Superhero: More Than Just A Word

       The definition of superhero is defined as an extraordinary being with powers or abilities far beyond those of mortal humans, but superheroes represent more then just an apt description reminding us of how insignificant we are. Superheroes inspire us, motivate us and ultimately give us access into another universe full of characters supernatural and/or out of this world (literally). It starts at an early age, or birth if you have parents that dressed you up in a Superman costume at the hospital (do they even make costumes that small) and the appeal lasts a lifetime. What begins mostly as a harmless hobby or overwhelming obsession grows into a "career" of collectables, collections and objects deemed worthless to others, but priceless to its owner. These are comic book fans. Whether one was in the store when the first issue of Action Comics was released, or whether a young child just picked up the latest issue yesterday, comic fans are comic fans and they will never change. 

      It all started with the creation of a character born in the deep reaches of space, the last son of Krypton we've come to know as Superman. The tone darkens a year later when Batman is created. The first two superheroes opened a gateway into another reality, which would soon be inhabited by hundreds of thousands of heroes, villains, supporting cast, cities, galaxies, and tales so suspenseful they make us want more. At the root of it all one would look at a comic book fan and just assume that it's an interest, something to pass the time when we've finished our homework and have no date to the movies, but every fan knows that somewhere down the line we come to think of comics as more then just a piece of fiction, media created just for a few moments of enjoyment, but something real, another world we wish was our own with powers and lives we wish we had, characters we relate to and characters that we come to refer to as people, that we care for and cheer for. 

Have You Read: Marvel Civil War

If you’re a fan of comic book “epics”, graphic novel sized stories and tales that take your favorite classic characters and pit them against each other in an original story called Marvel: Civil War.

Civil War is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Marvel tales ever told. This very unique story gathers heroes and villains from across the entire Marvel Universe and integrates them into a brand new story. The basic synopsis of the story involves the government and SHIELD requesting that all superheroes reveal their identities to the world and register with the government. This put the many heroes in a bit of a dilemma. People like Ironman and Mr. Fantastic quickly side with SHEILD, while others like Captain America and Luke Cage decide to become fugitives and rebel against the registration. All of the heroes must choose a side, pitting friends and family against one another in the Marvel Civil War.

If my quick description of the story didn’t persuade you then maybe by telling you this great comic saga includes: the battles of Ironman and Spider-man, Ironman and Cap, an all out war between the heroes of the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker revealing his secret identity to the world and the first appearance of the “Iron Spider” armor designed by Tony Stark, would make up your mind. All of this great action would not have been as great as it is if it weren’t for the tremendous artwork of Steve McNivan, Dexter Vines and Morry Hollowell, along with the superb storytelling by Mark Millar.

-   Spider-man battles Ironman in his newly created Iron Spider costume.

-       Cap and dozens of heroes become criminals in the eyes of SHEILD.

-       This epic ends with an all out showdown between Ironman and Captain America.

Trust me, your opinion of the Marvel Universe will change forever after you read Civil War, but more importantly, the Marvel Universe itself will change after Civil War… check it out, true believers! 

Wallpaper Of The Week: Marvel Civil War

       The other day i was gong through my comic book collection, trying to get some ideas for a "Wallpaper Of The Week", which led me to Marvel's Civil War, one of my personal favorites from the Marvel Universe. So here are just three wallpapers from the Civil War story arc. Enjoy!

Wallpaper Of The Week: Ironman In The Avengers

Ironman fending off an alien invasion, wearing his newest suit of armor in the billion dollar film, The Avengers! Enjoy!

Marvel Series That Ended Too Soon

     It happens all the time, whether it was receiving bad reviews or because the company was being purchased by someone else, some good TV shows just get cancelled and there is nothing that die hard fans can do about it. Three series come to mind, Marvel series to be exact that ended too soon. Each one could have easily pulled off two more marvelous seasons but for whatever the reason, each show ended too soon. Spiderman: Unlimited, Wolverine And The X-Men and The Spectacular Spiderman. I didn’t think much about these series’ abrupt endings until I began watching the new Ultimate Spiderman series and it got me thinking. I’m a fan of the Ultimate series, its been pretty good so far, but I cant help but thinking that, a) This series only exists due to the Spectacular’s cancellation and b) is it too soon for yet another Spidey cartoon?

     In 1999, legendary cartoon shows of the 90’s were coming to an end and most of us thought we wouldn’t see another good superhero cartoon for at least another couple years. Then the WB released an icon in Batman Beyond, set in the same universe as the renowned Batman: The Animated Series, but 50 years in the future. The series was a huge success right from the start and the boys at DC loved it. Marvel began to take notice, although their successful series of the decade like The X-Men, Ironman and Spiderman had ended, Marvel still wanted to compete. So they took their most successful character (old Web-Head) and revamped him the way that DC revamped Batman, creating Spiderman: Unlimited. Taking place some time after the previous Spiderman series finale, it appears that Peter has found the long lost Mary Jane and is living happily with her, until he need to travel to an alternate Earth in order to save John Jameson, the astronaut. Along with a new, high-tech suit, Spiderman encounters alternate versions of The Vulture, Green Goblin and Kraven, not to mention his own versions of Venom and Carnage who followed Jameson to this other world for their own devilish reasons. The premise of the first season was to help Jameson and the rebels take down the High Evolutionary and his band of genetically altered animals so that he and John could return back to their own world, but in the season finale, while stopping the High Evolutionary, Venom and Carnage unleash the Synoptic, a large monster-like symbiote that begins its attack on the city, and then, Boom! Cancelled! Well, it didn’t quite happen that fast. The network is was running on wanted the air time for shows with better ratings so they eventually decided to cut the series from their network. The series only lasted 13 episodes and never made it to a second season. The plot of the next season would have involved the rebels working together with the Beastials to destroy the symbiotes. In my opinion, that would have made damn good television.

Avengers Assembled! Now What?

      I am very proud to say that The Avengers lived up to its name. The characters, the confrontations, the climaxes, all spectacular and exceeding previous expectations. Originally, before viewing the film, my biggest concern was the combination of so many big names. Four out of the six main heroes had their own movie titles, so creating a story that involves them, a large cast of supporting characters and, to top it all off, a villain, I feared the movie would feel too rushed and would cheat some characters out of their deserved spotlight. But director Joss Whedon did it correctly and each hero had their fair share of amazing moments. Now that The Avengers is being called “one of the greatest superhero films of all time” and “the best Marvel movie of all time” and being a film that has just shattered box office records, where do earth’s mightiest heroes go from here?

      This is where, if you haven’t seen the movie, you should probably stop reading (then again, about 500 million people or more have seen the film by now so odds are, you’re probably good to keep reading). But some spoilers do follow.

We're Almost There...

     This has never been done before. I mean this is something different, we have never seen anything like this. Since the release of the first Ironman film in 2008, the geniuses at Marvel studios had been cooking up quite a plan, a plan to join Ironman with the other heroes of the Marvel Universe. After Tony’s first meeting with Nick Fury after the credits of Ironman, every Marvel film afterwards was set in the same world and geared with the same theme, the creation and evolution of “The Avengers Initiative”. Four years in the making, five different films, “earth’s greatest heroes” and we are just two weeks away from superhero history.

     It all began with the birth of Ironman in 2008. After performing several heroic stunts and attracting the media, Tony is approached by Agent Colson, of the Strategic Homeland Interven- you know what I mean. After revealing himself to be the ironclad hero in front of the whole world, Tony is paid a quick visit by the director of SHIELD himself, Nick Fury (who first mentions the Avengers). Later that year The Incredible Hulk was released, which was originally thought to be a sequel to the movie in 2003, but of coarse it wasn’t. The only references made to the Avengers in this film was the use of a serum, resembling the super-solider serum (which Captain America would use later in the Marvel films) and the appearance of Tony Stark, SHIELD’s newest consultant (the events of this Hulk movie were later revealed to have taken place after the events of Ironman 2).