I unearthed my old comic boxes last week and started looking through them. I have quite a collection of Marvel Comics Presents, and I decided to look through some of the issues dealing with Wolverine and Weapon X. The cool thing about those comics is that they are actually several short stories compiled into one issue, with one continuing arc (Wolverine's), followed by several minis. Low and behold the SHOCK and SURPRISE that overwhelmed me when I opened issue #78. There was actually a story about Iron Man visiting Disneyland! It's ironic to look back at it now that Marvel is owned by Disney, but it made for such great fun that I wanted to share the entire thing with you!
I hate ants. No, I REALLY hate ants. I seen some horrors in life that revolve around ants. I remember when I was about 7 years old, and there was a kid screaming bloody-murder across the street. His mom had him stripping his clothes off while she sprayed him with a water hose. The screaming continued, followed with, "they're going up my butt!" Horrible. I've also woken up covered in ants, as a friend's little brother had left a peanut butter and jelly sandwich under my bed. Seeing them gathered in massive amounts crawling all over each other is enough to make me sick. I hate ants.
The Diabolical Duo! - a name that only Stan Lee could come up with.
When I saw the cover, MAN was I excited! This is the first 'team-up' issue that I've gotten to, and it's the two best villains so far that are teaming up! Before opening this comic, I was already jumping to figure out how this sort of alliance would take place. I GUARANTEE that if I were a reader of the FF back in the day, I would have snatched this issue without so much as taking a second breath. THIS is what comic books are all about! It's the ability to cause excitement, being able to connect to the characters, and having a frame of reference to put it in. These villains have already appeared before, and we know as readers how they fit into the grand scheme of things. This will help to flesh out a little more of the epic story that's taking place (slowly building the Marvel Universe into what it eventually would become), and really is the start of team-ups that will come to make comics great. Obviously, this is only a small taste of things to come!
While he may remind look a little of The Riddler, The Ringmaster is a HELL of a lot cooler than just another Commie villain. Also, he's surrounded by henchmen who look like they came out of the movie Freaks - pretty creepy.
Another trait that is becoming more and more apparent with each of these early character issues is that they continue to discover new powers. The cover of this issue hints at the fact that the Hulk can now fly! Instead of a lumbering land-based monster, the Hulk has now taken to the skies! It turns out that his "flying" is just jumping REALLY high because his leg muscles are so strong. This Incredible Hulk series is a mess though, and by issue 3 it's not difficult to notice that no matter what they try to do to try and make him interesting, he is nowhere near as cool as Thor and the Fantastic Four.
Another thing that I'm NOW discovering is the meaning behind a symbol that I've been so used to seeing on the front of comics in my youth, that I've never even questioned what it meant. I'm talking about this logo:
Dr. Don Blake's story is, like Bruce Banner's, is one of living a double life. Sometimes you just have to keep your true identity a secret. Bruce Banner HAS to hide because he turns into a monster at night. If he didn't keep his identity a secret, he would be hunted down during the day when he transforms back into your average Joe (this situation becomes a plot element in future Hulk stories once people start figuring out who he is). As for Donald Blake, I can understand why someone would go to great lengths to keep his power a secret. My only gripe is with the scenario depicted on the cover. If I were to find myself in a life or death situation, surely at first I might try and think of a way to escape WITHOUT making my secret known. However, in the worst case scenario where all hope is lost, a man has to do whatever it takes to live another day and continue to save the world. Right? So my problem with the predicament on the cover is that Donald Blake is shown saying, "It's hopeless! Even Thor can't save me know!" All he has to do is tap his cane on the ground!
The first thing I saw was Doctor Doom on the cover, and I was ready to go! Dr. Doom has always been the epitome of "the Marvel Villain" to me, alongside Magneto and Thanos, so I was very excited going into this issue. The cover was probably a little misleading to people originally, as it seems to make Doom appear to be a giant behind a plate of glass. Contrary to this, he's actually just your typical human height - and I bet people were a little disappointed once they found out further into the comic. To make matters worse, the first page features a towering Dr. Doom with miniature statues of the Fantastic Four, which makes him look like some sort of puppet master or something.
Here we have the very first introduction of Thor, God of Thunder. "THE MOST EXCITING SUPER-HERO OF ALL TIME!!" graces the cover, so we already have some pretty high expectations - thanks again Stan Lee!!!!! The cover is actually my favorite so far, and slowly, the art direction is continuing to become more and more dynamic.
Question: Is he man or monster or...is he both? Answer: HE'S BOTH! OH MY GOD!
This is yet another one of those origin comics that I'm familiar with, but have never read. I've always been able to picture the cover art, with the giant gray Hulk looming over Bruce Banner. I figured that it was just the cover though, and was shocked to see that the Hulk was still gray on the inside. I quickly thought back:
I have some comics from the 80's where the Hulk is gray...but I know that I've seen comics in the 60's where he's green, so what's the deal? After reading about it further, it turns out that there were printing problems, and I was happy to see the Hulk turn his normal green color in the second issue. As for the later gray Hulk - that will be intention, but I have yet to discover what the Hulk differences are (I know there are several versions, even including a really dumb Hulk, and a really smart one).
The interesting thing is the saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover." The first two covers gave you a good idea of what you'd expect (the conflict, the villains, a dramatic situation), this one, not so much. Instead they use the cover as a means to focus on their new costumes, the Fantasti-car, and secret hide-out. When I first saw the cover, I was a little taken back, but I pushed forward.
I've always thought of them as one of the more popular Marvel Universe villains, but had no idea that they entered in so early on. When I think of Skrulls, I always picture the Super Skrulls (for whatever reason), so seeing them here was a little difficult for me to wrap my head around. They just looked so different in their early iteration, with more frog-like features. To be honest though, they really reminded me of some weird aliens out of The Outer Limits or something. I was a little disappointed by them, and this story felt more sci-fi fantasy than superhero. As I'm reading these, I'm noticing more and more that, yeah, it IS more like sci-fi fantasy. There's something that feels reminiscent to Flash Gordon serials with the Fantastic Four - though, as I said previously, the characters are more fleshed out.
THIS is THE comic book that started it all for Marvel. It wasn't their first comic (that was actually 22 years before! - Marvel Comics #1), and they weren't even the first Marvel Superheroes (Captain America Comics #1 in 1941). This comic, however, brought realism into the fold of comics - and was one of the first that featured more true-to-life dynamics and storylines.
For example, most comics in those days featured archetypal cardboard cutout heroes. They would save the day, and that was pretty much it. The Fantastic Four was a group of unlucky people who were transformed beyond their control. While three of them were happy to use their powers to help others, the fourth member (The Thing), saw his "blessing" as a curse. He was depressed, bitter, and unappreciative towards the other members of the group. Simply, it made for a great dynamic!
I've grown up reading comics, so I've always known the synopsis for this first issue. I also remember the cover quite fondly - though I had never gotten a chance to peek inside until now. I was surprised by the overall feel of the story. It definitely feels like another era - with callbacks to the Red Scare, the Arms Race, and the overall early Cold War era mindset.
One particularly interesting thing about this story is that it's set up to almost make them seem like villains at the beginning. Mr. Fantastic is a man holding a flare-gun in the shadows, and The Thing is running amok on the streets. Near the end of the first chapter we finally get to see a flashback that describes the events leading up to their biological changes.
The main antagonist of this story is The Moleman - whom I've never found frightening (until now). He commands a horde of strange cave-dwelling monsters that live on a secluded island, and it reminded me of something out of King Kong. I found his origin story to be pretty sad, akin to The Penguin from Batman. He was too ugly for the world around him, so after being shunned by society, he left in order to find a new world in which he could be King (a legendary land in the center of the Earth). He eventually found the cave that lead to the supposed center of the earth, and was so excited that he screamed for joy. The scream caused a cave-in, and he was left blinded by it.
At the end of the story we find out that The Moleman gets away (darn!). Overall, it was a great introduction into the world of Marvel, and it left me wanting more!
I'm very excited to say that I've made significant progress this month - as far as reading and movie watching is concerned. I was able to breeze through quite a bit of Star Wars literature in the past 30 or so days, so let's break it down:
The year was 2007. I was a stock guy working at a retail clothing store, and was pretty lonely during my work days. Music, while I LOVE it, tends to get old after a while, and I needed to feel as though I were listening to friends. I got heavy into listening to podcasts, and immediately found podcasts that tied in with my interests. Disneyland, comedy, and hrm..."what else do I like. Well, I USED to like Star Wars a lot...." I searched for Star Wars and went with the most legit looking podcast on iTunes. It was called "The ForceCast". It's a podcast hosted by theforce.net - which has always been the single source for any Star Wars news whenever I needed it.
(drawn by Dave Filoni, Director of The Clone Wars, and friend to the ForceCast)
I tuned in and found myself pleasantly surprised to hear what I heard. People making fun of Star Wars, but only in the way that fans could. There were obscure references being made - and while pop culture finds ways to place Star Wars jokes, it's never subtle and is usually ALWAYS accessible to the non-Star Wars die hards. Needless to say, I loved it. Pretty soon they announced that George Lucas was going to be bringing an animated show to tv called The Clone Wars. I was a little confused at first. Didn't they already do a short run of cartoons called The Clone Wars? Those ran in the days leading up to Revenge of the Sith and were brilliantly over-the-top hand drawn animated shorts, and they were EPIC.
(Nothing witty to say. This show was awesome)
While I really enjoyed those, I was a little disappointed to hear that the new Clone Wars show was going to be a 3D animated show. I've always loved the hand drawn animation more...but maybe it won't be so bad?
THEN they released what was probably inevitable - news of a Star Wars animated feature film hitting theaters around the world. "Ok Michael...don't panic," I thought. I knew it was technically going to be the lead in to the animated series, and would pretty much be the first 3 episodes. I did something that I never thought I would do though, and chose to not see it during it's debut. I also didn't see it in theaters a week later, or even two weeks after that. Reviews were horrible, and I lowered my head in shame. I felt as though Mr. Lucas was milking the series, and continuing to shift me as far away from it as possible. I heard the ForceCast's positive reviews, but stayed away.
(Why?)
I agreed with many fans on a series of points. Why does Anakin have a padawan? Why does the trailer show a burping little baby Hutt? Why does the animation not look "theater worthy"? And what's all this talk about a gay Hutt who speaks in English? I decided to see The Clone Wars about a month after it's theatrical release, and if I can recall correctly, my girlfriend and I were the ONLY two people in the theater. The movie began and I was surprised. "A long time ago..." was replaced with a quote, and gone was the opening crawl, instead replaced with a scrolling "Clone Wars" logo. Despite this, the intial Lucasfilm logo brought back fond memories and goosebumps, so the surprise was less jarring than it could have been.
The story was different from what I had expected, but it did have it's moments. To quickly sum it up, I was a little blown away. I wasn't too fond of Anakin's apprentice, but everything else seemed to feel, in a way, more Star Wars than the prequels. WHAT? Maybe I was wrong, but by the end of it I was very hyped for the tv show. The only difference between the Clone Wars film and any Star Wars film is that to this day I still have not had a repeat viewing of it. Maybe someday when the series wraps up?
Skipping ahead a little, I started watching the original Star Trek - as the build for the new movie in 2009 grew closer. I'll someday delve into my feelings about Star Trek, but I never really liked it. Once the movie came out, I said, "THIS was better than the Star Wars prequels!." In fact, it was just that it felt more like Star Wars than those did, but didn't feel like Trek - so I felt like the movie was a sell-out to the Trek franchise. I continued on and watched every Trek episode of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Eventually, I tired out midway through Voyager, which I've heard many others have as well. I was realizing that maybe I was wrong all along. Maybe Star Trek WAS the better of the two franchises?
(Oh...now I see why it was so successful)
Throughout this time, I had seen half of the first season of the Clone Wars, but stopped so that I could watch Star Trek. The Clone Wars had begun very well, but then turned into a very formulaic show where nobody really seemed in danger. There also weren't characters that really grabbed me. This all changed at the E3 show of 2009 in which they announced Mandalorians, showed a picture of an animated Bossk, mentioned Boba Fett, and introduced a rad bounty hunter named Cad Bane. I believed that this might finally be what the show was missing, and decided to play catch up on all of the shows I had missed.
("If this guy is as cool as he looks, then George is back on the right track." -Michael)
The characters were cool as hell, but the show still didn't deliver in the way that I had hoped - that is, not until half way through season 2. It was then that I said to my girlfriend that I HAVE to watch this show every week, and since then I haven't missed an episode. The show continued, and I kept watching. It was fun, though not enough to bring me back to fandom. Season 3 was a chore to get through though. It was plagued by many non-interesting episodes dealing with Padme and politics. Not really my favorite aspect of the Star Wars universe.
Then the day hit. It was the day of George Lucas's interview at the Star Wars Celebration convention in 2010. George took to the stage, interviewed by Jon Stewart. Part way through, George did something he really wasn't known to do...he dropped a few secrets for the fans. He announced that Darth Maul had a brother who would appear in the Clone Wars. WHAT?
But even bigger than that, was the biggest thing to hit Star Wars in the last several years (in my opinion it was the biggest thing since Revenge of the Sith). George Lucas announced that Star Wars would be hitting BluRay. He ALSO revealed the following clip - a clip of Luke Skywalker assembling his lightsaber at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
(When I first watched this, I said, "OH MY GOD!", got up and jumped around. Then I sat back down and continued to rewatch it for the next 2 hours.)
It was a clip that no fan had ever seen, and got us excited for other things that might be in store for us. Wait, I said "us"? Am I back in?
It's the term for the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which encompasses everything OFFICIALLY approved by Lucasfilm, but outside of the movies (or at least, everything George Lucas hasn't had a hand in). It gets very confusing, as there are different levels of the EU (T, C, S, and N). I won't go into it, but if you're interested, here's a page that details how confusing it REALLY is: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon - don't say I didn't warn you.
What I wanted to talk about in this post however, is the fact that Star Wars EU is actually really good - for the most part. There are some stories that came out in the 80's, as well as between movies that didn't fit into the continuity of the storyline. Marvel comics run of Star Wars ALWAYS kept Luke in his Tatooine clothes, and Leia with her hair buns in-between the first two movies no matter what mission they went on.
(Oh Luke, why is your saber red???)
There was even a story where Luke's father comes to him as a spirit and warns Luke about Darth - which obviously took place before the idea of Darth Vader being Luke's father was even brought to screen. Two ewok movies also came out in the mid 80's, and the ewoks could speak English. WHAT?
(and everyone says Jar Jar was a low point?)
And don't speak of the horrors known as the Star Wars Holiday Special, which has become infamously known as the cheesiest moment of Star Wars history.
(I was going to post the YouTube links of the actual video...but trust me, you don't want to see this.)
Things changed. There was a dry spell for a while, and Star Wars took a break. An RPG by West End Games came out, and they began releasing great story material that began expanding the Star Wars universe. THIS time, however, the movies were all made, so they could finally have free reign to play around. Again, this was approved by Lucasfilm, and 99% of these writers were fans. Call it "approved" fan fiction, but the writers agreed to form a cohesive world where events would tie together. There would be a timeline, and events in one story would GREATLY affect the next. This is what eventually brought Star Wars back to life.
There are many people who still have not delved into the EU, but are fans of the movies. Well friends, you're missing out. I know it's strange to fathom, but there are characters within the EU that are just as cool and iconic (if not MORE so) than the characters in the film. I just want to scratch the surface and point a few of them out.
Mara Jade
Known as "The Emporer's Hand", Mara was an apprentice of sorts who worked strictly for Emperor Palpatine. While she basically held the same rank as Darth Vader in the Emporer's eyes, her job was more of being an assassin, and less tied to Imperial ranks. Her story kicked into gear when Palpatine sent her to track down and assassinate Luke Skywalker following the events in The Empire Strikes Back. She tracked Luke to Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, where she was disguised as a dancing girl. Her plan was foiled, and when the Emperor died, so ended a telepathic link with Palpatine. She was left with the his last thought continually haunting her. "YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER." Mara made it her life mission to track Luke down, and kill the man that destroyed both her Master and her life.
Quinlan Vos
He's a bad-ass Jedi who constantly rides a fine line between the Dark Side and the Light Side. His story begins when he wakes up with amnesia only to find that he's being hunted by bounty hunters. Quinlan has forgotten his training and who he was, as well as his Jedi teachings. Once he regains some of his memories, the Jedi Council sends him deep into the enemy camp as a double agent. They believe that while he does have a darkness within him, he has done well to fight it, and can work for the enemy without ever being swayed. Things go sour, and he soon has to do things he doesn't want to do in order to maintain his cover - such as become an assassin, and even fight the people he once protected. These things challenge his teachings, and may challenge the mission itself. The question always is, has Quinlan Vos fallen to the Dark Side?
Grand Admiral Thrawn
My FAVORITE Star Wars character of all time. The first screenname/email address I ever had back in the mid 90's was Grand_Admiral_ThrawnMan. Thrawn is the highest ranking alien to ever take seat within the Empire, as the Emporer made an exception due to his cunning and brilliant tactical approach to warfare. Thrawn is perhaps the most skilled naval adversary to ever go up against the classic characters, and he does it with style. He compares war to art, analysing every possible solution, sometimes taking his time to reach a solution in order to make the decisive choice to win. He first appears in Heir to the Empire, and is the main villain of that trilogy. Grand Admiral Thrawn proved to readers that while Darth Vader and the Emporer may be dead, there was still Imperial life left around the galaxy, with many ships left scattered and vying for control of a New Empire.
A'Sharad Hett
A'Sharad was the son of a defected Jedi who hid amongst the Sand People on Tatooine. He was not full Tusken blood, but grew up following both the Tusken and Jedi customs, as was passed down to him. Jedi Knight Ki Adi Mundi found A'Sharad and took him as a Padawan during events that occured prior to The Phantom Menace. Throughout the Clone Wars, A'Sharad fought for the Republic in countless battles. One interesting story arc followed him and Anakin Skywalker as they worked alone to survive. Anakin's hate for the Tuskens who murdered his mother gets in the way of any meaningful relationship with A'Sharad, and at one point Anakin almost turns on him. It is then that A'Sharad becomes the sole Jedi to know about Anakin having slaughtered a tribe of Sand People, and tells Anakin that it will remain a secret. From then on, A'Sharad removes his mask and declares himself a Jedi and no longer Tusken. A'Sharad survives the slaughter of the Jedi, and lives over a hundred years into the future. It is then that he becomes a Sith Lord names Darth Krayt, and that's where things get even MORE interesting.
--
Well, there you have it. Those are just a few characters, but mainly the first few that jumped to my mind when thinking of great non-film related Star Wars characters. There are MANY more though.
At the beginning of February I decided to start reading Star Wars books again. Anyone who knows me knows that I was HEAVY into this back between the Summer of 1996 and the Summer of 2001. I continued a little bit into 2005, but pretty much ended that once Revenge of the Sith came out. Also, in the early 2000's, they began releasing a HUGE story arc called "The New Jedi Order".
From Wookiepeedia: "The New Jedi Order is a multi-author book series that was published by Del Rey between 1999 and 2003, consisting of nineteen novels, two eBook novellas, and three short stories." Let me also note that the story takes place about 25 years after Star Wars episode IV - so the characters are now starting to really show their age.
I've bolded a little bit of that for you to understand why I dropped Star Wars. First, I was in high school, and there was little time enough already, but I managed alright I suppose. I actually made it up to...Book 5 (I had to check that), though I bought Book 6 - never read it. Also, I bought these as soon as they hit the shelves. Book 1 was released in October of 1999, and Book 5 in October of 2000. While that WAS a year to read 5 books, that was a lot of material to be pushing out. That averages to a new book about every 2 1/2 months - not to mention that I didn't read the additional 14 books that came out, the novellas or the short stories. ALSO there were 4 scheduled books that ended up as cancelled projects.
(pulled this picture off of someone's flickr. looks like someone else stopped at the same spot I did.)
Again, I was in high school, mowing lawns and doing menial work around the neighborhood like shoveling dirt, pulling weeds, and watering plants while people were away on vacation. I had a girlfriend and interest in continually shelling out for a series which I knew would be an investment started to not make much sense to me anymore. Book 1 and 6 were both hardcovers (roughly about $28 or so each), and the paperbacks were probably about $14 with tax, so I probably already spent a little over $100. I'm not going to add up how much the entire series would have pushed me back at the time.
Another point to mention was the consistancy. The novels I read were VERY good - don't get me wrong. They were interesting and well written. This was the first time though that such a large story arc was to be undertaken by several writers. Up to this point, I had read all of the "Tales of" books, which features character short stories by various authors. I also owned a lot of the Star Wars RPG books, which featured more short stories by known and unknown authors familiar with the Star Wars universe. This series though, soon became very laborous, as I bounced back and forth between different authors through one continuing storyline. I loved R.A. Salvatore's writing in "Vector Prime", and Michael Stackpole is perhaps my second favorite Star Wars author. They were followed by James Luceno, who was a newcomer to Star Wars. While his books were well written, he had to capture the spirit of many UNUSUAL Star Wars elements.
First off, CHEWBACCA WAS KILLED OFF IN BOOK 1! Yes, you read that correctly. So instead of the snarky Han Solo we know and love, he is depressed and a complete asshole. Meanwhile, an alien species enters the galaxy and uses organic creatures as weaponry - not really Star Wars-esque. While you'd think this might make it easier for a non-Star Wars writer to capture the Star Wars spirit, think again. It's with James Luceno's two books that my interests began to falter.
Then I bought Balance Point in 2001 and realized who the author was. It was Kathy Tyers. This felt like it would be familiar territory with her, as she already wrote about a new conquering alien species back in Truce at Bakura. At the same time, however, the prequel Star Wars films were FAST approaching. I HAD to renew my subscription to Star Wars Insider magazine, and HAD to get the toys based on the new movies. If there was a Vanity Fair magazine with George Lucas on the cover? Have to have that!
I think I decided not to read Balance Point because I know that it was my own balance point. It was the point in which I had to decide if I was going to continue on with this series, or wait someday and perhaps decide to read it then. Maybe I had overloaded myself with novel after novel (I think I read about 50 Star Wars books up until that point), and the future of Star Wars was looking grim. If Chewbacca died, what ELSE was in store for my friends from a galaxy far, far away?
("Is this REALLY going to be worth my time and money?" - Michael, 2001)
Well, I set the books down for a while.
Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005, and I said, "well, it's over now, isn't it?"
A few years after that, I continued to look back at those movies with a sadness (as do many) of how the prequels didn't turn out how I wanted them. The original trilogy continued on as the ONLY Star Wars movies that I accepted, and that was pretty much it.
(In the next installment, I will skip ahead to how I fell back in love with Star Wars, so stay tuned!)
Just a simple - no hassle blog for me. I've posted "notes" on Facebook, but that's dull. I'd rather post those things somewhere else, so this will be sitting here for me to write some random things - which I will delve into in my next post.
