Hero Spotlight: Shazam

Billy Batson. Captain Marvel. Shazam. Captain Thunder. All monikers for the same person and to make things easier on readers, we’ll simply refer to this hero as SHAZAM!! (cue lightning strike). M. Deanpool suggested we do a DC hero to compliment the Marvel-based Black Bolt Hero Spotlight, but did you know that Shazam wasn’t originally a DC hero? He first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 by Fawcett Comics publishing company back in the 1940s. 

Cover of Whiz Comics #2.

Bet you also didn’t know that Shazam (though back then he was Captain Marvel) was the most popular comic superhero from that decade? Yup, the Captain Marvel Adventures sold more copies than Superman and other competing comic series from the time period. Okay so popularity based on comic sales, but that’s still pretty good! He was even the first comic adapted into a film in 1941 that was titled Adventures of Captain Marvel. M. Deanpool is sure Captain Marvel was admired by teenagers everywhere during that time period. His alter ego, Billy Batson, was a homeless 12-year-old boy working as a radio news reporter. After following a strange wizard who has observed Billy’s hardship, the powerful wizard chooses young Batson to be a champion of good! When Billy Batson speaks the wizard’s name, SHAZAM!, he is granted incredible powers and becomes the world’s mightiest mortal! The powers don’t come until after a magical lightning bolt strikes him though. BUT he is transformed into a super-powered adult with a bright red costume with gold trim, white cape, and a yellow lightning bolt insignia on the chest. Oh and also the power of gods! This is like when the blue ranger from Power Rangers: Turbo goes from a kid no taller than 4 feet to an adult-sized ranger after he morphs. But with Shazam, we’re more accepting of the fact because magic is involved. Because every kid just wanted to become adult-sized and fight evil right?

So now let’s address the issue with the 3 different names, and how he became a DC hero. Around the early 1950s, Fawcett Comics stopped publishing all things Shazam-related (keep in mind he was still Captain Marvel at this time). Part of the reason was a copyright infringement suit from… DC COMICS! (cue plot twist music). DC comics claimed that Captain Marvel aka Shazam was a copy of Superman! Honestly, you can see a lot of resemblances in physical appearances: face, hair, costume with a cape, very similar powers (which is stretch because Superman can just do anything, Shazam is limited-ish to the powers granted by the gods), and you get the hint. But c’mon DC, just because Fawcett was having a bit more success, I doubt Shazam could’ve became the American icon that Superman was/is. But that’s besides the fact, in the 1970s, DC licensed Captain Marvel and all related characters and started publishing them. Actually, they just recently acquired the ALL rights to the characters in 1991.

See the resemblance?

Now, here’s another twist and where things get complicated. Marvel enters the picture in the 1960s by trademarking their own Captain Marvel comic books during the time period between Shazam’s Fawcett years and DC years. Marvel’s character is completely unrelated to Shazam though when you look at the Marvel and DC rosters in the last few years (or even the last 2 decades), both Marvel’s Captain Marvel and DC’s Shazam are both powerhouse characters for their respective publishers. 

Marvel's first version of
Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell).

Fun fact: It seems like Marvel distinguished their original Captain Marvel even more by calling him Captain Mar-Vell. In today’s modern comic universes, the distinctions are quite clear as Marvel’s Captain Marvel mantle is now belonging to longtime Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers. And as you might guess, DC chose to trademark and refer to the their hero as Shazam, instead of using the original name of Captain Marvel. So now Captain Marvel is a girl for marvel, and Shazam is still good ol’ Billy Batson. Now what about Captain Thunder you ask? In 1974, in issue Superman #276 (which M. Deanpool proudly owns), Superman found himself against Captain Thunder, a hero from another Earth and another time. This Captain Thunder was clearly a Captain Marvel (Shazam) look-alike and even his alter-ego Willie Fawcett, was a shout-out to the original pubishers,  Fawcett Comics. Despite already publishing Shazam! comics for about 2 years prior to this issue, DC still wanted to keep Shazam’s universe separate from the other publications. For those who watched the animated movie, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox, we again see Shazam referred to as Captain Thunder. Another cool part from this movie was how the 6 children (collectively known as S.H.A.Z.A.M.) each possessed the power of Shazam. When they say Shazam together, they become Captain Thunder. So there you have it, three names, two publishers, all one superhero.

Never mind the "Postal Apocalypse," I think the distinctions
are quite apparent now between the Captain Marvel's.

Now here’s probably the coolest (in the nerdiest way possible) part about Shazam. What exactly are Shazam’s powers, and how are they powers of gods? Shazam isn’t just a fun magic word to say out loud like "abrakadabra", "alakazam" (shouts to Pokemon), or "bibbity boppity boo." It’s an acronym!

S- wisdom of Solomon

H- strength of Hercules

A- stamina of Atlas

Z- power of Zeus

A- courage of Achilles

M- speed of Mercury

Again this hero was often compared to Superman. Picture our Shazam moving/flying at superhuman speeds, possessing immense superhuman strength, an immeasurable amount of knowledge, and invulnerability. And let's add in resistance to magic (don’t think Superman has this one). 

Cover of Whiz Comics #22 showing
Captain Marvel alongside Billy Batson.

So what is Shazam’s kryptonite? Well, there are other members of the Marvel family (these characters were also from the Fawcett Comics age) that include Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. Though DC was quite inconsistent, it seemed that the Shazam power was a finite source and had to be split evenly amongst the active super-powered Marvels. Also, high-powered magic may weaken or slow Shazam down. A significantly high amount of electricity, like say a lightning bolt, can effectively turn Shazam back into Billy Batson. Or vice versa, if Billy is hit by lightning, the worse thing that happens is that he turns into a super-powered adult. Don’t tell that to Barry Allen (aka Flash), he only got super speed when he got struck by lightning. Those who have seen the aforementioned Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox saw Wonder Woman use her lasso of truth to force Captain Thunder to utter the phrase that would turn him back into the S.H.A.Z.A.M. kids. What happens after that, let’s not speak of. Another “weakness” that has appeared more recently in modern comics is the immature personality of Billy Batson that we often see with younger heroes or sidekicks a la Kid Flash or Beast Boy.

Fun fact: In Superman #276, when Shazam was Captain Thunder, Willie Fawcett had to say THUNDER to transform, but THUNDER still acted as an acronym. Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery, Uncas was a native American chief actually, but who the eff knew that?!), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Similarly, when Black Adam (nemesis of Shazam) says SHAZAM for his power, he calls upon the power of Egyptian gods. Shu (stamina), Heru (swiftness), Amon (strength, shouts to Legend of Korra), Zehuti (wisdom), Aton (power), and Mehen (courage). Now Mr. Deanpool wants an acronym for his name. Great.

Cover to Shazam! graphic novel

If a goofier, immature Superman interests you, Shazam is your type of superhero. Unfortunately, Shazam does not currently have his own ongoing series, but it may be safe to expect one in the near future. With DC’s New 52 featuring Shazam in short stories at the end of Justice League issues and also publishing the conclusion in one whole issue of Justice League #21, perhaps now is the right time for him to come out with his own series and capture new readers. These stories from the Justice League issues (#7-11, 0, 14-16, and 18-21) can be found in a graphic novel and feature an epic showdown between Shazam and Black Adam! This revamped Shazam story is written by the great Geoff Johns and we even see a new look consisting of a long cloak and hood (as opposed to just the cape). With these stories, Johns portrays Shazam rooted with more magic and fantasy than in typical Shazam mythos. There’s also revised origins to Billy Batson, but you can go read for yourself if you’re interested. Or if you’re interested in more Superman vs. Shazam, again there’s Superman #276 or try the graphic novel, Kingdom Come by Alex Ross, where Shazam plays a big part in the plot of the story. Don’t bother with Whiz Comics #2 unless you got $176,000 to throw around. And that’s just an estimate for one in fine condition. But Shazam, the first volume published from DC may not be as hard to obtain with a run of 35 issues (#Com-Economics).

M. Deanpool wants to show off his collection of comics with
Shazam on the covers, including Superman #276 in the lower right.

Well hope you were able to follow all the Shazam-Captain Marvel jumble. But now you’ll know better the next time you hear any conversations about any Captain Marvel or Shazam! The phrase Shazam has become a very popular “magic word” since the hero made his way into the comic book universe. Remember in the 2002 Spider-Man film when Peter Parker is on the rooftop trying a bunch of different methods and phrases to shoot his web? Yeah, “Shazam” was one of them. And apparently it’s now M. Deanpool’s favorite word, as he’s said it 100+ times since I’ve started this post. Thanks for reading!

"SHAZAM!!!"

Weekly Pick-Ups 12/25/13

So it turns out there actually will be a belated Weekly Pick-Up this week. While most comic publishing companies did not release comics for the week of Christmas since Christmas actually fell on a Wednesday, Marvel and DC still released some very big issues for this holiday week. Evil does not take holidays off. The fourth issue of the Forever Evil story arc along with another Justice League issue to tie-in with it came out for DC, along with a flurry of variants. And for Marvel, the first Avengers post-Infinity and leads us into the new year along with Origin II #1, which unfortunately M. Deanpool was unable to pick up.

CLARIFICATION FOR FUTURE WEEKLY PICK-UP POSTS: M. Deanpool brought it to my attention that a few things were a little unclear. So these Weekly Pick-Ups will mainly feature comics that came out that week, and for those who don't know, comics typically come out on Wednesdays. This one is considered belated since it's already going into the week after Christmas. And also, this will be roughly a review and summary so expect SPOILERS.

Rogue Planet and Earth.

Avengers #24.Now- M. Deanpool swore to me that after the Infinity story, he would not pick up a single Avengers issue anymore. Then I see him reading this one. And now he’s considering retracting that statement. While the Avengers are enjoying some downtime with Thor manning a grill, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers continue working persistently, preparing for whatever threat might come next. How about a rogue planet heading toward Earth? After fighting off basically TWO alien invasions, now they’ve got to deal with a planet-sized bullet heading toward the Earth. But they kind of catch a break when some Iron Man from the year 3030 (who has a suit that resembles Samus)

Iron Man 3030
(or Samus Aran?!)

gives the Avengers the gameplan on how to avoid the end of the Earth. M. Deanpool can’t even hold in the spoiler that the Iron Man 3030 is actually Tony Stark’s future granddaughter (who’s black and was referred to as Rhodey in the future. How awesome is that?!) A) A black descendant of Tony Stark is named after War Machine Colonel Rhodes, awesome, B) if Tony's granddaughter is from the year 3030, over a thousand years into the future, who's the one who figures out how to extend the length of human lives? Another spoiler: basically the Avengers with the help of Iron Man 3030 make the rogue planet inhabit the exact same space as the planet Earth but at a different frequency, which made this possible. After revealing her identity to Tony Stark, the Iron Man 3030 addresses that in her timeline, the Avengers blow up the rogue planet before it hits Earth but tells Tony that the method they employed is much more resourceful for the future. Of course, by rules of time travel paradoxes, she couldn’t say much more and disappeared as we assume her timeline may have been altered. But not before warning Tony that he must prepare for everyone’s attempt to murder him. Talk about leaving cliff-hangers for the next issue, better yet the next story arc for the series. Who’s out to kill Tony Stark and why? How is this occupying of two planets in one space supposed to work? Where did the planet even come from or was it intended to hit Earth? Will M. Deanpool really get the next issue? Find out more soon! Fun scenes with a rooftop picnic, followed by a planet-sized threat and excellent artwork. We hope this series can become more a stable read, but still give it 8/10.

God of Thunder barbeques for everyone.

Catwoman said it right.

Forever Evil #4- If you’ve read any DC comics at all this past year, you most likely could not escape this Forever Evil story that’s taken over the DC universe. Up to this point, this 7-part story-line has had the disappearance of the Justice League (including Justice League of America and Justice League Dark), an evil facsimile of the Justice League from another universe, self-appointed Crime Syndicate, has taken over the Earth and recruited super-villains to their cause, and the formation of an Injustice League, consisting of Captain Cold, Black Manta, Black Adam, Bizarro and led by Lex Luthor, to overthrow this new league in order to take back the Earth.  Essentially, a superhero book in a world devoid of heroes. Yes, we get to root for the bad guys! In this issue (spoiler), we already have seen that Batman, Catwoman, and half of Cyborg (more like just the Victor Stone half) have survived the clutches of this evil Justice League. Catwoman wants Batman to admit defeat and runaway with her, but the only thing on Batman’s mind is planning the counter-attack. Being the realist that he is, Batman has contingency plans for all the members of the Justice League (minus Wonder Woman) in case they ever got out of control. The question is whether or not these plans will be effective against the parallel counterparts. He hopes that kryptonite and a yellow ring that he’s kept will be able to at least take down Ultraman and Power Ring, the Superman and Green Lantern parallels, and he’d figure out the rest later. Being the evil genius that he is, Lex Luthor led his team to Wayne Enterprises’ storage facility hoping to find something useful to aid their cause. Along the way, we see a scene where Geoff Johns tries humanizing Lex and create an interesting relationship between himself and his creation, Bizarro. Bizarro’s character also appears to have more dimension than the traditional bumbling idiot with powers that he’s portrayed as. We also see more of the dynamic of the Injustice League as readers come to peace with Lex Luthor being the world’s only savior. Back to the story, these two factions meet in this facility not realizing they’re fighting for the same cause yet and of course start fighting each other… only to be interrupted by Power Ring in his search to track down Captain Cold. 

Realizing that members of the Justice League have survived the Crime Syndicate’s attack, Power Ring focuses the attack on Batman and Catwoman… and Batman responds by using what’s left in the yellow ring. People, we’re talking about Batman wearing a yellow ring here. He shot a bat out of it! Sadly, there wasn’t enough juice to take down Power Ring (or enough of that scene, it lasted all of 2 pages), but the issue ends with a surprise appearance by… SINESTRO!! Will a real wielder of the yellow ring of fear be enough to take down the fearful Power Ring?  Will Batman and Lex remain separate groups or come together for the greater good? The preview for the next issue looks to be where a lot more action will unfold. The cover alone alludes to the cover of the first Justice League issue but this time consisting of the unlikely team of Lex, Bizarro, Black Adam, Black Manta, Batman, Catwoman, and Sinestro. Awesome issue, Geoff Johns handles DC crossovers masterfully, and this gets 9/10 from M. Deanpool, and also is the Pick of the Week.

Yellow Lantern Batman,
the coolest part of this issue.

Batman shooting a yellow bat, the thing he fears most,
the 2nd coolest part.

Grid,
Crime Syndicate's Cyborg.

Justice League #26- With the Justice League issues being tie-ins to the Forever Evil story, the previous two both developed the dynamics of characters like Ultraman and Owlman by showing their background and history. So it seemed only right to expect a story about the conniving Superwoman who was seen in earlier issues to have a relationship with Ultraman, but also a secret one with Owlman. Playing with both of their heads, she reveals to both that she is pregnant but has been mysterious about who the father is. Unfortunately, this was not a Superwoman story issue. By looking at the cover, it looked like we were going to get a direct follow-up from the end of Forever Evil #4 with a showdown between Power Ring and Sinestro. But NO, we did not get that either. Instead we got an issue narrated by Grid, who separated from Cyborg at the end of the Trinity War and revealed himself to be the Crime Syndicate's version of Cyborg. However, after separating from Cyborg, Grid wants to feel the human sensations that Cyborg was able to feel from his human half. And in his attempts to try, he dug into his collected files on his teammates and revealed the origin stories of Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Atomica, and Deathstorm. We see Harold Jordan (contrary to Hal) undergo a similar journey in obtaining a green ring but Harold’s weak-willed nature and inability to have the power to overcome his fear is what attracts the ring. Conversely, it’s Harold’s want for power that attracts him to the ring. Unlike the typical green ring, we see that this ring causes Harold to feel great physical and psychological pain, yet this does not instill any sort of feeling in Grid. Side note: A) Abin Sur look monstrous but in a cool way, B) charging this power ring is quite disturbing: tentacles reach out from another dimension, Harold screams, the Ring laughs moments later the charge is complete. That’s borderline rape. With Johnny Quick (aka Jonathan Allen) and Atomica, (aka Rhonnie) killers/thieves/lovers on the run, we see a lightning strike Johnny (not too different from Barry Allen’s lightning and chemical accident) and Rhonnie fall into this universe’s S.T.A.R. Labs where an “Atomico” (this Earth’s version of Atom) experiment was being held. This couple, as twisted as they were, did nothing for Grid to feel any sort of affection or want for love. My favorite part from this mini-story was probably seeing the Central City cops of this Earth being the people we generally recognize as the Rogues from Central City. Nice touch to the fact that the Rogues really do care a lot about their city, despite being famous villains to the Flash. Lastly with Deathstorm (as opposed to Firestorm), we see a biologist hired to find weaknesses for the Crime Syndicate in order to overthrow them. His experiment with a corpse goes wrong, and he becomes Deathstorm, the link between life and death. I’m sure you’ve realized by now just like most readers, that again Grid is as numb as… well a robot. His search for files on Superwoman, however, have been deleted, which leaves Grid with some suspicion. 

Who's this masked prisoner
with the creepy smile?

The story finishes off with a glimpse of a prisoner (not Nightwing) that also came from the Crime Syndicate’s parallel Earth, yet is unidentified (due to a bag over his face) and is apparently feared by the Crime Syndicate as he is constantly given anesthesia to keep him in a disordered state of mind. Though through a bag in one of the ending panels of his scene it appears that he is smiling? (Could it be a Lex Luthor from another world? If so, this is starting to sound a bit Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.) Lastly, we see Cyborg… well more Victor Stone than Cyborg, becoming conscious. For those counting, there are like 3-5 heroes that are actually back into play and not stuck in some weird matrix jail and conscious: Batman, Catwoman, Cyborg, and we think Stargirl and Martian Manhunter (kinda).  Some cool art, with a big tease from the cover, don’t care too much for Grid but a nice way to reveal origin stories for the almost the rest of the Crime Syndicate, but all in all, M. Deanpool says 7.5/10. He claims it would be lower, but the seeing how similar yet slightly different the parallel universe is (like Power Ring essentially being Green Lantern with no balls) helped it gain a little extra love.

Sorry Harold, Grid may not feel disturbed, but M. Deanpool does.

Pretty good grades dished out for this pick-up. Since there were less issues, M. Deanpool felt the freedom to expand a bit more on these. Thanks for reading!

I support shipping Batman and Flash.

An Avengers Christmas

Looking for a light-hearted story for the holidays? M. Deanpool says this comic will put you in the holiday spirits. (And there's likely not going to be a Weekly Pick-Up since it's Christmas today, so here's this instead!) Pick up Avengers Annual #1. The plot centers around a girl named Zamira who stays behind after a field-trip to the Avengers Tower the day before Christmas. Her super-abilities to project/clone different personalities of herself that mimic people she meets gets her and the Avengers into an interesting, and quite humorous, predicament. It's a feel-good comic with fun drawings to look at. With all the mayhem from the Infinity events, this story presents a jollier, sillier story filled with one-liners and witty jokes from the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Black Widow. Almost every page leaves you with a good laugh. Even the art is drawn a bit more cartoonish, which matches the theme appropriately. On a smaller note, there's a nice small section of the story where Captain America spends part of his Christmas at a retirement home (always such a goodie goodie). A fun Christmas story, and the interaction between the heroes alone makes it worth it. And you can see Iron Man and Hulk stuck in purple foam.

Zamira can't control her powers well.

Happy Holidays all, from M. Deanpool and Me.

Comic Gifts for Christmas

Everyone’s in the Christmas spirit, the season of giving. Considering giving someone a comic for a present, but don’t know what to get? Here’s a list recommended by M. Deanpool himself that you can't go wrong with.

1) Batman/Superman #1- With the hype around the next Superman movie featuring these two heroes, everyone wants to read about the World’s Finest heroes and their adventures before the 2015 movie (depending on how good that movie will be, this may even go up in value, you never know!). And who isn't a fan of either of these two after movies like Dark Knight and Man of Steel?

2) Superman/Wonder Woman #1- Wonder Woman is in that new Superman movie too by the way. Oh, and in the New 52 universe, these two dynamic heroes are in a relationship?!  (Sorry Lois Lane). Also same thing applies as above, if this relationship is in the 2015 movie too, this issue may up in value! If love is a battlefield, imagine what this one would look like!

3) Infinity #1- If you read my Hero Spotlight: Black Bolt post, you’ve read my mini-review on the Infinity story. Lots of hype building up to the Avengers movies and Thanos, the big bad guy at the end of Avengers. A Marvel fan's can't-miss.

4) Walking Dead #1 10^th Anniversary Special- Walking Dead is popular television show, according to M. Deanpool (I don’t watch). However, its comic series has been around since the early 2000s. If you’re looking to get a gift for someone who’s a fan of Walking Dead (which is practically everyone), start their Walking Dead comic collection with the anniversary special of the first issue IN COLOR, (the issues are typically in black and white, so yes this is the only Walking Dead issue in color.)!

5) Forever Evil #1- If Marvel’s giant story arc of the summer was Infinity, DC’s equivalent was the Trinity War. What followed the Trinity War, was Forever Evil. DC universe-wide crossovers, an evil version of the Justice League, and our world filled with its worst villains. A storyline only halfway through its arc and practically took over the DC comic universe. And what does the future hold for Dick Grayson (Nightwing). Great gift for DC lovers.

6) Star Wars #1 Lucas Draft- Could be gifted for anyone who’s a fan of Star Wars. It’s based off George Lucas’ original screenplay! See how the popular franchise was intended and how it differs from the Star Wars that is loved today.

7) DC Comic Essentials- Recently, DC has reprinted the first issues to many of their more popular titles including Justice League, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Action Comics (Superman), Sandman, Watchmen, and others. The best part? They’re only $1. Perfect start to any series (and M. Deanpool recommends all of them) and at a great price.

 

 

8) Batman: Li'l Gotham- A gift for all ages, especially young children who love Batman. Drawn smaller and cuter, the typical Batman characters undergo adventures that are centered and themed around a particular holiday. These are quite popular and don't have high print runs so it may not be as easy to find the #1 issue. But any and all issues from this series can be fun for anyone. The most recent issue is #9, but if you're lucky maybe you can find the Christmas issue #5. 

Yes they’re mostly all number 1’s because M. Deanpool feels it is easier for anyone to receive these gifts and a) not feel lost in a story arc and b) they’re all popular characters featured in movies or television shows. We suppose this list may also be used for birthday gifts or whatever other reason you'd want to give someone a gift. Now go to the closest comic store, get these for last-minute gifts, and have a happy holidays.

Hero Spotlight: Black Bolt

We decided to change Character of the Week to Character Spotlight because I don’t want everything to have Week in it. Not sure if all of them will keep to the format of how this one is written but hope you enjoy it!

Recently, Marvel Comics released a 6-part comic series titled Infinity that also had tie-ins with many other Marvel on-going series, mainly New Avengers and Avengers.

Black Bolt on the
cover to the third issue of Inifnity

With all the hype surrounding the mysterious figure that is shown for all of about 2 seconds at the end of Avengers (who everyone learned via the internet is Thanos), this Infinity story arc looked to capitalize on people’s newfound interest in the big, bad guy Thanos. To the average reader, or even if you’ve only been reading more recent modern comics, not many are familiar with Thanos, but he’s been around for a while and has shaken up the Marvel universe on more than one occasion (a la Infinity Guantlet). Now why are we talking about Thanos so much and not Black Bolt, the dude in the title of the blog? I’m getting there don’t worry. The Infinity storyline not only gave readers a story that shows off Thanos being the boss that he is, we also get a fresh perspective on the Inhuman race and their king, Black Bolt. It’s already a tease to link a story titled Infinity with Thanos, but where the story actually goes is a pleasant surprise. But M. Deanpool says we’ll save the rest of the diagnosis on Infinity for another time.

Now, more on Blackagar Boltagon aka Black Bolt, King of Inhumans and member of the Illuminati. I know, a cool superhero name like Black Bolt came from the dude’s actual name. Like I wrote above, interest grew in both Thanos and Black Bolt following this storyline (an awesome fight scene between the two helped that as well). King of the Inhumans, Black Bolt possesses typical superhuman powers such as enhanced speed and strength, and can even fly (who can’t nowadays? Sorry Batman, that gliding thing doesn’t count). But his signature power is his hypersonic voice. Imagine how X-Men’s Cyclops just destroys everything if he doesn’t keep his eyes closed or has those glasses of his on. That’s Black Bolt if he tried whispering. Let’s see him and Banshee go at it. JK, M. Deanpool says Black Bolt would win easily. The reason he has this ultrasonic voice is due to a mechanism in his brain’s speech center of his brain that produces a particle that harnesses electrons. This link to his brain causes any use of his vocal cords to spark a reaction between the particle and electrons. Whoa, science. It’s even said that Black Bolt’s “sonic scream” may depend on his emotional state. So if you piss the guy off, and he doesn’t care about the surroundings, earplugs will probably not save you. And if you’re curious about the antenna-like fork on his head, it’s supposed to help Black Bolt control his powers. He can focus his powers and channel them to his strength and speed, or to his arms and make a pretty concussive blast with the clap of his hands, or even channel all of this energy into a destructive punch. His flight abilities also stem from this manipulation of electrons into anti-electrons. With this molecule manipulation he could focus his energies to build an impenetrable force-field, use them as extrasensory probes (I wonder if he’s considered Sonar), or even utilize that energy as an EMP-type of mechanism. WAIT THERE’S MORE, he also has minor telepathic abilities, ish. Mostly just with the royal family. The main use being a way to communicate with his wife, Medusa, and she would act as a sort of translator for the King of the Inhumans to the rest of his subjects.

First issue of Inhumans
on their own title!

If you’re next question is, “What exactly is an Inhuman?” then keep reading! Digging into the Comic-Cave database (not to be confused with the archives on the right-hand side), we have to go waaaaay back, millions of years ago there was a war between two aliens races, the Kree and the Skrulls. The Kree set up camp on Uranus (hehe) and discover the primitive Homo-Sapiens on Earth nearby. Basically, they start doing experiments on these Homo-Sapiens in hopes that they prove to be potential genetic specimens to become an army and gain an advantage in the war against the Skrulls. You can probably guess that this led to the Inhuman race. They successfully created a race of once primitive beings super-abilities. However, they abandoned the project and Earth altogether because some prophecy said that their creation would one day destroy the Kree empire. These Inhumans went on to create a secluded society of their own much more advanced than the beings of their time. Through a process called Terrigenesis, they use this Terrigen Mist to unleash their various powers. There is some backfire as the Mist may cause abnormalities or deformities. Thus they made this process more selective in order to contain the mutations. The Terrigenesis process has become more of a “coming-of-age” ritual when one of their own enters puberty. Black Bolt, however, was exposed to the terrigen mist while still an embryo! So as an infant he had these energy-manipulating abilities and that quasi-sonic scream! Uh, imagine if young Blackagar Boltagon ever had a temper tantrum. Sike, they put him in a soundproof chamber and an energy-harnessing suit until he learned to control his powers. Well that sucks. Fun fact: Sorry bringing up Infinity again, but in the story Black Bolt calls the New Avengers, or the Illuminati (we'll blog more of this group another time), to a meeting in a pocket dimension where every sound is reduced to a single pitch. The Silent King speaks without his powers being unleashed and shocks the New Avengers. Quite funny amongst all the seriousness of their meeting. In short, they’re mutated alien-human hybrids. Cool right? Because they’ve been developing such advanced technology for so long, their advanced city of Attilan is essentially a floating city/island/kingdom (the point is that it’s floating! Reminds one of Bespin, the cloud city in Star Wars). Their society, however, is a more rigid social class system. The Inhumans believed that the Terrigen Mist would show an individual’s true abilities and appearance, which will ultimately also show where they belong in the society. At the top of this system, you have the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, and then the rest of the royal family: Medusa (Black Bolt’s wife), Maximus the Mad (Black Bolt’s brother), Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Cristal, and a dog named Lockjaw (M. Deanpool’s favorite, he teleports!).

Lockjaw, the teleporting canine.
Though drawn a bit more comical.

In one story arc, Ronan the Accuser (a Kree) attacks Attilan and reveals to the Inhumans how they were intended to be weapons and that their abnormal appearances were part of a bigger plan to have the Inhumans look like various alien races. With this, the Kree would have their Inhuman slaves infiltrate enemy planets and carry out assassinations or other espionage. Of course, Black Bolt took back his city and fought the Accuser off… Only to be kicked out by his own people, but that’s a different story.

Cover of Inhumans graphic novel.

Com-Economics: Anyways, Black Bolt first makes his way into the Marvel universe in Fantastic Four #45. A pretty pricey book right now (again, his popularity is rising) but M. Deanpool believes it is a key issue to have in your collection and may only rise in value as Marvel will be starting a new on-going series called Inhumanity in the next month or so. If you want to read more with Black Bolt and the Inhumans before getting into this new series, which M. Deanpool highly recommends as well, there are 4 other volumes of series that centered around the Inhumans. The first dates back to 1975, and has some really cool bronze-age-esque covers. The first issue from this volume, and essentially the first ever issue with the Inhumans on their own title, has a wide range of prices depending on condition but if you see a nice conditioned one for less than $50 you won’t want to sleep on it. The more popular, in Mr. Deanpool’s opinion, is the 2^nd volume that came out in the late 90s that can be found in a graphic novel called Inhumans. It collects all 12 issues from the series. A very popular novel that can be found as a hardcover for $30 and even has its own DVD adaption that came out recently. The drawings, at least based off covers, look to have darker style but still looks to be just as compelling. M. Deanpool doesn’t have much intel on the other two volumes but looks for Inhumanity to be good new series from Marvel. The Inhumans are an intriguing oddity for the Marvel universe, but still have plenty of potential (especially after Infinity) to still have a breakout series given the right creative team. Heck, a group of genetic freaks not named the X-Men already sounds like an interesting television show (M. Deanpool thinks it’s a stretch to go on and say movie).

So now you know Black Bolt and the Inhumans. M. Deanpool apologizes for describing Black Bolt's hypersonic voice about three different ways. Quite an interesting race and quite a different group when you look at Marvel’s headliners of Avengers or X-Men. While there's so much more that could be said about this intriguing character, we'll leave it at that and hope that more comes through reviews of other books. Think we've discussed enough to consider this a "quick" character profile. Well thanks for reading the first of these Character Spotlights. I’d hint at what’s next to come, but M. Deanpool doesn’t even know at the moment. So look out for more soon! Here’s Black Bolt unleashing his powers on Thanos… kinda.

Weekly Pick-Ups 12/18/13

These pick-ups would be technically for last week but I felt this would be a good starting point for these weekly type of posts to show how I’ll give reviews and M. Deanpool’s thoughts on each issue but try to go into more detail on just one, which will be the Pick of the Week.

Batman Black and White #4- 

All of the Batman Black and White issues have been fun to read. They’re anthologies of 5-6 mini-stories all written and drawn by different people each time. Yes, they’re only in black and white and mostly look like rough draft sketches and yes, the cover price is really 4.99. But M. Deanpool insists that it is worth it, especially for Batman fans. You get different styles and fun ways of portraying Batman through both the story and the drawing. Whether they are serious, fun, or just plain creative ways of telling a Batman story. M. Deanpool would like to highlight 3 of them: Long Day, Even In the Darkest Moments, and Missing In Action. The first shows Batman beginning his nightly rounds throughout Gotham as he shows off how well he can anticipate every move that these low-level thugs and bank robbers make. Crisis after crisis, Batman shows no signs of slowing down and just as ready to tackle the next one. After what seems like a very busy couple of hours, Batman knows his work for the night is only just beginning. Even In the Darkest Moments brings a story of a Gotham homeless man and his little mouse friend (yes, a mouse) help Batman fight off the malicious Killer Croc. A nice ironic compliment to Batman, who is typically the one in Gotham to rescue someone in need. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Gotham as a city where its citizens, or inhabitants I guess I should say, help each other as opposed to the corrupt town filled with crazed, maniacal villains. 

Lastly, the extremely cartoonish drawing for Missing In Action made it very appealing to read with a fun short story with Robin and the Man of Steel, Superman. And those are the sort of stories one can expect from these issues, some fun, some serious, but all portray Batman in imaginative ways that we aren’t accustomed to in most, if not all, of the Dark Knight’s regular on-going series. While M. Deanpool must admit this issue was not as good as the previous others, the series itself (which will only go up to 6) is a can’t miss! But if you skip on this one, it’s not the worst thing to skip out on. Because Mr. Deanpool liked 3/5 stories, he says he’ll give it a 6/10.

Uncanny Avengers #14- 
After reading Avengers vs. X-Men (a future blog post about this will come), M. Deanpool became really interested in this series but so far has not read any other issue from the series other than #1. This series has been gaining a lot of hype and after reading this issue, I don’t think it’ll fail to live up to that hype. Without giving away the ending of A vs. X, a new group emerges after this storyline that aims to create an uncanny group of both Avengers and X-Men to unite the two factions after “heated” (hehe) conflict. Anyways, this issue alone has persuaded M. Deanpool to a) catch up on where this storyline is so far and b) continue to pick up issues from this great series. It can be very easy to mess up the storytelling when you have so many big characters to work with, but Remender is doing a fantastic job with this. Though M. Deanpool is not exactly sure what’s going on as far as storyline, it’s easy to tell that it is a good one. And the humor and timing of the comedic relief is subtle and entertaining, especially when you have a cast of “uncanny” combinations of heroes at any given time. It seems that X-Man Havok is given a lot of love in this series alongside Captain America and it looks like characters like Wonder Man and Scarlett Witch are big players for this story arc. As far as bad guys, you got the Apocalypse twins who are heir to the throne of Apocalypse (big bad guy in X-Men) and trained by Kang (big bad guy in Avengers. Uncanny huh?) who are looking to moving the ENTIRE mutant race to inhabit another world in an effort to “save” them from mankind’s cruel treatment toward mutants. Of course, this is against everything that the X-Men stand for as far as peaceful coexistence. Well if you still aren’t interested, how about… in this issue you see the relationship between Wasp and Havok, Havok vs. his old pal Banshee, Captain America screaming everywhere because he’s deaf, and Wolverine encounters his son Daken. Still not convinced? That’s fine, M. Deanpool plans to acquire the rest of this story arc so you can expect a review on the arc as a whole in the near future. But go read for yourself! M. Deanpool says it deserves an 8.5/10 after admitting that reading the previous issues may have helped the build-up to this issue.

 

Deadpool #21-
If you haven’t been following the Deadpool series so far… go catch up on 20 issues (21 if you include the annual one) and then get #21 and come back and read this particular section. The Deadpool series has been one of the Marvel Now comic series that I’ve been following that has consistently impressed me. Both with story and drawing. Deadpool hasn’t been around for too long (year?) and it’s been my preference to not draw him super buffed up. It’s much more entertaining seeing a scrawny dude bust out machine guns or katanas and f*ck stuff up. This issue is the start of a new story arc (Deadpool vs Shield) so it could just as easily be a good starting point for readers. Only bit of background that you need to know is that waaaaay back in the first couple issues Deadpool’s S.H.I.E.L.D. liason Agent Preston died and some random S.H.I.E.L.D. wizard preserved her mind by putting it into Deadpool’s mind. So they’ve been sharing a mind for the last 15ish issues. In this issue, Deadpool looks to try to get Agent Preston into another body but learns that there’s another Agent Preston body already out there smuggling S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons. Who’s the dirty S.H.I.E.L.D. agent behind it? Also there’s a surprise appearance by everyone’s favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent after the Avengers movie: Agent Coulson! Definitely worth reading, Deadpool has a bounty over his head (ironic for the bounty hunter huh? He does make the joke about how he should kill himself to collect the bounty) and the writers even slip in the phrase Master Baiter. Hilarious! Coming off a very good story arc, this one looks to be just as interesting and gets an 8/10.

 

Harley Quinn #1- 

Another First issue in one pick-up! Which means most of this review will be first impressions and may be quite lengthy. M. Deanpool enjoyed this comic and believes this series has a chance to be successful. If you’re not too familiar with Harley Quinn’s free-natured, extremely outgoing personality (to put it lightly), you’ll learn it in this issue. In the first couple pages, she sees a dog being dragged against its will on a leash and Harley puts the man on a leash and drags him for a ride on her motorcycle. She’s a complex character to say the least, but that's what makes her entertaining! When you think of female “bad guys” in the Batman universe, the ones that typically come to mind are probably Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, maybe even Catwoman (kind of). All three have very different personalities, but Harley Quinn brings a more comical (comical personalities in a comic, genius!) style as the girl obsessed with Mr. J, aka The Joker, after trying to pick at the Joker's brain as his psychiatrist, Dr. Harlene Quinzel. The first issue acts mostly as a “set-up issue,” in which we find Harley Quinn moving into a new place on Coney Island, which Mr. Deanpool adds is quite fitting for her. Still, you get the feeling she’s off to a new start and could turn out to be a loved antihero with this creative team of Conner and Palmotti, who are both off to good starts in doing so. 

The only sense of conflict in the story is that apparently there is a hit on her as two bounty hunters try killing her in this one issue alone. Oh, and she needs to find a way pay rent and applies for two jobs: a psychiatrist (uh oh) and tries out for a roller derby team (good luck to the other team). M. Deanpool recommends this comic for all readers and compares the crazy and fun style of it to Deadpool. Not sure who’s more messed up in the head between Harley Quinn and Deadpool, and come to think about it, they may even work as a couple. K enough mixing universes. As fun as it was to read, M. Deanpool admits that this series may not be one he continues to follow simply because of the many others he is following already but wants to reiterate that this has potential to be a good new series in the New 52 universe. Also if nothing else, pick this up simply because it is a #1 issue for a very popular character. Though she’s only been around since the 90s (even I’m actually older than the character), her comics have proven to be quite valuable. For example her first appearance issue in The Batman Adventures #12 can be found for around $100 and that’s on the low end. This isn’t her first comic series, Harley Quinn also had a series in the early 2000s and the #1 issue from that series can be found for as cheap as $30ish. So you pick it up for 2.99 and it has potential to go raise its worth 10x, or maybe even more. Popular character, first issue, good creative team, fun read. You can’t go wrong! Because there are no perfect scores, M. Deanpool says how about a 9/10. And yes, she will be probably continue to be drawn with huge tits.

Justice League 3000 #1- 

Justice League in the year 3000?! This should already be raising eyebrows with that type of title alone, but also that cover shows 5 of the more favored Justice Leaguers in futuristic-type costumes. Batman’s resembles a Batman Beyond suit with the red bat logo on a black suit. Wonder Woman and Superman are wearing more of an futuristic-armored version of their modern outfits. Green Lantern resembles The Spectre (another DC superhero who represents God’s spirit of vengeance), and The Flash is a ginger with a scarf (we think?) that covers his mouth and goggles that reminds one of Kid Flash. If I made Flash sound the most lame, it was intended. While The Flash is one of M. Deanpool’s most favorite comic superheroes, his appearance in Justice League 3000 isn’t as appealing as the re-imagining of the other Leaguers. It is interesting that this particular Flash is based off Barry Allen’s version of Flash yet is a red-head and wears the goggles above the eyes much like Wally West aka Kid Flash (who does become The Flash at one point). 

Which brings me to my next subject, who is the Justice League 3000? Well those who are familiar with Project Cadmus and their evil genetic engineering experiments, they are essentially clones of the original Justice League! Minus about half of the actual Leaguer’s memories and they lack the heroic attributes of our beloved heroes. What is Superman without the nurturing and care of the Kents to raise him? An egotistical jock essentially. What is Bruce Wayne if you take away the “motivating trauma” of his parents getting shot in Crime Alley? Imagine a Wonder Woman as an extemist of pure Amazonian ideals. Add the fact that Green Lantern’s abilities are coming from his cloak as opposed to a ring and somehow in the future the Green Lanterns are now the most despised organization in the univeres AND Flash’s superpowers are capable of killing himself and you can see that this is definitely not the same Justice League. What the heck is going on in the year 3000? Though it is unclear why these Wonder Twins resurrected the Justice League, we do get hints of a hidden agenda that has to do with a mysterious Five that is supposedly responsible for turning paradise into a chaotic future. So now we have our bad guys, or at least the bad guys that this Justice League 3K were made for. Another fun part about this issue is that we get to see the beginnings of the formation of a team. As always we have clashing personalities and one that is always fun to watch is Superman vs. Batman. This Superman 3000 feels that he could carry this team while Batman feels it is his job to keep Superman in line. Of course there has to be some sort of altercation from the get-go.

This is not your typical New 52 Justice League series, and may not even tie-in to any other New 52 story, but that's what makes it interesting. Much like the Earth 2 series, this series has a blank slate and no restrictions as far what to do with the storyline. It's up to the creative team of Giffen and DeMatteis to lead us into our adventure into the 31st century. As a new series in the New 52 universe, this first issue proves to be just as mysterious as it was before its debut. Can the team come together and become the Justice League of the 31^st century? Who is the Five and will the Justice League 3000 be enough to turn the future back to paradise? Where is all this even taking place, is there still an Earth in the year 3000? Though M. Deanpool would’ve liked the story to reveal more in this issue, it has done enough to convince M. Deanpool to see if any of his questions are answered in the upcoming issues. 

Not scoring as high as Harley Quinn #1, Mr. Deanpool says JL3000 gets 8/10 but will be crowned the Pick of the Week. Cool new team with a potentially interesting storyline that hopefully following issues will tell and has artwork that is appealing with futuristic re-imaginations of DC’s finest. Another #1 issue and another debut of a new series to look out for in the New 52.

What a fun start to Weekly Pick-Ups, though I must admit it was a bit lengthier than anticipated. Two debuts of new series for DC AND M. Deanpool finds a new Marvel favorite with Uncanny Avengers. I’ll suggest to Mr. Deanpool that we get a better rating system or at least add some units to these number rankings. Thanks for reading! Up next we’ll get the Comic-Cave’s first ever Character of the Week! Find out who it will be!

And here's a pic of that Gotham female trio of troublemakers I mentioned.