Some Sentinels are nice!

The Face of Modern Homophobia

Shame on Jerry Smith of Erlanger Kentucky.
Avengers Academy needs more readers, but not readers like this.

According to my Facebook. Avengers Academy has found its replacement readers.

Avengers Alien Mystery Solved? (Photo Comparison)

Very recently photos of an Avengers board game have come online, they feature the movie Avengers up against what look very much like Skrulls. Now the game pieces themselves look kind of cheap and are unpainted, or are simply all the same color. Few people doubt these are skrulls, but what is in doubt is the identity of the villains in the film. A few short freeze frames is all we have of the film's mysterious villains, and honestly at first look they don't look to much like the game pieces.

But that is at first look. At second look it becomes clear that the feet are identical, the armor is identical or very very similar, they have ears that might be skrull ears (The freeze frames are so blurry they could be antenna.) and they seem to be wearing similar head gear that comes down to a point over their fore head.

Here is a photo of some of the points on the aliens that look similar.

As you can see the feet and the armored skirt-thing look dead on, I have highlighted those areas to make the shapes easier to see. The chest piece looks off, but I think we are seeing shadows and blur that seem to be hiding the true shape, if you look closely it appears to be layered just like on the toy, with the top most piece extending further in the middle, with indents on either side of it.

The circular headband bit also appears on some of the toys though it is difficult to see in this photo and may or may not be the same part. The last similarity seems to be flat circular second on the forearm. These are at two different angles, but it sure does look like it might be the same piece.

The photos of the board game show two different Skrulls, This is the bulkier "Skrull Commander" (Unofficial name) the others are less bulky and don't have the shoulder and back armor, however they are also holding a gun in front of their check which obscures most of the details.

I think after examining these photos the aliens at Loki's beck and call really are the same as the board game, a kind of Skrull. Now will they will be called by that name or an other ? That remains to be seen.

YOU SHALL RUE THE DAY YOU CROSSED..... SCREWBALL!

The Ronin here,

After all of the reboots and reviews and the like it's time to look back at another wacky villain. This one is pretty recent and comes to us from the "Brand New Day"* era Spider-Man comics. This villain is so mind numbingly, painfully bizarre she had to end up here. Honestly I don't know what to make of this villain. (But she is probably not based on a mass murderer so that is a bonus) It is Ms. Web 2.0 her self, Screwball.

So who is Screwball? That is a damn good question. Screwball appears to be a young woman in her 20s, physically fit and skilled in the sport of 'Parkour'. (and yes, there was a bad pun based around the fact it sounds like Parker) A kind of urban gymnastics, involving running, scaling obstacles quickly, performing tricks etc. It is impressive stuff for sure in the real world... In a world populated with super heroes? less so.

DC Comics Relaunch revisited

The Ronin here,

The DC relaunch is here and its so far been mildly successful, in that the reviews have been more positive then negative and sales for September were good. So back in July I looked over some of the new DC books and wrote a short blog post about what books I was likely going to pick up. With one exception I have picked up all of those books. So did they live up to expectations? Let's see.

1) Action Comics

Action Comics is good, but controversial. There are basically two opinions of Action Comics. "Holy shit this is good!" and "This guy isn't MY Superman!" I am definitely in the first camp. Not only is it fun and actually action filled but Morrison does a good job making it accessible and easy to follow. Superman is new, young and willing to kick as some ass if it means standing up for the poor and disenfranchised.

I think Action Comics succeeds for the same reason the original Action Comics succeeded, by having Superman fight for the everyman, in a time period when the everyman has very little, and no one standing up for them.

Action Comics is good and is on the 'pull list'. With the second issue out I do not see that changing any time soon. I can not encourage people to try it more. After issue 6 it is supposedly jumping forward to 'modern time', I don't know how well the formula will hold out but so far its great. The Art is also brilliant (if not a little inconsistent, sometimes Supes looks 17, other times 38) and we get a Superman who looks scary when he wants to and understands how to intimidate and have fun. Some people felt he has been a little to rough, but honestly I am not going to shed any tears over a fictional man who roughs up his own wife (who Supes threw out a window into a river off panel) and a millionaire who endangered the lives of hundreds for a few more dirty bucks.

Star Trek #1

The Ronin here,

I am a huge Star Trek fan. I love it all, even some of Voyager. I also loved the 2009 movie. It was not flawless by any means but it was great fun. It brought tons of new viewers in as well, something that is never bad. IDW has the license to produce “Star Trek” comics and damnit they are going to use it.

Trek is an interesting property, because there is tons of crossover appeal between people already in comic shops and people who like Star Trek.

That means this cover, and this issue has a really easy job to do. Put Star Trek on the cover and put it out there, if people want to pick up some trek they will get it. Easy enough. This is a first issue and starts a new journey appropriately enough. The cover is pretty simple, well actually there were a bunch of covers all of them do a good job tying this issue into the 2009 movie.

Animal Man #1

The Ronin here,

It's been a few weeks but lets look back at one of the stars of the DC relaunch, Animal Man #1. I was not originally planing on doing this one, but I gave it a try and it knocked my socks off. No, literally they came off. My feet are cold now.

Now Animal Man is not a character I am very familiar with. I know Grant Morrison did a much loved run on the character, aside from that I've seen the character in 52, where he was partnered up with Adam Strange and Starfire... The less said about the new 'Starfire' the better.

So, what are the goals of this issue? Well it is a #1 and it is supposed to be able to appeal to numerous new readers who may not know anything about Animal Man. It needs to show us his powers and abilities, his status quo, and it needs to intrigue those readers, hook them all while pleasing older fans who expect a lot from an Animal Man title. That is a lot to do in a single issue and apparently beyond

the ability of a lot of the new DC books (or many new books for that mater).

Panel Awesome - September

Panel Awesome September from Action Comics #1 (vol 2)

Justice League #1

The Ronin here,

Like many people I obviously had some mixed views on the DC relaunch/boot, however I tried to be positive, and some of the new titles seemed interesting. Hopefully over the next few months I can share with you how I felt about some of the issues. First up is, well the first issue they released Justice League #1. Obviously the Justice League is DC's premiere superhero team, featuring some of the most recognizable characters in the world. Who does not know who Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are? Green Lantern just had a big budget movie made, and a HUGE advertising push for him, so at the moment anyways he should be well known. Aquaman is also well known though perhaps not as universally beloved as the 'trinity'.

One of the things DC wants to get back to is the idea of Superman as the 'first' superhero, or at least the first superhero who fights in a bright costume in the day light. Which of course mirrors the actually history of comics. There were plenty of heroes before Superman, and a number of costumed or masked detectives, but Superman was the first modern 'Super' hero. Many of the tropes and conventions of the genre go right back to the original 'Action Comics #1'.