The One Where Everything Ends: Marvel's Secret Wars

The latest episode of the The Syan & Rican Podcast is out!

"This Doombot is beautiful. I must have his face."
- God King All-Father Doom

Episode 22 - The One Where Everything Ends

Comic Critique: Gotham Academy

Gotham Academy is DC Comic’s most risky book. Its main characters are two teenage high school girls with no powers. Its setting is in an aging private school.  However, this turns out to be its greatest strength.  Gotham Academy feels different from any other comic DC Comics, or any other major publisher, is putting out.  Where Gotham Central years ago gave us a view of how the average police officer sees life in a Gotham City in the shadow of Batman, Gotham Academy shows us how various children live in Gotham.  There is the fangirl who is amazed at the chance to see Batman, there is the prankster who wants to get away from a dangerous situation as quickly as possible, and there is the angsty teen who hates living under the constant light of the Bat Signal.  

Hope you survive the experience.

The popular Harry Potter series had magical school of Hogwarts which trained young witches and wizards so that they could have the skills necessary to survive in the world of magic.  Gotham Academy is the Hogwarts of Gotham City, but instead of learning spells, you learn how to survive the scary streets of Gotham.  Classes are held on the history of Gotham and the mysteries of the Cobblepot family.   The professors at the academy all appear to be much more than your average instructor.  Almost all of them carry a name that is an homage to a classic minor hero.   The librarian Mr. Scarlett could be a wink towards Golden Age Fawcett Comics (the company that published the original Captain Marvel, now known as Shazam, books) hero Mr. Scarlet who was a human crimefighter who used gadgets like Batman.  The drama teacher Mr. Trent is almost certainly a reference to Simon Trent, the Batman: TAS Gray Ghost (voiced terrifically by Adam West), and even makes a reference that he has experience playing a “ghost.”  Who better to teach the youths of Gotham than those who have fought to protect it?

Comic Critique- Angela: Asgard's Assassin

Sent from Heven above, Angela has had a long journey to getting her own series at Marvel Comics.  She was created at an entirely different company by Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane in the pages of Spawn.  Her character was used sporadically in various issues of Spawn throughout the 90s, but then began one of the most hotly contested legal battles in comic book history to decide who owned the rights to the angel Angela.  Eventually, Neil Gaiman won and promptly sold those rights to Marvel Comics. 

Cool cats never look back at the explosion

Angela made her first appearance at the end of the major event Age of Ultron (no relation to the plot of the movie except having the eponymous android as the main villain) in 2013 as the Marvel Universe began to show its first signs of collapsing. Time travel and universal abuse had fractured reality, changing people’s history, sending Galactus to the Ultimate Universe, and opening the gate to the new-found Tenth Realm of the World Tree, which allowed for Angela to enter the 616.  In the following year, during the Original Sin event, the eye of Uatu the Watcher revealed a secret to Thor Odinson: he had a sister.  This sister had been taken and thought to be murdered by the Angels of Heven who attacked Asgard because they felt Odin owed them a debt, and Angels do nothing for free.  In his rage, Odin and Freyja severed Heven from the World Tree and sealed them away, to forever be forgotten. 

Comic Critique: Thor, The Goddess of Thunder

Marvel Comics have done much to bring a more balanced view of the world in the last several years.  We have had Carol Danvers step up to the mantle of Captain Marvel, becoming the preeminent female superhero of the Marvel Universe. We have had newcomer fangirl Kamala Khan take up her idol’s mantle in kind by becoming the new Ms. Marvel.  Spider-Man spinoff characters Silk and Spider-Gwen have sprang to life, with the latter actually outselling Spider-Man himself multiple times.  Storm, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Black Widow, Squirrel Girl, and others have gotten their own ongoing series.  No longer relegated to limited series or team member status, women are finally getting a spotlight in the center of the Marvel Universe.

She may seem all fun and games, but don't tickle Thor.
Seriously. Don't tickle Thor.

Floating high in space (and sometimes grounded down in the middle of Oklahoma), the shining citadel of Asgard has always represented the pinnacle of power in Marvel.  The Mighty Thor was the hero who seemed to be simply entertained by joining with his friends and their mortal adventures. After all, he is a god and they are just men.  The world of Thor is one of the few in Marvel Comics that allows for a more “pure” fantasy experience.  Where the others are often in New York and occasionally travel to other parts of the world, with the rare few exploring new worlds across the cosmos, Thor with a swing of his hammer and a call out for the Bifrost can be in a lush green forest filled with elves, or an icy mountainous landscape where he must face the Frost Giants, or a dark murky bog with all sorts of mythical beasts.  Thor’s writers are never as constrained by any of the rules that hold back other heroes.  In fact, to me, Thor’s best stories are when he’s just doing his thing in any of the Nine Realms EXCEPT Midgard (Earth to us Muggles… wait, I mean humans). With Mjolnir at his side, he was the only hero who was worthy of this power.

Comic Critique: Marvel's The Black Vortex Event

The Black Vortex, the last comic event before Secret Wars changes the game (RIP Marvel 616 Universe 1961-2015), is a crossover primarily between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the All-New X-Men in which they come across an ancient artifact of unimaginable power.  A mirror to the most powerful, yet potentially darkest, reflection of whoever looks into it and submits to its power, the Black Vortex is released upon the cosmos after being hidden away for millennia.

Like a cool version of the Mirror of Erised

The series begins with an ancient planet 12 billion years in the past, where the inhabitants worship a Celestial who they call the Godhead. One of these worshippers is a woman named Gara who calls out to the Godhead to look upon them and allow her to explore the cosmos. Soon after this, the Celestial leaves the planet and the Black Vortex mirror is all that remains. Gara submits to the power of the Vortex and turmoil erupts across her planet as we see she is the sole survivor of her species. In the present, Mr. Knife, a villain who has been harassing Star-Lord in his regular series, has found the Black Vortex and presents it to Thane, the son of Thanos who debuted in 2013’s Infinity event.  All of Knife’s subordinates, the Slaughter Squad, have used the power of the Vortex and become a major threat.  Kitty Pride and her boyfriend Star-Lord see that they cannot let the already powerful Thane use this artifact and steal it and flee from the pursuing enemies.

Comic Critique: American Born Chinese

 American Born Chinese is a graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang that concerns the impact of life in America from the eyes of a young child of Chinese descent, while presenting a dramatic, lighthearted retelling of the famous Monkey King from the classic myth, Journey to the West.  

The main character hides away his inner self and puts up a charade
so that he may fit in better. But deep inside, Danny was always Jin.

The characterization carries a certain impact in the form of the protagonist, Jin Wang.  Jin is a young boy, who was born in San Francisco, yet is ostracized by the other children at school due to his Asian heritage.  The torment he receives makes him feel different and less than the other kids, so he begins to try and change himself and ignore his family history.  

The Fastest Man Alive: The Flash Season One Review

"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive. When I was a child, I saw my mother killed by something impossible. My father went to prison for her murder. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world, I'm just an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me, and one day I'll find who killed my mother and get justice for my father. I am the Flash."

 

Faster than his MCU counterpart, not to mention still alive.

  To say that the DC Comics "Movie Universe" is a fragmented mess is an understatement of metahuman proportions. Between the Nolan "Batman" films and Snyder's Superman catastrophe "Man of Steel," it seems like DC cannot get the engine running to jump start their cinematic universe properly, the same way Marvel has for almost a decade. By DC's own design, they have stated they do not want to copy the competition and would rather do their own thing. Which is valiant and all, but has left a hole of cohesive continuity in their films that Marvel has excelled at. And then came Arrow. Known as the best (superhero) show on TV in some circles, Arrow started the DC TV Universe the same way Marvel and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. attempted to capitalize with the medium for storytelling.

Rican's Free 2 Play Friday: Marvel Heroes 2015

Rican's Free 2 Play Friday, a weekly look into free-to-play gaming such as MOBAs, MMOs, Team Shooters, and more! This week we look at Marvel's foray into the MMO/Action RPG space in their recently revamped Marvel Heroes 2015.   

  On Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Gazillion Entertainment, founded by Diablo and Diablo II designer Dave Kosak, announced a 10-year partnership with Marvel to release an action/RPG MMO. The game was to have the same feel of the Diablo franchise, with the Marvel Universe as its backdrop, and the social components of an MMO including: hubs, an in game economy, and perpetually updated endgame content. The result of this was Marvel Heroes, which was released on PC (and a Mac Beta is now available) June 4, 2013, after a long gestating closed beta and later open beta.

Oh, so much promise wrapped up in such a shite game!

It Doesn't Matter What Your Name Is: Arrow Season 3 Finale "My Name Is Oliver Queen"

If you have listened to our podcast or spoken to me in person, you might know two things about me. One is that I love pro wrestling. The other? That I think Arrow is the #BestShowOnTV

Seriously, this show embodies the best of comics and the best of action spy movies. It’s in your face and keeps at a hectic pace, despite the fact that it mostly involves an entire season of a major villain playing a cerebral chess match and planning out everything meticulously to best foil our heroes’ efforts. This in my opinion is the piece which allows Arrow to keep my favor over the far more flashy adventures of its sister show, The Flash.

The Flash is amazing. Don’t get me wrong. If I were to pick a number two, I’d be hard-pressed to say there’s a show more deserving than Grant Gustin’s high-octane exploits.  But even though the whole season of The Flash has led to Barry Allen’s showdown with Eobard Thawne, it also spent a large portion of time dealing in the “bad guy of the week” business. Which, hey, is a pretty cool racket to be in! It just doesn’t have the aim and focus of Arrow.

Myself, I just love the tactical feel of Arrow. Every person has their place and is critical. Oliver does not get far against the likes of Deathstroke or Merlyn without Felicity on tech support, without Diggle as his lookout and back-up, or without Roy assisting him as Arsenal.  Fans talk about Team Arrow because they adore the dynamic composition and how each member complements one another.

The city needs saving, but first we gotta take our nap.
Can't fight evil if you're tired!