Finale: Punisher War Journal

It took me three weeks, but I finally read War Journal. Let me be clear: I enjoyed this comic. The artwork is top notch, and Punisher’s mercilessness is represented in fantastic detail.

I don’t, however, know how this adds to the Civil War story. Other than Marvel’s wanting to include all heroes in the series, I don’t see Punisher’s presence as necessary, in the same way that other’s are. He basically shows up to kill a couple people, one semi-pro super villain, and frustrate Captain America’s attempts to welcome him to his team. The only interesting interaction between the two main characters is the flashback scene (where it is revealed that Frank Castle served as a marine and was trained by Captain America), and the scene where Captain America disciplines the Punisher, who refuses to fight back.

Don’t get me wrong, the scenes are action charged and Frank Castle’s mercenary for a higher power bit has its high points as well, but overall, this book was less than impressive. It jumps around a lot; at one point you’re in the present with Castle, at another you’re in the apartment of Stuart Clarke-a nerdy robot manufacturer with superhero delusions of grandeur-not sure where or when the interactions are supposed to be taking place. Then, you flashback to Castle’s past, only to to find him a young marine in the process of being trained by Captain America himself…

The entire final issue takes place at the wake for Stiltman, the semi-pro super villain killed by Frank castle in the first issue, and features very little of the Punisher at all. The focus of the issue is the criminals and villains who have gathered at a bar to drink to the memory of the fallen Stiltman. The biggest names in the crowd are Dr. Doom and the Rhino, but others present are: the original prowler, the eel, the always misunderstood gibbon, and the widow princess python. For the majority of the story, these bad guys and gals drink, argue, push and shove, as the mourn the loss of their comrade. As they get drunker, they start to turn on one another (at one point the original prowler accuses another of stealing his costume/identity). Before long, its just another drunken bar brawl featuring wanted criminals and super villains, that comes to a grinding halt when Spiderman walks in…

This is where it gets really weird. Spiderman swings by the bar to pay his respects to the departed, and I have to guess that this is the only reason that the crowd doesn’t attack him. We all know that spidey’s not to be f’d with, but still…all those bad guys and not one of ‘em even wants to pick a fight with an all-alone Spiderman, while drunk?!? I find that hard to believe. Spidey walks in, talks shit, and then leaves . It is only later that we realize that the whole scene is a set up, and that the Punisher was the bartender, serving up poisoned drinks to the crowd the whole time. He exits the building, followed by explosions, and we see that all those bad guys have been punished!!!!

That’s where this book ends. I’m not sure if there are others yet, but if there are, hopefully they will fill in what is right now a very obscure and incomplete part of the Civil War story line. Like I said, I enjoyed the comic…I’m just not sure how it fits in.

Rufus Spidermang

 

 

Did anyone see the new South Park!?

Here we go again:

For another week in a row, I was unable to finish the Punisher War Journal. I have no excuse, other than I just never picked it up. I started another Spiderman (the hardcover edition Stevzie dropped off last weekend), and finished the X-Men: Deadly Genesis I’d been working on, but I’m tired of writing about the X-men! I need something new…

Fortunately, there’s South Park. In the previous episodes of the last 2 weeks, the town of South Park has turned into comic book/action movie parody mode, and has produced an high-quality adventure that could wow Stan Lee himself. The episodes mainly take their cue from the Batman Begins/Dark Knight films directed by Christopher Nolan, with a lot of shadows, feathery dialogue, and inclement thunder and lightning. At certain moments however, the cartoon characters are drawn as comic book story pages, giving them an edge and bringing them to life in a more powerful way than usual.

Each of the boys of South Park has created, and is portraying, their own superhero. The movement of the story comes from trying to figure out which boy is what superhero. Some clues are given along the way, but until midway through the 2nd episode it is still unclear who is who… Superhero charcters include: Tupperware, The Mosquito, Toolshed, Mysterion, The Human Kite, The Coon, Captain Hindsight and Mintberry Crunch.

I was really impressed by the drawings of the characters of SP as comics. Of course, there is the recognizable, cheesy animation feel, but the actual comic drawings were really fresh!! Whether it’s the back-story of how Captain Hindsight came to possess such incredible hindsight, the Coon narrowly defeating the evil-girl-villain, or creatures from another dimension breaking through the giant BP oil-spill hole to take over the planet, each of the drawings was done with perfect comic book accuracy. I imagined, as I watched, that the animators had probably got to consult a number of actual comic books as research for these eventual South Park drawings. What a cool job I thought; to read comics as inspiration for the work you have to do…that would be al-right…

RS

(can’t guess who the Coon is? Catch this week’s South Park at: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e12-mysterion-rises)

The new X-men…surprisingly dark.

Hello again,

No, I still haven’t read the Punisher War Journal that I wrote about last week. I’ve looked at the cover a couple times, and almost picked it up once, however the House of M story lines in the other comics Stevzie showed me, won’t let me leave them alone. I promise, that after I’m done with the remaining House of M comics, I will dive into and examine the Punisher, and his war journal…

This week:

I just finished reading the 2nd volume of the new X-men entitled Childhood’s End. The events occur immediately after M-day, the day when all but 198 mutants were instantaneously stripped of their powers. As a result, the Xavier Institute in Westchester, NY, is now the mutants only safe haven, though some may consider it a prison.

As students attempt to control there emotions, and find someone or something to trust, they find themselves in battle with an even deadlier foe. The reverend William Striker, claiming he is a prophet of God sent to “solve” the mutant problem, takes his army of religious zealots-armed to the teeth-to the mansion on a search out and destroy mission. His goons, believing striker to be a prophet, will stop at nothing to eradicate the mutants and students being housed in the institute. Even with O*N*E sentinels stationed outside the mansion, Striker’s men, along with members of the sapien league, launch a full scale attack on the home of the X-men…

The theme of the X-men has always been the battle between misunderstood mutants and scared or worried humans. The X-men attempt to bridge this gap by fighting for mutant rights but against mutant extremists. They walk a fine line, battling humans and mutants alike, with the hope that, in the end, peace will prevail. Following the events of M-day however, mutants have a new worry: if they have lost their powers, how will the adapt to being human once more? If they remain as mutants, how will they face the threat of being even more outnumbered by humans calling for their imprisonment or extinction?…

As a side note: X-23 has been accepted into the new X-men and still takes no prisoners!!! At one point, she disguised herself in the burka warn by Sooraya a.k.a dust, to infiltrate Stryker’s base. Gaurds, believing her to be Sooraya, shoot her and leave her for dead, unaware that X-23′s healing ability will allow her to pick herself up and continue on. She unleashes another blood bath on the guards, and foils Stryker’s plans…

I’m gonna try to finish the stack of comics I have by tomorrow, so that me and Stevzie can trade up over the weekend. I haven’t seen the kid in awhile, but, as usual, we should have a lot to talk about.

RS.

 

 

Can’t believe it took me this long to write about Spiderman!…

Rufus Spiderman here!

It’s surprising that I’ve waited this long to read and write about a Spiderman comic. Don’t get me wrong, I have been reading Spidey, I have just been so wrapped up in the continuing Civil War saga, that my mind has been adrift…

I’m getting ready to read Punisher War Journal, which is the Punisher portion of the Civil War story, and a book which comes highly recommended from Stevzie. I remember he told me about it awhile back, saying it was awesome however, I haven’t read many Punisher comics in the past, so i don’t really know what to expect. Of course I know that Punisher is really Frank Castle, and he..uh…punishes,.. right? (just kidding). He is a huge dude, with a bad-ass attitude, and an arsenal to match. Other than that, I don’t really remember the story lines too much; I do remember playing as his character in video games when I was younger, and that he could do some serious damage, but still feel like I need to catch back up with why he has been punishing? Vengence, I think…

More recently:

I just finished reading Spiderman: Son of the Green Goblin. This is the story of Harry Osborne, son of Norman Osborne- the original Green Goblin. Harry is following in his late father’s footsteps by replacing him as Spiderman’s first, and most well known enemy. Harry, equipped with the knowledge of Spiderman’s secret identity, has sworn revenge on the web-slinging superhero, whom he blames for his father’s death. Osborne has taken a more potent supply of the formula that originally drove his father insane and, as a result, has increased his strength and ability. However, he has also lost control of his emotions and his mind…

With this new Goblin comes an added element of conflict. Harry and Peter, formerly best friends, are now sworn enemies, and both lives suffer as a result. Harry’s marriage is in jeopardy, Aunt May and Mary Jane are rarely safe from a goblin attack, leaving Peter vulnerable to schemes which compromise their safety. Meanwhile, Peter still cares about Harry, even if he has been threatening to kill him. The two men are fighting a surface battle between one another which alludes to the inner battles they fight with themselves. Each man is forced to question what’s more important: friendship or family? revenge or loyalty? love or anger?

This inevitably leads to a number of different fights between Spidey and the new Green Goblin. Of course, I love Spiderman. At the same time, I’m a pretty big fan of the villains that plague him from week to week. Goblin’s pumpkin-bombs are sweet, especially the ones drawn in the 60′s Spidermans, which are basically just a flaming jack ‘o lantern that explodes. I’d forgotten how creepy the original Goblin mask looked in these comics, and how tough of a time Spiderman has when fighting this most powerful foe. The two exchange some pretty powerful blows, but in the end, Spidey is victorious…

As a side note, I want to speak to all the cynical comic book movie fans out there who criticize the movies that have been made from these comics. As i read, I noticed plot threads which could be construed as the original inspiration for what would eventually become Spiderman or Spiderman 2. And while the movie-makers may not have stuck as true to the storyline as they could have, I think there is an honest effort to adapt these comics into movies. A few examples i noticed were: Harry’s problems with alcohol and anger, Harry’s obsession with his father’s portrait, Norman Osborne’s death at his own hand while attempting to kill spiderman (even if it was Gwen Stacy, and not Mary Jane, who was in danger at the time). Of course we would all like the movies to follow more closely the story lines we remember, but I’m not sure if this would be possible without it seeming hokey or poorly constructed. Sometimes we have to sacrifice what is fantastic about comics, for the chance to see our favorite superheroes come to life…

RS

P.S. I will, however, admit that most of the Spiderman movies focus way too much on whether or not Peter is kissing Mary Jane.

Comics and video games work so well together.

I returned a stack of comics to stevzie today. 5 books, with 5 or so issues in each books, so roughly 25 comics, cared for, read, then replaced, back on the shelves in their proper order. not bad for a weeks worth of action-adventure cartooning…

Earlier:

steve and I were gonna play some video games. Its been a little while, but last time we played Ultimate Alliance 2, where a foursome of the baddest superheros and villains can be teamed up to complete missions. True to form, the last time we played I spent the majority of the time as either Venom or Carnage. Spidey is pretty cool, i guess, but the web swinging feature isn’t as dynamic as in other Spiderman games I’ve played, and I found myself more interested in what Captain America’s sheild could do*. We played a few missions, mostly to see what each character could do. Superhero’s powers can also combine to do some serious damage to enemy combatants. Overall, the game is pretty sweet, but we didn’t get a chance to play today, because stevzie had to study for a test.

I told Stevzie how many comics I’d been reading lately, and thanked him for his generous lending. He looked at me solemnly, and said, “I’m glad somebody gets a chance to read ‘em”. He told me how busy he’s been lately, trying to get over being sick, as well as working and studying. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t got a chance to read any comics lately. That, however, wasn’t the case…

He immediately handed me a hardcover edition of the New Avengers, the book he is currently reading. And while he may not be as far into it as he might have been with a little free time on his hands, he was far enough along to know to force me to read the first two issues of the series right there in front of him. Again, All my favorite supers, right there in the first ten pages. We agreed that since he’s still reading it, that I shouldn’t borrow it, but rather, read it intermittently, a little here and there upon each visit…

sounds like my kinda deal.

Rufus Spiderman

*answer: wreck shit.

Stevzie: Revealed!!

Here’s a little background…

I’ve known Stevzie for a couple years. We worked together, is how I met him, but we became friends quickly based on a shared interest in comic books, movies, video games, and stupid inside jokes, usually at the expense of his former roommate. We have a lot in common, including the fact that we both work night jobs around our school schedules. This can be a tough balancing act, and we don’t always get to discuss comics as in-depth as either of us would like…

I think that Steve is like me, being more of a Marvel fan than DC (don’t worry, his collections consists of both). I don’t know if I could tell you who his favorite superhero is (if I had to narrow it down I would say either Iron Man or Captain America.., no wait, Thor, or Xavier, Mrs. Marvel…magneto??), but he could definitely tell you that mine is Spiderman. I mean, this is how we started discussing comics in the first place; he learned that I was a huge Spiderman nerd, and then proceeded to call me, “nerdy, nerdy, nerd”. Okay, not really, but he did put me onto some fresh Spiderman comics I may not have read otherwise. I think the first one he let me borrow was the Spiderman civil war. If you’ve read any of my last posts, you know that i’ve been super geeked up on the civil war series lately, and since then, I’ve only dug myself in deeper. That first Spiderman civil war shows Spidey, initially on Iron Man’s side, defect to Captain America’s team once he learns he can no longer support Tony Stark’s cause. At the time, I thought this was a groundbreaking realization, and that Peter Parker was to be the hero of this civil war…How little i knew…

Since then, I’ve been reading everything Stevzie gives me. He noticed my interest in the civilwar stories and has been catching me up on background information ever since. Concurrently, he was breaking into the House of M comics, in which Marvel realities have been changed, and all superheroes now live in a world where mutants are the dominant race and Magneto ( M: Magnus) is in charge. Stevzie had been telling me how good this book was, even before I was caught up on the story lines enough to know what was going on. I told him how much i enjoyed the civil war books, and his only response was, “I gotta get you started on the House of M!”. But first, I had to read Avengers: Disassembled. And I had to read an X-men, before I could even read the Avengers…He kept listing off titles I needed to become familiar with, before I could get into the series that he just couldn’t put down… 

I felt like i was being given homework, but the good kind of homework, where people shoot lasers from their eyes, and alter universes with their minds. In the end it was worth it. One night, after stevzie got off work, he stopped by my house to drop off the required reading that would catch me up to the House of M. I returned the comics I had just finished reading to him, then and there thinking, what a cool move…to not only lone me comics, but to bring them by after he got off work, simply so I could enjoy reading a new and awesome story. The House of M, by the way, is freaking awesome. All my favorite heroes are there, and what’s even sweeter is the knowledge that when I’m finished with these, Stevzie will have a whole new batch waiting for me…thanks buddy!!

Rufus Spiderman.

P.S. Stevzie’s real favorite hero is Wolverine, or Kitty Pride.

X-men origins?!

Hello all,

I finished reading the X-men first class finals. The book itself is quite interesting, as it includes issues of both original X-men, and the “all-new, all-different X-men”. I was first introduced to the X-men when I was a kid, mostly the new X-men and the X-men cartoon. I have since been intimately familiar with Rogue, Storm, Wolverine (obviously), Cyclops, Professor X, and Beast as a big, blue animal. I remember Magneto, Sabertooth, and the sentinels as the X-men’s primary enemies…

What I wasn’t really aware of were the adventures of the original X-men. The original X-men were comprised of Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Gray, Iceman, Angel, and the Beast, mostly human, with absolutely no blue fur. The original X-men are all dressed in one piece black and yellow jumpsuits, and there is no Wolverine to speak of. Mutants still possess the powers we know them to have today, and details from these early story lines appear as inspiration for later story lines that I’m familiar with, such as: Jean Gray’s amazing telekinetic abilities that border on being dangerous, and Professor X’s having set up mental blocks to curb her awareness of her potential power. Seeing Beast as more human than animal was confusing at first, but after I recognized who he was, I was glad to see him kicking ass and being brilliant, as I’ve been used to. Overall, I was glad that they included early story lines I wasn’t familiar with, even if I there was no Wolverine to speak of.

The second set of comics included in this collection was the origins of the all-new, all-different X-men. I wasn’t at all familiar with the crazy, obviously ’80s comic book story line that claims the creation of the new X-men. In brief, the original X-men go to the Island of Krakoa, looking for an unknown mutant, and never return. Cyclops wakes up alone after an unknown amount of time, without the slightest idea what happened to him or where his friends are. He returns to the School for Gifted Youngster (really the X-men’s secret hideout), where he and Xavier begin looking for answers. They decide to recruit a new team of mutants to supplement the X-men until Professor X can discover what happened to the others on the mysterious island.

The two set out and successfully recruit: Storm, Wolverine, Banshee, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Sunfire, and Thuderbird. Each mutant is found in a different country, and makes the X-men a sort of international mutant alliance. In this manner, everyone should befriend the X-men, because they represent the entire Earth as it battles the forces of evil. This may be one of the reasons that X-men became and continues to be so popular; anybody who reads them can relate to at least one of the characters, and as a unit, cheer for all of them to overcome forces of destruction.

In the end, the team returns to the island of Krakoa where it is discovered that the island itself is the mutant that the original X-men set out looking for. The island is actually a mutant, named Krakoa, who has captured the original X-men and is feeding off of their mutant energies. The island is also using Xavier’s mental abilities to manipulate cyclops into forming a new team of X-men, which can then become food for Krakoa when it convinces them to return to the island, in search of the original group. This seems like a wacky, hard to follow plot,(like I said very ’80s). In actuality, it makes sense in that comic book way, where anything and everything can become an enemy, and just as easily, the superheroes can use crazy schemes and sci-fi/fantasy logistics to create ways to defeat the heretofore unstoppable bad guy. These issues were no exception, for that is precisely what happened. Long story short, this was a creative way to create more X-men, while still retaining the original members. The x-men return to the school twice as strong, with a stronger resolve to create peace for mutants and humans alike.

As a comic book fan, It is important to know the origins of characters. Reading stories like this reminds us of the longevity of these comics, whose characters have been around since the ’60s and ’70s. By looking back, we get a chance to see how far comics have evolved, and in a lot of ways, how they have remained the same.

Rufus Spiderman