DC Rebirth was huge. Nearly five years after The New 52 started, the company announced they were changing course. The reboot was successful in gathering immediate sales and eyes, but neglected their longtime fans. DC understood that people wanted to read the characters they fell in love with, and The New 52 had maybe not done the best job at getting its readers to fall in love with most of the universe. At the center of this conflict was Superman. [Read more…] about Superman by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason Omnibus Review!
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Swamp Monsters & the Counterculture in the Man-Thing Omnibus
You might know Man-Thing as “basically another Swamp Thing,” and that is fair—to say there’s a resemblance between the two is to say that water is wet. Yet while there is significant crossover in origin and concept, each character tends towards different kinds of stories, and so have remained unique enough that their similarities matter less. Though Swamp Thing has far overshadowed Man-Thing for most comic readers, Man-Thing has his own epic, career-defining run with writer Steve Gerber.
Man-Thing Omnibus collects Man-Thing’s first appearances as well as most of Steve Gerber’s classic run on everyone’s second (or third) favorite fictional marsh creature. Though this story begins in familiar territory, it transforms in no time to include Satanists, alternate dimensions, weird sword-and-sorcery characters out of nowhere, and, of course, one highly cantankerous cigar-smoking duck named Howard. Buckle up! [Read more…] about Swamp Monsters & the Counterculture in the Man-Thing Omnibus
The Mandarin Reading Order!
Throughout his history, the Mandarin has risen to become not only Iron Man’s true nemesis but a force to be reckoned with across the Marvel universe. He’s been a criminal mastermind, an evil businessman, a powerful martial artist… many talents that have all been, at many points in time, focused solely on destroying the Armored Avenger. So much so that, decades after his creation by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck in 1964, he was retconned into having played a part in Tony Stark’s origin story, tying the two enemies together for good.
The Mandarin is especially known for his superpowered rings (giving their name to the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in which the Mandarin will be the main antagonist), each one granting a different power from freezing rays to mind control or electricity. He obtained the Ten Rings from a crashed ship belonging to an alien dragon species. Through various retcons and flashbacks, a lot more has been revealed about the rings throughout the years (from their ability to link with the Mandarin’s mind to the possibility that they might hold ancient souls). With the rings and the advanced science he stole from the alien ship, the Mandarin plots to conquer China and the entire world, which has put him at war with the Chinese army, Iron Man, other Marvel heroes, and even villains. [Read more…] about The Mandarin Reading Order!
The Hickman X-Men (Re)Read: House of X #5, Pt.3 – The Villains
[Panel 1, left to right: Wildside, Random, Sinister, Lady Mastermind, Mesmero, Mentallo, Animax;
Panel 2: Shaw, Selene, Emplate, Exodus, Gorgon, Callisto]
V. Villains’ Amnesty; Magneto’s Epigraph (pgs 24-29)
Including Apocalypse and Sinister, 22 villainous or adversarial mutants step through the gates. Below, are 18* brief descriptions of those we haven’t yet covered in this series. Speculation on expectations for each following HOX/POX won’t include spoilers. In sum, what we’ll find is all the varieties of inter-mutant strife the X-Men have dealt with over the years. And we’ll likely never see this particular collection of mutants together on the same page again! Pages 25 and 27 are unique snapshot moments in time.
Related:
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IRON MAN by Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca: Resilience and Reinvention
To many, Superheroes are a monolithic force for good: infallible, incorruptible, and invincible. But what happens when these heroes fail? And what does it take for them to recover, and rebuild? In 2008, writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca began a 4-year tenure on The Invincible Iron Man
Unfortunately, Fraction’s run is often overshadowed by the characterization shown in Marvel Studios’ Iron Man and the subsequent entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in spite of this, Fraction’s run has endured over the years on the strength of its deep, critical look at the character of Tony Stark, his numerous flaws, and his desire to move beyond them in the pursuit of a brighter future. Digging deep into Stark’s strengths, weaknesses, and insatiable curiosity, Matt Fraction’s run brings an entirely new outlook to the character, and superheroes at large: In the end, the best heroes aren’t invincible; they’re resilient.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
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