. Especially considering its not hard to imagine him using the Question's particular featureless look against him. Hell, the amount of confusion alone amongst the general public and local law enforcement would be enough to give the Chameleon a slight edge temporarily.

Emphasis on the word temporary, as Sage's best bud, Professor Aristotle Rodor would no doubt come up with some sort of gadget or chemical agent to help counter that edge.

But shit man, just the sheer visuals out of all this would be worth the price of admission alone.

Isn't that right Chamey?

So,

The Question






VS.

The Chameleon







Who Would Win and Why?(other than the scenario I just laid out)

Hope wherever you guys and gals are, you all have a good and safe weekend.....


"Closing time. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

Well..... I kinda always knew this day would come, and it sure has. It's been a hell of a ride, but it's time to for it end. Ti...