The comic blogosphere seems to grow larger every day and just like comics, sometimes it’s pretty easy to get a little lost. “Meanwhile …” will act as your map, pointing out what interesting discussions are happening out there while you’re reading Blog@Newsarama.
Reviews and jokes are the topics of the week and I’ve collected some fun ones for you here. Take a look around!
Why We Love Them:
The Keeper of the Fortress of Fortitude explains why he’s not worried about Mary Jane:
lot of people worry about Mary Jane these days, given Joe Quesada’s preference for a single Spidey. Civil War certainly doesn’t help matters: not only is every super-villain in the Marvel Universe gunning for Peter and his family, but even erstwhile allies like Iron Man are out to wreck the Parkers’ lives.
The Keeper, however, has confidence in MJ’s resilience. More than once, she has held her own against all sorts of dastardly types.
And Brainfreeze explains three cool things about the Wasp.
#1 In Our Hearts?
At the Invincible Super-Blog, Chris brings us back to the 1990s with a review of X-Men #1:
Written at one of the high points of Chris Claremont’s growing dementia, it’s got more words per page than your average copy of, say, The Bible, and features inexplicable fan-favorite Jim Lee drawing Archie-esque crosshatching on Professor X’s head and the kind of storytelling that would leave you wondering where the hell Gambit went, assuming that you could be bothered to care about Gambit at all. And since you’re reading this here I’m going to go ahead and assume that you can’t.
To be fair, though, it’s very well-colored and the paper quality is top-notch.
While at Christians Read Comics Too!, Palladin revisits The New Warriors #1:
Why the hatred for such a wonderful group of heroes? That crossed my mind during the last few major appearances of any team named New Warriors. Marvel took a solid and great team and first made them a joke, then blew up two original members and jailed the one they could not figure out how to kill. But we are not here to bemoan the sad state of Marvel, but to celebrate the wonderful tales from the past.
And Ragtime goes WAAAAY back to the beginning with his look at Action Comics #1.
Sometimes It Just Doesn’t Work:
Hermanos of the 4th Letter explains why Young Avengers’ Patriot doesn’t cut it for him:
Eli was a coward. He was weak and his idea of overcoming his hardships was not, like the rest of the team, putting in that leg work and making yourself into a better person. It was to take the shortcut, get hopped up on MGH, and then lie about being a super-soldier to the people he called his friends. He’s just another failure. He’s 1970s Luke Cage, Ebony White, and Bishop. He’s Captain Marvel getting demoted and drummed out of the Avengers.
Meanwhile Iamza on Livejournal explains why Teen Titans currently isn’t doing it for her:
About the only character I can still identify with is Cyborg. He seems sort of lost, like he’s wondering what the hell happened to the team he thought he knew. I know how he’s feeling because I’m wondering the same thing.
Marionette has some bones to pick with Battle for Bludhaven:
It’s true, male characters are killed. Major Force kills Major Victory on a whim. Many people of indeterminate sex are beaten up or exploded. But taken over all, given the starting ratio of males to females (about 6:1) it seems kind of odd that more women should be seen dying than men. I’m not even going to get into Black Baron’s suicide love slaves.
Quick Hits:
Devon notices three things right about an upcoming JSA panel.
Amy Reads found something more disturbing than a rape in last week’s Heroes.
Melchior is bemused by villainous fashion.
Chris, of 2 Guys Buying Comics, is eating crow.
Hermanos knows there’s such things as dumb questions.
Brandon Bragg shows us all his love for comics.
Dorian appreciates family friendly comics.
and Chris Sims shows you a Public Service.
Illustrator’s Site of the Week:
This week’s site is M2 Studio. Run by Mario Wytch and Mike Adams, there’s some lovely art here as well as a couple of projects for perusal.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Holy moley, two links for 4thletter!
I feel almost legitimate now, thanks! :O
October 17th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for the link! The Spidey annual won’t go down as an all-time classic, but it’s fun to see MJ portrayed as strong and resourceful for a change!
October 17th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for another mention. For those interested, I plan on putting the entire run up in storyline form. So if you like the Warriors and want to be reminded why we all loved them, come on by from time to time and check ‘em out.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
And here I thought I was the only one giving the New Warriors some love, even if it was only one night standish.