expatNERD

  • Marv Avatar

    14 – Comic Book Ninja II

    Everyone loves a good flashback scene. And everyone loves a good origin story. So why not combine the two? Behold! The secret origin of Comic Book Ninja! The ultimate arbitrator that allows everyone to see reason and come to their senses. And last I checked he does not even carry a ninja sword to do so! I mean, if someone in a ninja costume suddenly appeared in front of you and told you to behave, I think you would have no choice but to do so.

    And this is a true story. Armageddon 2001 was frustrating. It took you on a path, introduced a new character called Waverider, and just when you cracked your knuckles and were about to revel in the big reveal, it was taken from you. And it was very obvious what they did.

    Also, if you were a Captain Atom fan at the time and you saw it going where it was supposedly going, I can imagine you were also a bit upset. Whether Captain Atom would turn to the dark side was already explored in his own book by John Ostrander who took the book to its end. Captain Atom literally battled against a dark Captain Atom and won. Or maybe he did not, because I guess you could say the ending was a bit open-ended. But I think good prevailed against evil there.

    But hey, that is comics. And I think the real moral of this story is that you definitely had to be a prick in real life if you had the ability to be rude and call people names to their faces. Now everyone can hide behind their fake names and fake avatars, which gives everyone the ability to be pricks. So why not use your real name when conversing around the internet? I know I sure do!

    I hope you enjoyed the comic and I really think Franka outdid herself with this one.

    -Marv

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  • Franka Avatar

    Avengers Assemble!

    I’m going to continue my last post and instead of recommending something new, I will recommend something old. First a warning. I am a sucker for the old Marvel. I don’t know why, perhaps it’s the illusion of those stories being created during a simpler time. Yes, sometimes a stereotype will hit you in the face, including a whole lot of German ones. But there is something comforting about seeing those earlier versions of characters interacting with each other and it just makes me smile.

    I cracked open the Avengers Omnibus Volume 4 and was treated to a lovely, albeit quite short, Neal Adams contribution. It was the Kree/Skrull War storyline brought about Roy Thomas and it pretty much ran from Avengers #93-97, with Adams doing issues #93-96. If you read the forward to the above Omnibus, Thomas admits that they were starting to run behind, and he decided to give #97 to the amazing John Buscema, much to the annoyance of Neal who had either produced thumbnails or even some finished pages. So that was that for Neal and he stopped. Which is aber schade because there must be a universe out there where Adams stuck around for at least twenty pages. You can find these issues reprinted and after doing a quick search online, the originals in a pretty good grade will not break the bank either. And it’s worth it because these books are beautiful.

    But I think my favorite part of this volume is the development of the Wanda and Vision relationship. It was quite well done with all the conflicts and drama that you can imagine. So my Thursday sketch above references that.

    bis bald,

    -franka

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