The Comic Book Collection of Vig

Fanfiction Friday: Fantastic Four and the Age of Apocalypse

2016-02-19T09:32:00.000-06:00

Did he do it? -Wolverine #90

Travel back in time to the year 1996. Marvel did the unthinkable. They canceled all their X-titles, even the best selling titles. Excalibur, Generation X, X-Force/Factor/Men (even Uncanny and Unlimited) were no more. Wolverine’s solo title was also cancelled, as was Cable’s. That's right, the time traveling mutant from the future, but born in the present (which is our past now) was also no longer in existence. The X-universe crystallized and shattered out of reality. This occurrence destroyed the known Marvel Universe, yet was only isolated to the mutant sector. All the other titles continued as normal and were unaffected by this mutant debacle.

Ad from Wizard magazine

However, this was not the end of mutantkind. There was a new beginning, a new age, an Age of Apocalypse. Quick recap: Legion (Professor X’s son) traveled back in time to kill Magneto, but killed Xavier instead. This triggered the rise of Apocalypse and he conquered the Earth. Mutants ruled and only few humans remained. There were no mightiest heroes, no sorcerer supremes, no fantastic heroes, no incredible Hulks, no captains, no Canadian heroes, no blind lawyers, and no humans with Inhuman qualities. All that remained was twisted, alternate versions of mutants.

Age of Apocalypse was a huge undertaking from a storytelling perspective and is considered one of the best crossovers in Marvel history. Four months later, everything was back to normal, for the most part. During this story I had many questions, especially about the Richards’ family and friends. This led me to ask the all important question…. "What if the Fantastic Four formed during the Age of Apocalypse?" What you are about to read answers that question as well as a few more that might have been floating around your mind. ( I actually submitted this story to the What If editor at the time, Bobbie Chase I think.)

“Come on, Reed. Hurry up before they come back.”

“Calm down, Johnny. Tinkerer and I are almost done. Tinkerer is your part ready?”

“Yes, Mr Richards, it is.” said Tinkerer.

“This should work.” said Reed.

“Well it better, cuz we gotta find Sue.” replied young Johnny Storm.

Click! The door opened.

“Come on let's go!” Johnny said eagerly.

“Slow down, boy. We don't want to be caught.” said Tinkerer.

Then all of a sudden the wall across from them explodes. Six individuals, calling themselves X-Flight burst in.

“There he is!” yelled their leader, Guardian.

“Reed Richards, come with us. We need your help.” said Maverick. “Hurry! Your questions will be answered later.”

“Wait! My friends must come with.” demanded Reed.

“No, I cannot go with you, Mr Richards. I am old and will only slow you down, but I'll help you with your escape.” explained Tinkerer as he pulled a weapon out that he had made.

“I'll go my friend.”

“Let's get outta here people, the Dark Riders are on their way!” commanded Guardian. “Timebomb, leave the Dark Riders a present.”

Young Timebomb creates one of her biggest bombs and tossed it in the middle of the building.

“Puck, clear the path!” The acrobatic Puck runs and dives into the mutant guards just like a cannonball. Clearing a path to escape.

X-Flight brings Reed Richards and Johnny Storm to the underground HQ, Department H. There Reed and Johnny were officially introduced to the members of X-Flight: the Canadian mystic Shaman, his adopted daughter the shapeshifting Snowbird, the dwarfish Puck, and two mutants, Maverick, a mystery in himself and Timebomb, who has the ability to create explosive energy, “timebombs”.

“Greetings, Dr. Richards. I am James Hudson, aka Guardian. This is my girlfriend, Heather McNeil and my close friend, Dr. Walter Langkowski.

“Why have you brought me here?” questioned Reed.

“You see a couple months ago we received this transmission from our satellite.” James turns on the screen. On the screen appears a Watcher.

“Greetings people of Earth. I am Uatu, the watcher assigned to observe your solar system. Even though I have taken an oath never to interfere with other races, I decided I must. I have decided to leave and have hopes to be reassigned to another system. If I were you I would also leave. Unfortunately, there is little you can go, except to the blue area of your Moon. That is where I am now. Also here is the alien race known as the Inhumans. Fear not for the blue area has breathable air. Go see the Inhumans, for they should be able to help. I dare not say anymore. Farewell.”

“Whoa, a real life alien.” Johnny said excitingly.

“You see Dr. Richard, we are building a ship to fly to the moon to see the Inhumans and ever since we received this transmission we have searched for you, because we need your scientific knowledge to help us complete this ship. Once the ship is complete we will send up a crew of four to the moon.” explained James.

“He doesn't have time to work for your stupid ship. We have to go find my sister.” said Johnny.

“Cool it, hothead!” yelled Maverick.

“Leave him alone Mav. He's only worried about his sister.” Timebomb said sympathetically.

“Quit sticking up for the for the lousy human, Tabitha.” said Maverick.

“Both you knock it off.” exclaimed Puck. “Well whatta ya say Richards?”

“I will help you, but you must also help me find my girlfriend Susan Storm and my friend Ben Grimm. Is that agreed?” said Reed.

“I will have X-Flight begin the search immediately.” said Guardian.

“How about it, Johnny? That good enough for you. I'll try my hardest to find your sister.” said Tabitha.

“Ok, it's fine by me, Timebomb.” said Johnny.

“Please just call me Tabitha.”

So Reed helped James build a spaceship, while Johnny grew more attracted to Timebomb. And Timebomb grew more attracted to Johnny. Of course Maverick did not like this at all, for he also liked Timebomb.

Meanwhile back at the pens where Reed and Johnny escaped from, Apocalypse met with the Dark Riders.

“Bring the human forth, my Dark Riders.” demanded Apocalypse.

“Apocalypse, I'm so glad you've come sir. The ones that escaped were Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. Reed Richards is a genius and I feel you should search for him, or he will cause you some trouble.” said Tinkerer.

“How could a puny human trouble me?”

“You see sir, with his scientific knowledge, he could ruin you. He has the capability of creating a weapon that could destroy you.”

“That is very interesting, Tinkerer. How would you go about finding this Richards?”

“Find his girlfriend, Susan Storm, for that is who he will be looking for. Find her and you will find him.”

“What about that group of individuals that freed them?” said Apocalypse.

“I believe they were the infamous X-men.” answered Tinkerer.

“If they are X-men, they are new to me. Thank you, Tinkerer you have served me well. You are dismissed.”

“Thank you sir. I will never fail you.”

“I know. Too bad though. Lifeforce dispose of him.”

“Yes, highlord.” said Lifeforce.

“No, please, no! No!” screamed Tinkerer.

“Excellent. Now my Dark Riders, find me the human Susan Storm and find out about this new group of heroes. Now be gone!”

A few days later, back at Department H, the ship is almost complete. Johnny and Tabitha have grown closer and closer. X-Flight has been trying to contact Tony Stark, but with no luck.

“Almost complete, James.” said Reed.

“Good. When the ship is done, I would like you and Johnny to join Heather and Walter into space.” said James.

“Have you found Susan yet?” asked Reed.

“Not yet, but we think she might be with Tony Stark.”

“Will you find her before we return?”

“Will try our hardest to find them.” said James.

“Okay. Why won't you be joining us?”

“Because Apocalypse will be monitoring the sky and if he spots you he will attack and if he does X-Flight will be there to help you leave.” said James.

“I understand, but -”

“There, it's done!!” exclaimed Walter.

“I'll tell Heather and you go tell Johnny.” said James.

“Johnny! Johnny! The ship is done and they want us to be part of the crew. Oh! I'm sorry, I should have knocked.” Reed said as he walked in on Johnny and Tabitha kissin.

“No, Reed. It's okay, we were, uh, just talking.” explained Johnny.

“ I'd better go.” said Tabitha.

“See you, Tabitha. Now what did you say about the ship.”

“The ship is done and we're going to accompany Heather and Walter to the moon.” said Reed.

“Really, wow, we're actually going to the moon. When are we leaving? Have they located Sue yet?” said Johnny.

“We're leaving as soon as we get ready. Unfortunately they have not found her yet, but are still looking.

So the crew packed up their stuff and got ready for their flight.

“I wish you guys all the luck in the world and please come back alive.” said James.

“Don't worry, James, we will. Just make sure Sue and Ben are here when we get back.” said Reed.

“Don't worry they’'ll be here.” said James.

The crew climbs aboard the ship, checks all the equipment.

“Are all systems ready?” asked Reed.

“Yes they are.” replied Walter.

“Let's get this baby moving!” exclaimed Johnny.

The ship takes off into the air. X-Flight stands by and watches them disappear into the sky.

“Alright people let's find Sue and Ben. Shaman and Maverick stay here in case anything goes wrong.” said James.

“Why do I have to stay behind?” said Maverick.

“I need you here, that's why.” said James.

Guardian, Snowbird, Timebomb, and Puck take off in their jet to go look for Tony Stark. Seconds after they leave Shaman gets a transmission from Tony Stark.

“Greetings X-Flight. I heard you were looking for me.” said Stark.

“Yes, Mr. Stark, the rest of X-Flight just took off to look for you.” said Shaman. “We wanted to know if you know Susan Storm.”

“Yes, I do. She’s here right now.”

Zap! The transmission just broke.

“What happened?” said Shaman.

“I'll tell you what happened.” said Maverick, just before he shot him in the head. “There, that's the end of that. Now to summon the Dark Riders.” Maverick goes over to one of the many planes and takes off.

Meanwhile back in space.

“Hold on! We can't make it through the cosmic rays!” screamed Walter. “I have to take it down.”

“Just do it before we die!” screamed Heather.”

“We're going to die!” yelled Johnny.

“No, we are not! We just need to make it back to Earth.” Reed said with courage.

“We're about to re-enter the atmosphere. Hold on!” said Walter.

The ship crashes back on Earth somewhere in the western part of Canada.

“Is everyone okay?” asked Reed.

“I'm still alive, but I don't know if I'm okay.” said Heather.

“Quick, everyone out, control panels on fire!” yelled Walter.

The crew exit the ship and get as far away as they can.

“Reed, I don't feel so good. I feel like I'm changing.” said Heather.

“Oh my god! She's just disappearing!” yelled Johnny.

“What's happening to me?”

“She's visible again.” said Walter.

“Wow! I'm on fire and I can fly!” Johnny said enthusiastically

“Everyone, calm down.” Reed said.

“Calm down! Calm down! How can I calm down I look like this.” said Walter who had just turned into a rock-like monster. Then all the sudden Walter goes crazy and start throwing trees and attacks Reed. Reed stretches out of the way just like a rubber band and wraps his arms around Walter. Reed manages to the calm everyone down and tries to figure out has happened to them.

“Come on people. We have to get our act together and make our way back to Department H.” said Reed.

“How are we supposed to do that? We don't know where we are.” said Walter.

“Listen to me. With these powers, we can help destroy Apocalypse. We are as powerful as mutants. We must stay together and help mankind and mutantkind.” said Reed.

While everyone agrees to stay together, an important event is going on back at Department H. X-Flight has just returned to Department H, to find the place trashed and Shaman's lifeless body lying on the ground. Snowbird was devastated to see her father’s body. Of course Maverick was nowhere to be found. Guardian believes Apocalypse has attacked and kidnapped Maverick. That is until Maverick and the Dark Riders burst in through a wall.

“Surprise flatscans!” Maverick said.

“Maverick, how could you?” Guardian asked.

“Easy.” Maverick makes the first move and shoots Guardian in the arm. The rest of the Dark Riders attack.

“Kill them all, except the mutant.” ordered Maverick.

A great battle starts. The Dark Riders are unmerciful and plan on destroying X-Flight. Puck is a true warrior and fights for his team. Unfortunately he is easily killed by Deadbolt and Gauntlet. Next to fall was Snowbird. No matter what she changed into, Reaper and Wildside still got her. Tusk manages to capture Timebomb and brings her to Maverick.

“Hello. Did you miss me?” said Maverick.

“How could you Maverick? How would you follow Apocalypse? Why did you do all this? asked Timebomb.

“He did it because he’s influenced by Apocalypse.” said Guardian who is losing a lot of blood from his wound.

“Shut up flatscan. Your days are done.” Maverick said and finished Guardian off with a shot to the head. “Hardrive, teleport us out.”

All there is left of the Department H is the bodies of X-Flight. If Reed, Heather, Johnny, and Walter ever make it back to the Department H, they all will be deeply devastated. And while one team was destroyed, another was forming.

“Reed’s right. Let's stay together form a team. I think we’d be a fantastic team. With me being a “human torch”, Heather with her invisibility powers, Walter with his great strength and Reed with those elastic powers.” said Johnny.

“Call me the Invisible Woman.”

“I'm calling myself the Human Torch.”

“And I call myself... Mister Fantastic.

“What about you Walter?” asked Invisible Woman.

“I'm not Walter anymore. Just call me the Thing.”

And so was born the Fantastic Four! And from that moment on, the world would never again be the same!

Ten that made them Fantastic

2016-01-27T15:38:00.000-06:00

The Fantastic Four couldn't do it alone. Through the years they required outside help to make them fantastic. Some they even met in real life. These are the people that brought their tales to the masses. Through stunning storytelling and emotional visuals, their adventures were brought to life on the page for all ages to enjoy. Here is a top 10 of those that made them fantastic.

1. John Byrne circa 1980

Doom gets the job done

He started it for me and brought memorable stories to the canon that others after him were able to build on. He helped Doom reclaim Latveria and also gave him a ward named Kristoff. He put Reed on trial for helping Galactus. He put Thing on his own in his own series, allowing She-Hulk to take his place on the team. He showed Johnny what it means to be a hero. He allowed Susan to grow as a woman. During this time, Reed and Sue also lost their second child (don't worry she comes back about 20 years later). Byrne’s run on the Fantastic Four is held in the highest regard and for some even surpasses Kirby and Lee.

2. Kirby/Lee circa 1960s

They started it all and brought so much to the Marvel Universe. Everything has already been said, so I’ll just leave it at that.

3. Tom Defalco / Paul Ryan circa 1991-1996

"Doom is back," again

Tom and Paul make up a large part of my collection. They had a great handle on the family dynamic and portrayed this through a comic book story. Having such a lengthy run allowed them to bring much to the F4 canon. I don't think their run gets enough credit though and usually is not critically acclaimed. They took big chances with their tales and tugged at the hearts of the characters and readers. Some key highlights included turning Alicia into a skrull thus breaking up the Torch’s marriage, disfigured Thing even more thanks to Wolverine, caused marital tension between Reed and Sue, “killed” Reed and Doom, and introduced a teenage Franklin from the future who went on to lead the “seemed like a good idea at the time” Fantastic Force. They also created an uber super villain, named Hyperstorm (very 90’s), who was the son of Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers. This was also the time for gimmick covers galore: the first die-cut Marvel cover, embossed melting cover, numerous prismatic covers, a very nice Doom headshot (that became my tattoo). Defalco managed to stick around until the first series ending and was joined by Carlos Pacheco for the final two issues (ending was due to Onslaught/Heroes Reborn and poor sales).

4. Jonathan Hickman/Dale Eaglesham circa 2009-2012

Stay classy Valeria

Very in-depth storytelling and heavily plotted far in advance, but I was a little turned off by Eaglesham’s art. Hickman really had a control on the family dynamic and seemed to bring in aspects from Defalco’s run, like Nathaniel Richards and an older Franklin. One of the coolest moments of his run happened in the very first issue. We were introduced to the Council of Reeds, which was a council made up of Reeds from different realities and were led by three Reeds wielding the Infinity Gauntlet. There is one gripe I have with Hickman’s run and that had to do with the marketing of Human Torch’s death. It was an off panel implied death, and any like-minded reader knew it was not his end. When the news leaked/released, it seemed to take away from the very emotional scene showing Johnny’s sacrifice. There also seemed to be a lot of wheels turning throughout this run, which at times could get confusing.

5. Mark Waid/Mike Wieringo circa 2002-2004

The one word that best describes the run of Waid and Wieringo is ‘Unthinkable‘. They supped up Doom’s power and really brought focus to his mystical talents. Then the Unthinkable happened, Ben died. Comics being what they are, the Thing couldn't stay dead for long. This brought a journey to the heavens above and a meeting with the ”creator” who bore an uncanny resemblance to the one true “King”. Doom was also taken off the board for a while and trapped in hell. With Doom gone, the F4 defied international authority and took over Latveria all for the purpose of revealing the true atrocities that had been occurring there. Then just as things were settling down, Johnny went and became a temporary herald of Galactus. Overall a good run that made comic book reading fun.

6. Walter Simonson circa 1989-1991

Simonson introduced The New Fantastic Four: Spider-man, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and Hulk (the gray one). The original four thought dead, so these popular characters came in to raise sales. My first subscription also started towards the end of this run. Simonson started his run with a bang with a three parter Acts of Vengeance crossover story. She-Thing was also still a big part of team. There were also a lot of time jumping stories involving the Time Variance Authority (where were they during Age of Ultron, 60’s X-men coming to the present, or any other time disrupting event/occurrence). Kang and Thor became regulars, the latter of which had a much hyped battle with Gladiator. Reed and Doom had an intriguing time battle where they kept time jumping within the span of a couple minutes.

7. Chris Claremont/Larroca circa 1998-2000

Freshly returned from Heroes Reborn, Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis brought the F4 back into the regular Marvel Universe, but by issue #4 Chris Claremont stepped in to assist Lobdell and soon became its regular writer alongside Salvador Larroca as the new artist. This new creative team lasted about 30 issues or so. Claremont is known for molding some of the most recognizable X-Men stories in the 80’s and early 90’s and it was now in his hands to do the same to the Fantastic Four. He also brought in elements from his Excalibur run. Things didn't quite work out for this, what some call lackluster moment for the Fantastic Four but some interesting concepts were created. Enter in Valeria Von Doom, daughter of the Invisible Woman and Dr. Doom (or was it Mr. Fantastic in Doom’s armor?). Of course she was from the future or some alternative timeline. She also took the name Marvel Girl, because why not. That was the highlight of Claremont’s run, and he was not able to wrap up the true origin of Valeria. That was left up to Jeph Loeb and Carlos Pacheco, who ended up turning her back into a fetus and put her back in Susan’s belly, ready to give birth. The joys of comics.

8. Roy Thomas/ Rich Buckler and John Buscema circa 1970s

I’m not too familiar with this run, but coming after Lee and Kirby's lengthy run was a lot of pressure. Thomas kept with what was known and focused stories on the Frightful Four and Inhumans. This in turn led to Medusa joining the team to replace Sue. Tension was building between Reed and Sue, which was fracturing the family dynamic. Sue was becoming more outspoken and finally got fed up with Reed so she left with Franklin. When she finally came back, it was the Thing's turn to be replaced. He had lost his powers so Power Man (Luke Cage) was hired for some extra muscle on the team. Human Torch also thought about quitting, so that seemed to be the trend. The seed was also planted for Byrne at this time to make Sue grow as a woman.

9. Dwayne McDuffie/ Paul Pelletier circa 2002

Well, the Wizard is not heartless.

A short run from McDuffie brought a big change to the team. Coming after Civil War, Reed and Sue took some time off, so another power couple was asked to take their place, Black Panther and Storm. This led to some adventures in space and a confrontation with Galactus. The Frightful Four also showed up and Sue had a heart to heart conversation with the Wizard.

"That's okay Spidey, you just watch."

10. Roger Stern/ John Buscema circa mid 1980s

Stern had a short run following Byrne, but he had dabbled in just about every main character in the Marvel Universe (even a few for the Distinguished Competition). He is best known for his Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom story Triumph and Torment. Buscema on the other hand was a veteran artist for the FF and had originally took over drawing duties from Jack Kirby. A couple highlights from this combo include a wonderful fight between She-Hulk and Thing, and they also handled the Human Torch's marriage to Alicia Masters, as well as Thing's feelings towards that.

F4 Break Into Top 50

2015-11-11T14:36:00.001-06:00

In Fantastic Four News:

Over at Comics Should Be Good @ Comic Book Resources, Brian Cronin recently finished up this year’s top 100 Marvel and DC characters, as voted by the fans. Each company got 50 characters for the list and over 1200 ballots were cast. As for the placement of the Fantastic Four members, here we go:

Ranked lowest was Invisible Woman, who came in at number 39. Next up, Mr. Fantastic fared a little better and was number 35. Almost cracking the top ten was The Thing, who was number 11!

Next year will be the year of
the Torch.

There you have it. The Fantastic Four Three make it into the top 50. Wait, what about Human Torch? He will be starring in 2 all-new, all-different uncanny series. Sorry Johnny, better luck next year.

Expanding to the rest of the F4 universe and including former members they did pretty good overall, Galactus 50, Sub-Mariner 43, Black Panther 22, Silver Surfer 21, She-Hulk came in at 18, Storm 13, Hulk 8, Dr. Doom 5, Wolverine 3, Spider-Man 1.

Found Fantastic

2015-10-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

My love affair with the Fantastic Four started ìn the late eighties. My brother had a subscription to this wonderful monthly series while I had a subscription to Heathcliff, the Garfield knockoff. At the time, Fantastic Four was written and drawn by John Byrne, whom I would put at the top of the list of Fantastic Four creators. I always felt a strong connection to Marvel's first family. They were a family of four and so was I.

1st die-cut cover!

My first introduction to Dr Doom was also quite memorable. He sent the Baxter Building into space! Later it was revealed that this Doom was actually the child, Kristoff, (spoiler!) and only had the early memories of Victor Von Doom, which included a previous (failed) plan to send the Baxter Building into space. I still remember the panel of She-Hulk holding up the tantrum throwing Doom.

The subscription I shared with my brother started to lapse around the time Ben came back to the team. He decided to stay on Battleworld for a bit, but eventually got tired of that. This was also the time when Johnny was getting married to Ben's main squeeze, Alicia Masters (or was it?). I remember picking up the issue of the wedding at a grocery store. Johnny and Ben made amends and Ben was the best man (after a nice fight with She-Hulk, who replaced him while he was gone).

This was about the last issue of Fantastic Four I would read for awhile. I don't really know why, but when I later revisited this era I realized it was not a memorable run. Reed and Sue left for a while, Ben became leader, Ms Marvel became a female Thing (not Carol Danvers or Kamala Kahn), Ben became a pumpkin spikey Thing, and there was some weird dream stuff. This section of F4 history was mostly scribed by Steve Englehart/Jonathan Harkness, who himself had some editorial conflicts towards the end of his run.

I returned just in time to see the return of Doom (again) who engaged with Reed in a time lapse battle. A new subscription was started and it lasted up until Onslaught and Heroes Reborn. Then the long awaited Heroes Return happened so I started my subscription anew. This one lasted almost to the final end; sometime during Fraction's run.

The Fantastic Four just finished one more final arc by James Robinson and Leonard Kirk. I found it lackluster on its initial read, but I feel I should give it another chance. Maybe my bitterness clouded my mind since I knew it was ending. Now there is Secret Wars and Doom is god. After this, the four are no more. Johnny is hanging with Inhumans and Ben is soaring through the galaxy. Reed and Sue, with kids, have yet to be heard from.

This deeply saddens me. Marvel's first family is left out of the all-new all-different reboot, that is not a reboot. I have many thoughts and memories of the Fantastic Four that I wish to share. I hope my words here will help others find the Fantastic.

Also through all this, I sought out back issues. I dreamed of having a complete collection. So far the oldest issue I have is Fantastic Four #66. From the initial run, #1-416, I can proudly say I have 242 issues. From there, the numbering restarted, later returned, restarted again, and returned at the very end. So from Heroes Return, which I think would be issue #429 until before Robinson took over, I can claim ownership to those issues as well. I could count Heroes Reborn, but I'm missing issues 10-12. In all, there are 645 definitive issues (not counting annuals) and I have 461. I did acquire the 44 Years of Fantastic Four, so my digital collection is complete. At least I have that going for me.

Is it issue #50 or #479?
Nuff said, indeed.

Fantastic Voyage

2015-10-16T22:06:00.001-05:00

Soon there will be a void in the Marvel Universe and the gateway to the Negative Zone will be closed. On the horizon, Marvel's first family will not have a monthly series. Ben and Johnny have gone their separate ways and found new teams, but Reed, Sue, and the kids are missing from action.

They have had a troublesome year to say the least. Their monthly series came to a finale with a lackluster story from James Robinson and Leonard Kirk that involved red costumes. Reed managed to keep things afloat over in New Avengers thanks to Jonathan Hickman. A blockbuster film got released that bared the name Fantastic Four. As for its affiliation with a comic book, I am unsure. This summer Doom has been at the forefront of the new Secret Wars and has reached the highest of the high. He has taken it up to eleven.

Once Again

When the dust settles from this new restart, the four will be no more. Or so we've been told by the powers to be. This truly is a crime against the fans of the much beloved Fantastic Four. There must be a bigger plan in the works that we are not yet privy to, there just has to be. Slowly more details begin to emerge Post Secret Wars. Irregardless, I now have a goal to forever remember the Fantastic. It is with the world, that I must share the Fantastic Four. As I have found the fantastic, now too shall all be Finding Fantastic. I will begin to share my thoughts about everything Fantastic Four. So without further ado, a journey into the Microverse, Innerverse, and everywhere in between is about to begin.

That guy at the end of the Avengers movie goes jewelry shopping.

2013-05-20T13:58:00.000-05:00

Twinkle, Twinkle

Thanos, the mad titan, has had a hard life, growing up shunned by his family (probably due to his death-obsessed fetish). At an early age, he started having an inappropriate infatuation with Death; the cosmic being not the concept, but I guess those could go hand in hand. As Thanos got older, he did what he could to impress her. Yes, Death has a female persona, (makes sense.) He travelled throughout the cosmos, murdering left and right. He constantly sought more power so he could commit even more murder. He was a murdering madman.

In his journeys, he had run-ins with Captain Marvel (the original), Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, the Avengers and many more, he even died a few times. Death was growing smitten with him and kept bringing him back to the living and sometimes adding to his power.

That brings us to The Thanos Quest. One day, Death gave Thanos an enormous task; Murder half the universe! (You know, to balance things out.) Thus began Thanos’ quest for the soul gems which he called Infinity Gems. That makes sense, since only one of the gems had control over the Soul. The others have control over: Time, Space, Reality, Power and Mind. These gems of great importance were currently in the possession of beings who are part of the Elders of the Universe (except In-Betweener). Thanos set out to confront each of these beings and either outwit them or force the removal of the gems.

First up was the In-Betweener, who held in his possession the Soul Gem. In-Betweener was already in a dire predicament. He was currently imprisoned by Lord Chaos and Master Order (2 floating heads in space). Thanos struck up a deal and helped him escape. Unbeknownst to In-Betweener, he was in a realm where his powers were weakened, so it was a easy defeat for Thanos. One down, five more to go.

Next, Thanos found Champion on some planet doing what he does best. To make a long story short, Champion destroyed the planet and was left with no transportation, so at the cost of the trinket on his forehead, Thanos agreed to ‘tow’ him to the nearest planet.

(one of the better stories featuring Champion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=989WHICDnGw)

To close out the first issue, Thanos then went after Gardner, who possessed the Time gem. This was a very anti-climactic encounter. They walked and talked through the garden, then sat across from one another, talked some more, then suddenly Thanos won. Off panel, Gardner got inundated by thorny vines. Victory, Thanos!

Going into issue #2, Thanos only needed 3 more gems. His first run-in was with the Runner. What he did was run and he ran well. He was a cocky runner of the spaceways and in his possession was the Space gem which gave him a boost (that he was unaware of) to his speed, and of course his ego (not the Living Planet Ego). It was an annoying encounter for Thanos, but with his newly acquired Time gem, he aged the immortal Runner into an old man whose pace came to a halt. Then with ease, Thanos plucked the gem from his unworthy opponent. For his next quest he knew he would need a bargaining chip in order to acquire his next gem, which belonged to the Collector. With that in mind, he reverted the Runner to a newborn babe and took him along.

The Collector, unaware of the power he had in his possession, kept the Reality gem in a mere display case. Ripe for the taking, but Thanos wanted it fairly so the Collector was eagerly willing to trade a minor trinket for an immortal baby elder of the universe. Once in Thanos’ hands, he showed a fraction of the gem’s power and the Collector freaked out and told Thanos to leave. Upon his departure, he mentioned the Runner’s current state was only temporary. So as soon as he left, Runner returned to his normal self.

Last on his list is the Mind gem, which was held by the Grandmaster. He was a player of games and

liked to use Earth’s heroes as his pawns (Contest of Champions anyone?). In this contest he would pit himself against Thanos in a virtual reality combat field. The battle went back and forth. With Thanos seemingly defeated, Grandmaster assured victory.That is if Thanos played fair, for it was not the real Thanos who engaged in the battle. He had sent a fake to take his place.

With Thanos victorious, he now had all 6 gems. He knew in his cold dark heart Death would now embrace him, but when he returned to her presence it was not the reception he hoped. It seemed he gained too much power (d’oh). He was now above Death, so whatever he said or wanted was his. If he wanted Death to be his consort, it was so. Death had no choice. This was not what he wanted so he stormed off in huff to contemplate his next move. (Spoiler: Infinity Gauntlet)

This is a classic tale brought to you by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, which shows Thanos as the schemer that he is. At the same time, you get to see the sadness and loneliness that comes with becoming a god.

Sabretooth, one mean kitty

2013-03-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

Sabretooth: Mary Shelly Overdrive (2002). Where the hell did this story come from? It seems out of place. Even the series title is confusing. Mary Shelly, okay something about Frankenstein. Overdrive? As in Maximum Overdrive? Really?
The story starts off with Sabretooth at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then it becomes a day in the life of Sabretooth (when he is not harrassing Wolverine).

The story plays out like a movie, which I guess was the author's intent. Boy meets girl. Bad guys are after girl. Boy needs to protect girl. In this case, bad guy meets girl. Undead mercenaries are after girl. Bad guy needs to protect girl from bad(der?) guys, kill some mercenaries, and save the day. Oh, and the girl is infected so she'll probably need to die. The end.

Sabretooth definitely takes a beating in this series, so let's take a look at what he goes through.

It all starts with a knife in the throat. Then shot a few times with a semiautomatic, followed by shots from a pistol. His arm gets broken. He gets shot with multiple traquilizer darts followed by many many many rounds from multiple high impact assault rifles. Then shot a few more times, his throat slashed, and stabbed in the heart. At one point he even got pinned to a wall crucifix style.

Knowing Sabretooth, he did give just as much as he got. He ripped a guy's head off. He chopped a guy's head off with some very large handheld mallet-like hatchets. He ran over a guy with his motorcycle. Then to top it all off, he threw a guy into the ocean wearing cement shoes.

Quite the day in the life of Sabretooth. (Did you know he has a brothel that he frequents?)

Stand out moments in this story would have to be the variety of sound effects.

The story is action packed for sure, but the artwork is very...ugly. The more I think about the story, the more it grows on me, but that artwork. I know he is out of costume and all, but he looks like some skinny punk drug addict.

The man they call Nomad

2012-11-10T23:53:00.000-06:00

Travelling across the United States is a man called Nomad (aka Jack Monroe). He used to be somebody. Bucky, former sidekick to the one and only Captain America, (well not thee Captain America, but another Captain America who changed his name to Steve Rogers. The real Steve Rogers was still frozen.) This Cap and Bucky duo had kinda gotten the Super-Soldier Serum, but it wasn't complete, so they were a bit crazy.

Bucky got a little better in the head and figured there was no point in being Bucky, so he went with Nomad. Bright blue wearing super hero (abridged version of origin). But of course that didn't last.

I don't know what I am, maybe I'll just wander a bit .

I'll be a super-hero again.

Now Nomad got all dark and brooding. Grew his hair out, got a big trench coat and screamed, "Hey 90's! I'm here." And somehow he acquired a baby from some drug addicted prostitute, which he named Bucky. This baby definitely went through a lot strapped to Nomad's back. Swinging across buildings. Breaking through glass windows. Listened to the soothing sounds of gunfire.

Just swinging across the city

Nomad wandered around, took odd jobs as a "handy man". He stayed in motels, drank Mountain Dew, and bought diapers. On nights that he didn't want to bring Bucky with, he managed to befriend locals and they were willing to babysit. All while being chased by the Government.

A way with words.

With this dark brooding theme going on it became apparent that he needed to have a crossover with some happy-go-lucky characters. Enter: Dead Man's Hand, or Daredevil and Punisher make a new friend.

"Angel and Devil on my shoulders"

Gratuitous Deadpool appearance

Major crime families were invited to Las Vegas to figure out how best to divvy up the criminal empire in Kingpin's absence. (Yes, Kingpin was taking a sabbatical. He falls, he gets back on top, then he falls again, then climbs back up. That is his unending cycle, similar to Daredevil.) Bucky has a nice adventure. She gets kidnapped by someone named Bushwacker, gets to meet the Punisher, and gets some quiet time away from Nomad.

Elsewhere in the Marvel Universe there was this event going on called Infinity War. It was mandatory that all participate in some fashion. The premise was alien doppelgangers were coming to Earth to take the place of the real heroes. It seemed, at least on a cosmic scale, that Nomad was small potatoes and had no doppelganger. But that didn't stop the crossover.

Crazy hair? check! Trench coat? check!
Cool shades? check!
Mutant power to charge up stuff? wait, what?

It became a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Nomad needed to take a plane to meet up with Bucky. It just so happened that Gambit's doppelganger needed a plane to get to Louisiana (because the interstellar travel agent sucks and should be fired). People in the airport start dying and Nomad keeps telling himself its not his problem, but the super hero in him takes over. Later on he ran into the real Gambit, which made for an awkward conversation. He also ran into Man-Thing and battled the Hate Monger along his cross country journey.

Cold Hard Steel

While in LA, Nomad also decided to help out during the riots.

In my world, everyday is garbage day.

The series really had a knack for taking on various social issues, including transvestites, Aids, gay rights, cruelty to animals, and white supremacy. The last of which factored in heavily in the final story arc "American Dreamers." Quick Nomad childhood recap: his father was a Nazi sympathizer, as was the majority of the town he grew up in. FBI was investigating, questioned young Jack, he turned his father in.

With Bucky in the caring hands of a "favor banker" (don't ask), Nomad was ready for a final suicide run and planned to take out the white supremacist senator. The senator's past and current affiliation was becoming known so he planned to blow himself up along with whoever is at the press conference that he called. Nomad shows up with a typical 90's style gun. An explosion happens and Jack Monroe is declared dead....but thanks to an FBI agent Mr. Monroe is next seen in a suspended animation chamber awaiting to be thawed when his country needs him next. The End.

When the series first came out, I recall finding it cool. A lone brooding vigilante was traveling the countryside with a baby on his back. I tried to get every issue when they came out, but I found myself skipping some here and there. By the time the series ended with issue #25 I think I was missing about 10 or so issues, mostly the latter ones. So I became determined to collect the entire run and in time I accomplished that feat.

The series was written by Fabian Nicieza (whose work I thoroughly enjoy) and the artists tended to change every few issues. And as time went on, (just like with Morbius, the Living Vampire) the art worsened as it reached its end. The art got so bad it really took away from the finally story arc. I think the story was good, but the art! My god! (The same thing happened with Doom 2099 as well). Before the final arc, it was scheduled to be cancelled, so they probably didn't care how the art was. (Now that I think about, Nomad started to look like Ravage 2099.) After the series ended, nothing was heard from Nomad until Fabian brought him back in another series he was writing a few years later. Click here to be spoiled.

So ends this journey of Nomad. Perhaps I'll visit his earlier and latter exploits, as well as what happened to baby Bucky.

That time Lobo did something outrageous Pt.1

2012-10-08T23:53:00.000-05:00

Lobo: Infanticide #1-4 (1992)

So Lobo is a woman-loving, boozing, smoking, bounty hunting fragtastic SOB from Czarnia. In fact, he is the last Czarnian. He was bored so he killed everyone else on the planet.

Pretty much every story about Lobo is an off-the-wall, outrageous tale; never to be taken seriously. He takes everything to the extreme, times a thousand. He carries big guns, a giant hook, has a pet dog, and rides a space hog (as in a motorcycle built for space travel). He also has a healing factor. If you think Wolverine has an awesome healing factor, its nothing compared to Lobo's.

Daddy dearest

In this particular tale, all the (supposed) children of Lobo were gathered together under the leadership of his (supposed) daughter. This combined army makes a plan to kill poor ol' daddy. Conveniently, Lobo gets drafted into this particular army. During basic training accidents start happening, and bullets start zooming by Lobo. He, of course has no idea that the cadets are trying to kill him. Soon, due to Lobo's stellar expertise, is chosen to lead a team. It was during a war games style outing when the 'official' plan to murder Lobo was set forth.

There also happened to be an intergalactic empire that has claimed that area of space, watching the illegal occupation going on on that particular moon in their territory. (Did I mention that this moon orbited Czarnia?) The two soldiers of the empire that have discovered this are named Chipp and Dayl -the anti-rescue rangers.

I declare a thumb war

The war games were taking place on the desolate barren lands of Czarnia. The plan was for the two sides to open fire on Lobo with live ammo. And at that exact moment is when the Brutish Empire launched their assault on the planet. Chaos reigned that day and Lobo enjoyed every second.

Nice plug for Reed Richards!

With pretty much everyone dead, the two remaining standing were Lobo and his (supposed) daughter. They went knife to knife, rocket launcher to rocket launcher, gun to gun, and head to head (and thumb to thumb). In the end Lobo of course was the winner and in typical Lobo-fashion walks off into the sunset in search of his next big adventure.

Live to fight another day

In other Lobo news, back in the day I wrote a Green Lantern story featuring Lobo. Off the top of my head I don't recall if it was any good, but I think I did actually submit it DC. If I can find it perhaps I will share it here.

Throughout the series you get Li'l Lobo!

Lobo Solo Leather Boot - Brown (Google Affiliate Ad)

Fantastic Four and X-Men

2012-07-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

The year was 2005, in the early morning. There is a knock at the door. Open the door and you are face to face with the Fantastic Four.

Morning, sunshine

What would Wolverine do in situation like that. Slam the door shut of course, cuz you know, he's tired. Thus begins the typical fight before the all important team up.

I must say, I really did enjoy this 5 issue series. It was a well written story and the content was not too questionable (but to kick off the story I really don't see the F4 heading to Westchester in order to use Cerebro to scan a space shuttle for survivors, one would think that Reed could whip something together). Since Cerebro ends up being a dead end, they are need of a ship. Since they are already at the X-Mansion they can use their plane.

Oh no she didn't

Unfortunately it is only a six seater so a specific away team needs to be chosen. Since they are going into outer space, Beast suggests that since they will be in a pressurized environment, they would not want any energy emitters. He excludes Cyke, Human Torch, and Storm but does want Gambit on the team. (I'm pretty sure he's an energy projector.) For the muscle they send Thing and Wolverine, followed by Emma and Invisible Woman (along the way they have an interesting back and forth which ends with a Namor burn, if only Sue could see into the future or past depends on how you look at it). Oh yeah, and Nightcrawler.

Can they even drive?

As they investigate the shuttle they find the culprits. The dreaded ... Brood! So they fight the ones on board and find the passengers impregnated with the Brood, cuz you know, that's what they do. The moral dilemma then arises on what to do with them. Invisible Woman wants to take them back, but gets talked out of it. Oh yeah, did I mention that there is a cosmic storm on the way so they are crunched for time? Well they aren't quite quick enough and the storm hits them as they crash back to Earth.

Thing and Invisible Woman emerge from the crash unscathed. The others, not so much. Introducing the new Fantastic Four: Wolverine with the powers Mr. Fantastic, Gambit the new Human Torch, Emma Frost, as the Thing, and Nightcrawler is the new Invisible Elf. Beast deduces that the change is elemental in nature and with Reed's help they can revert them back. Which of course they will, because this is just a limited series and will have no lasting ramifications.

While the remaining F4-X-Men corral the new F4, the Brood invade Earth. Of course Wolverine is the last to be captured, because he is the coolest and is the bestest fighter in the world. Alas, eventually falls to the might of Cyclops and Thing. Now that they are captured, Beast and Mr. Fantastic can begin working on the cure (which of course won't work on the original F4 because the mutant's mutant gene has different effects on the body. Yet again Reed has failed to cure his good friend Ben). Once the X-Men are cured, Emma used cerebro to launch a mental attack on the Brood. She projects the image of Galactus and Phoenix preparing to battle. So of course that is going to scare any invading force away. The End

Quite the sight

Fear the Scarecrow

2012-06-26T22:21:00.000-05:00

A character runs full circle.

Scarecrow got his start as a contortionist name the amazing Umberto and was first introduced in Tales of Suspense with the invincible Iron Man. He helped Iron Man catch a petty thief and thought to himself, maybe he could do that full time. Instead he went on to be a criminal and tried to rob Tony Stark.

After a few B & Es he started hanging out with the Porcupine, Eel, Unicorn, and Plantman, and they managed to capture the X-Men for Count Nefaria. Then went solo again and started feuding with Captain America. Slowly his mind started to dwindle and some of his past was starting to be revealed. It was unsure what exactly was true. He even had a chauffeur...who was his brother. That was odd.

At this point he didn’t have any special powers. He was naturally flexible and used trained birds. Yes, he was quite gifted.

Things started to take a darker turn for Scarecrow when he was featured in the Captain America/Ghost Rider graphic novel. It seemed like he was being positioned to transfer into Ghost Rider’s cadre of villains, which was what happened. Now Scarecrow was starting to take a supernatural turn.

He kinda died a few times, but rebuilt and given the power to emit fear pheromones which in turn gave him strength.

He fought Ghost Rider pretty steadily and was beaten and battered pretty regularly. Even had all his bones broken and healed in crooked form, but he got better. He then showed up in Hell and hung out with Blackheart. Here his spirit returned to Earth and he started body jumping until he got control of Dan Ketch’s body. He also had control of Dan’s sister’s dead body (Barbara) as well. (It was a very traumatic time for the Ketch’s matron.) Eventually that plan was foiled when the Ghost Rider took over Barbara’s dead body and saved the day. Blackheart was a little disappointed in Scarecrow and left him to rot in the pits.

Then the next thing you know Scarecrow is back, depowered. Not sure if it was ever explained. Now that he was back doing “regular” crime you would expect him to battle Captain America, but nope, he first runs into Falcon. Close enough

More Morbius - He Found a Cure!

2012-06-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

I was going to move on to a different character/series, but I felt compelled to continue on with some Morbius chronology. Especially since after many years of being a ‘living vampire’ he finally found a cure. All it took was getting struck by lightning (during a battle with Spider-man). Although he was now in human form, he still had a thirst for human blood.

While in police custody, he was allowed to continue his research for a cure. This led to a run in with Jennifer Walters and an attempt to help her affliction (you know, turning into She-Hulk). Well that didn’t work. And in the end Ms. Walters actually agreed to defend Morbius during his trial.

Morbius was found guilty, but was not in control of his actions at the time. So he did serve some prison time and at one point Reed Richards sought out his help for the birth of his second child. (The child not make it. But don't worry the child did make a comeback many years later and that my friends is a tale for another day).

Next up Morbius becomes a vampire again due to some voodoo woman looking for vampire blood and he starts hanging out with Dr. Strange and Strange’s brother, whom Stephen accidentally turned into a vampire many years ago by improperly reciting a spell. Whoops!

After a few months of hanging out at Strange’s house, good ol Morbius takes off and is next seen in the brand new Spider-Man series by Todd McFarlane. There Morbius is living in the sewers and feeding off “bad people” that are brought down by the simple/inbred dwellers living in the underground realm. Spidey tracks them, finds Morbius, they fight, Morbius learns what the simpletons have been doing, Morbius feels regret and flies off.

In the 90’s he finally hit the big time and got his own ongoing series as part the Midnight Sons group. The group consisted of Ghost Rider, Blaze, The Nightstalkers and The Darkhold Redeemers. These misfits dealt with everything supernatural. Even though Morbius was a vampire created with science he still fit in with the group. His series lasted a miraculous 32 issues! And towards the end you could definetly see the decline in the storytelling and artwork.

Morbius #2 (1992)

30 issues later Morbius #32 (1995)

The series did reintroduced the lovable scamp Simon Stroud. This time around the 70s banter was gone and Stroud was crazy. Apparently he never worked for the CIA, or maybe he did I’m not sure. He became delusional in his quest to capture Morbius.

Martine, Morbius’ ex-fiance was also brought back into the scene. And then killed. And then brought back by Morbius using a page from the Darkhold. So of course she was then evil, but later cured of her evilness and remained undead. In a way her evilness did continue because she constantly nagged Morbius to find a cure for her undeadness. She nagged him to the point that he had to kick her out of his place so he could “move on”. She later started shacking up with Morbius’ good buddy Werewolf by Night.

Throughout this series Morbius worked on a cure and was able to temporarily cure himself during the day. Thus allowing him to get a day job at a local hospital. And since Michael Morbius was declared dead, he created the name Morgan Michaels. He also took the vow to never drink the blood of an innocent and only preyed on criminals.

One character that I really enjoyed out of the series was Vic Slaughter. He started as a crazy, ruthless, sociopathic (and rather psychopathic) mercenary hired by Stroud and became the “son of Morbius”. His team attempted to take Morbius down, but Morbius bit him, broke a bunch of bones in his body (like when Ghost Rider broke the bones of Scarecrow that one time) and buried him alive.

Snap, Crackle, Pop
Rice Krispies Treats, Original Marshmallow, 1.3oz Snack Pack, 20

Slaughter crawled his way out of the grave with life renewed. His vendetta with Morbius did make for some interesting tales. Of course like most “crazy” characters from the 90s, Slaughter fell out favor and was soon forgotten about. Much to my surprise, he had a profile included in Dark Reign: Files, so I had hopes that he would soon return. Then I finally got around to reading Wolverine: Best There Is. Lo and behold, Slaughter is back!

Troll on crack?

When Morbius’ series ended he was back to being bounced around a few other titles. He had a couple run-ins with Blade and then in a few Spider-Man tales Hydra wanted Morbius and he under went some genetic manipulation.

So closes another chapter in the world of Morbuis. When next seen he is involved with some.... zombies.....and the Punisher(?).

X-Men Origins: Wolverine For Nintendo Wii

What I'm reading: Morbius- the early years

2012-04-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

You've come along way!

90s

70s

In the early 1970s, Morbius splashed onto the scene. He was the ‘living’ vampire; made by science, not supernatural. His craving for blood tormented his soul and whenever the thirst came over him he always screamed out and brooded over his victim. “Why?!”

From his first appearance in Amazing Spider-man #101 (1971) (you know the one where Peter had 6 arms!!) Morbius grew in popularity and got his own feature in Vampire Tales. (Vampire Tales is an interesting comic. They had a couple vampire stories and in between they had essays about vampires in literature and movies.) There he traveled to San Francisco and battled hippies and satanic cults.

Next up, Morbius began some adventures into Fear. And what followed were a demon sorcerer and thousand year old aliens trying to fix Earth. In the final battle, the sorcerer is revealed to also be an alien and allies with his alien brethren in hopes of destroying Morbius (and a little girl who the aliens created). He also happens upon his fiance, Martine who was under possession by the sorcerer. The storyline was very strange, in that Morbius got transported to various ‘worlds’. One was a land of cat people who had found peace and kept breeding to the point of overpopulation. They brought in Morbius in hopes that he would start killing some of their kind. He ended up getting tossed into a river which transported him to Arcturus IV, where he met grotesque mutants (who also wanted to die) and robots. Turns out they were created by the aliens that Morbius had met. One of the mutants had a spaceship so they were able to get back to Earth. After it crashed back to Earth, Morbius ran into Blade. Since Morbius isn’t a normal vampire, crosses don’t work, so Blade needs to use his wooden stakes. Also Morbius doesn’t believe in real vampires. Go figure. Morbius gets away and needs finish his objective of destroying the aliens. Once this debacle finished up, he and Martine relocate to the east coast.

Now in Boston, life for Morbius is turning around. He has his gal, they have a house, he is being hunted by an ex-CIA agent and he continues getting thrown into other dimensions/worlds. There also seems to be a theme going on about characters who are eyeballs. The mutant who had a spaceship had an eye for a face. Then in another dimension he battled a creature with a thousand eyes. Can you guess his name? Helleyes! I kid you not.

The banter from ex-CIA agent Simon Stroud is some of the best 70’s dialog. His nickname for Morbius is “leech”. They became fast friends in their battle with Helleyes. Afterwards, they fight real vampires and Morbius is dumbstruck by this. And then his fiance gets turned into a vampire. Then cured. Then Morbius almost kills her by sucking her blood. Life is too much for him so he takes off.

For additional interesting Morbius tidbits on this time in Morbius’ life check out this blog I happened upon.
What kind of hijinks will Morbius get into throughout the 80’s? Stay tuned...

The Time Colossus Had A Threesome

2012-03-10T18:49:00.000-06:00

What happens in the Savage Land, stays in the Savage Land. While the X-Men were in the Savage Land (Uncanny X-Men #115 /Classic X-Men #21, after Magneto's Antarctica base exploded, they found themselves fighting the Petrified Man. As well as dinosaurs. In the backup story of Classic X-men, Colossus was on walkabout and found 3 female villagers. Amidst the battle with a t-rex 1 female lost her life. As part of the mourning process, the surviving females brought Colossus to the site of the battle. Turns out the dino had not yet met its demise. More fighting commenced and Colossus was finally able to transform into his steel form and best the mighty beast. The females found his fighting spirit to be a great asset to the village and wished to mate with him in hopes of creating an offspring. A great time to be Colossus!

I'm not sure if anything developed from this plotline. It would be nice to look into it.

X-Force '99 Annual

2012-02-07T10:38:00.000-06:00

Shatterstar and Rictor go to Mexico (then to Colorado, then Germany). Fabian Nicieza brings a wonderful tale featuring Shatterstar and Rictor. Nicieza has been the go-to 'X' writer for many years now. 'Star and Rictor are in Mexico taking out Richter's family business, gun smuggling. They are met by a 'mysterious' person who offers them an opportunity to make some money by battling. Around this time mutants were still everywhere. If you needed a new character or some side characters, mutants were the choice. Heck, even scientists were trying to create mutants or increase latent mutant powers. Anyway, this story also brings back Martin Strong, from X-Force Annual #2 which featured one of my favorite new mutants, X-treme (Adam-X, the true 3rd Summers brother, god I hate how they created Vulcan as the 3rd brother). So 'Star and Rictor fight some girl with prehensile arms that stretch and have spikes coming out, then her half-brother shows up to rescue her but accidentally kills her. Turns out at least 8 people were created, same mother all different fathers. Different powers, some are dead already, so the trio head to a different laboratory to find out what is going on. There they run into Martin Strong and Neurotap, who called Cannonball, Moonstar, and Warpath for backup. Once they figure out the real villain, its off to Germany. Apparently Rictor's powers allow him to fly/ride logs (interesting mode of transportation, never knew he could do that). Big battle with the 'mother' who turns out was trying to kick start her own mutant power.

Overall, a good story. Shatterstar is still trying to find himself, now that he has 2 personalities floating around in his head. That whole Benjamin Russell thing gets a little confusing, but hey it's comics.

This is my comic book collection

2012-02-02T08:58:00.001-06:00

Here I will post random selections of my vast comic book collection. I've been collecting since the late 1980s and my all-time favorite comic has been Fantastic Four. My older brother had the subscription first, while my subscriptions were from the Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics which included Heathcliff and the Get Along Gang. The oldest FF comic I have is #67, 1st full appearance of Him (aka Adam Warlock).

My collection is also comprised of some DC Comics as well, mostly Green Lantern, Lobo, and some Batman. I have some Image Comics; Savage Dragon, Shadowhawk, and some Spawn. There are a few Chaos Comics too.

Some comics may even be for sale. If interested please contact me.

Enjoy!