Dream Waves: Planetary

TGIF!!!!!


Haven't done one of these in good while either, an edition of Dream Waves, where I blog about a dream wave of figures I'd love to see made.

Now this one's going to be a little different in that I'll be applying the same strategies and sensibilities I'd normally apply to the Marvel Legends line. In fact that's  exactly how I'll be setting this one up.....except this time I'm talking about a DC/Wildstorm property instead of the usual Marvel one.

Blame Googum for it, since he brought up Warren Ellis and John Cassidy's Planetary to me last week.

I thought about it, and here's how I'd design a couple waves of Planetary figures if given the chance.
And yes Virginia, there will be some derivatives of Marvel and DC characters, as well as old pulp heroes from the 30's. I'll just be trying my best to keep those to a minimum.

Also, yes, I'm aware that back in the late 90's to early 00's DC did put out a couple Planetary figures through their DC Direct line back in the day. But they only put out the main 3 characters of Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner, and Drummer.

There's a whole slew of characters that never got made from the series.

Well today I'll rectify that and present my ideal Planetary line of figures.
Let's do this.....


Planetary Wave 1:


1). Elijah Snow

2). The Drummer

3). Jakita Wagner

4). Dr. Randal Dowling 



5). Kim Suskind 

6). William Leather 

7). Lord Blackstock

BAF: Jacob Greene

Planetary Wave 2:


1). Doc Axel Bronze 

 2). Ambrose Chase 



3).  The Dark Millionaire 


4). The Dead Ranger


5). John Stone 


6). Jim Wilder

7). Hark

BAF: ?

Honestly I'm not sure who or what to use as a second build-a-figure.

Their version of the Hulk from the Planetary Preview? Any of the Godzilla-inspired monsters?
The Dead version of their Galactus? I have no idea.

Anyways that's what I would do if I could plan out and create an action figure sub-line from the Planetary series.

What you guys think?

So, Who Would Win?: The Fantastic Four VS. The Four

TGIT!!!!!


Welcome to another edition of So, Who Would Win?, where I pit a team of super-powered individuals against each other, or rather a one on one battle between two super-powered beings to see who'd be the last man standing.

This week I'm closing out my birth month of August with a battle between the first family of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four and their darker, evil counterparts, The Four.





Now honestly this has been a fight I've been wanting to see for some time now, ever since Warren Ellis and John Cassidy's evil and twisted version of the FF first appeared in the pages of Planetary #6 (May 1999). 

The Four came to be after their mission to outer space had them instead run into the Bleed, an interdimensional highway to the multiverse. It was there, that they met up with an extremely powerful and advanced race of alien beings that spared their lives and gave them super powers in return for the Four allowing them to successfully invade Earth. They did this over the next 50 years by undermining and subverting any attempt or uprising of super-powered beings that could possibly disrupt that plan.

Actions like these, as well as various atrocities and cruel, scientific experimentations by Dowling is what brought the Four into a long conflict with the Planetary organization.

Eventually Planetary won, and the Four was finally defeated for good in Planetary #26.

Now let's compare the two teams stats and see how they stack up against each other:

-The Fantastic Four:


1). Mr. Fantastic -

Abilities	Genius-level intellect Extreme superhuman elasticity, malleability, and endurance Resistance to most physical assaults and electricity Virtual immunity to psychic powers

2). The Invisible Woman-

Abilities	Competent martial artist Invisibility Projected invisibility Invisible force field projection (which bestows the ability to generate protective invisible shields and invisible energy constructs as well as the power to control and manipulate objects)

3). The Human Torch-

Abilities	Pyrokinesis Fiery form that enables flight, serves as damage shield Heat energy absorption Resistance to extreme heat

4). The Thing-

Abilities	Skilled street fighter and hand to hand combatant Superhuman strength, stamina and durability Rock-like skin Excellent dexterity Above-average reflexes Enhanced lung capacity

The Four:

1). Randall Dowling- Dowling himself has the ability to "stretch" his mind, and "pilfer" information from the minds of those who have been in his proximity.

2). Kim Suskind- Endowed with the powers of invisibility and force field generation.
She wears special goggles that Dowling invented for her; these goggles enable her to see when using her powers, as light passes through an invisible woman's eyes.

3). William Leather- amplified strength, durability and energy projection, the latter his point of similarity to the Fantastic Four's Human Torch.

4). Jacob Greene- mutated into an immensely durable but hideous being (similar to the Fantastic Four's Thing)

As you can see, both teams are pretty evenly-matched in terms of powers and skills, with one notable exception in the case of Dowling; he can't stretch his body like Reed can, but rather "stretch" his mind to invade the minds of others and gather any information he wants. Now whether or not this counts as a psychic attack that Mr. Fantastic is supposed to be immune to, I don't know, but kinda' sounds like it.

Now one on one, it looks the Four could possibly, POSSIBLY, squeeze out a victory.
Why do I say that?

Well.....

• While Dowling is as smart as Reed, his powers are such that, if Reed can resist Dowling invading his mind, then Reed's got this easy.
• Sue's powers are more powerful than Suskind's not to mention she doesn't need special goggles to see, so right there Sue has a distinct advantage. All she has to do is damage or disable those goggles, and that's it, game over for Suskind.
• Leather has enhanced strength and durability, which may give him that little bit of an edge over Johnny if they're already evenly matched. 
• Likewise, it seems just based off the way Ellis portrayed Greene, that he was probably stronger and overall tougher than our boy Ben. The fact that the only way that Snow and his crew could neutralize Greene was by banishing him to the darkest depths of space since they couldn't kill him, even with all their technological resources, should speak volumes to just how tough Greene really was.

All that being said, I expect one hell of a fight, no matter the duration, especially since the Four really are more ruthless and sadistic than their more heroic counterparts, but not necessarily more powerful.



So,

The Fantastic Four













VS.

The Four






Who wins and why?
As always I'm curious what you guys think, so feel free to leave your thoughts and speculations in the comments' section.

Have a good weekend folks....

So, Who Would Win?: Kurt Busiek's Thunderbolts VS. Warren Ellis's Thunderbolts

TGIT!!!!!!

What's up People?
For this week's edition of So, Who Would Win? I'm pitting Kurt Busiek's original Thunderbolts against Warren Ellis's version of the Thunderbolts.

Why? Because I can, and it sounds like a really, really fun fight.

Now if some of you don't remember by now, the major twist and hook at the end of first issue of the original Thunderbolts run, was that they were all classic villains posing as heroes, all led by Baron Zemo, posing as the patriotic hero Citizen V.

The main hook for Ellis's version of the Thunderbolts, was that they were all criminals who were legally-sanctioned to hunt down heroes and villains alike who violated the registration law post-Civil War.
This incarnation was led by now government operative Norman Osbourne, AKA, the Green Goblin.

How cool would it be to see these two similar, but also vastly different iterations of the same team face off against each other?

That's what I want to know.

Here's the roster for the original Thunderbolts:

• Citizen V (Baron Zemo)
• Meteorite (Moonstone)
• Atlas (Goliath)
• Songbird (Screaming Mini)
• Techno (The Fixer)
• Mach V (The Beetle)

And now here's the roster for Ellis's Thunderbolts:

• Norman Osbourne (Green Goblin)
• Moonstone 
• Bullseye 
• The Radioactive Man
• Venom (The Scorpion)
• The Swordsman (Andre Strucker)
• Songbird 
• Penance (Speedball)

Now as you can plainly see, at least two of the members from the first incarnation are also on the Goblin-led one, so that automatically makes it even more interesting to watch play out.

And no, I didn't add Jolt to the original line-up because she wasn't part of the initial original line-up, and 'cause I said so.

So, 

Kurt Busiek's Thunderbolts 

VS.

Warren Ellis's Thunderbolts 

 

Who wins and why?.
Let me know who thinks the last team standing in the comments' section below.

Top 5: Creators that should tackle DC's Metal Men

TGIT!!!!

Still recovering from the fine Christmas feast and hangovers are we?
Don't worry, 'cause you're not the only ones. Apparently some of the elves around the House of Fun(*cough Ben Grimm, Nick Fury, Hal, cough cough) can't seem to hold their holiday cheer like they used to. Oh well, it tends to happen with age.

Well how you guys celebrated Christmas, I hope you all got what you wanted, or needed. And at the vry least, something good. If not, well, there's always next year I suppose.

Now onto today's edition of the Top 5.
I was thinking about what the hell I could possibly talk about, then I remebered I haven't done a list concerning certain comic characters or teams and who should work on them that already hasn't.

So for today, the subject of this particular Top 5, are the Metal Men.

Yes, the Metal Men. Those wild and wacky silver age robots who were the brainchildren of famous silver age writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru.

As the creations of brillant scientist Dr. Will Magnus, the Metal Men were created with a unique invention called a Responsometer which gives each robot his and her own unqiue personality according to the main element their created from.

In case you didn't already know, there names are Lead, Iron, Tin, Platinum, and Gold. There's supposed to be another one called Copper as well, but I'm not sure if she's still being used or not. Hell, Doc Magnus himself was once a Metal Man, but I think that was ret-conned into be a dream/hallucination.

It's amazing to think the Metal Men have been around for over 50 years, and yet they don't have a regular title(they did back in the day, but not anymore) and instead are merely treated as bit players in the DCU. Shame really, considering the crazy amount of potential a damn good writer could pull out of them.

And so here's the Top 5 list of comic writers I wouldn't mind taking a stab at those lovable robotic misfits.

5). Kieron Grant.


Kieron Grant's proven himself to be the type of writer that elevates lesser known or lesser used characters, leaving them much better than he found them. And isn't what a great writer does? Just look at the sucess and praise he's amassed since writing Loki, Thor, Phonograph, and now Young Avengers and Iron Man. With Young Avengers, he took a great cast of young heroes, and turned them into legit stars, where lesser writers might've bungled and fucked them up. Not Grant. He has a unique way of making his characters shine with their own brand of wit and grace.

I'd expect no less from him were to tackle a concept like The Metal Men. I can only imagine just how much more social and meta-commentary we'd get from the team,as well as the kind of innovative layouts and 4th Wall-breaking we've already seen in his Young Avengers run. So yeah, a mini or a couple of arc from Kieron Grant, and I bet creators will be breaking the doors down to work the Metal Men again.
Seriously just think of the fun and depth he'd get out each one of the Metal Men's personalities, and you tell me you wouldn't be the least bit interested. I dare you.

 4). Adam Warren.


Speaking off fun and robots, look no further than this guy, Adam Warren. Warren's famous for his work on the Dirty Pair, Gen 13, and other various titles. He's tackled the subject of robots before when he created the mini-series LiveWires, about a group of walking, robotic WMD, pulled from various bad guy groups from the Marvel U. If he can make those characters look awesome, imagine what the Metal Men would look like as drawn by Adam Warren. I guarentee you Platinum and Copper would look even hotty than normal. And if you've seen the way he draws women, than you know what I'm talking about. I guess that'd be one way to make Doctor Magnus notice Platinum more, as creepy as that is;)

3). Warren Ellis.


Would you trust your kids alone with this man? Maybe not, but you'd let him write you some kick-ass and intriguing stories though. Considered the 21st Century's answer to Alan Moore, Ellis has been around for, what over 20 years, writing various titles for various publishers around the world. Most notably Marvel, where write Thor, X-Man and Excalibur, and DC, where he wrote The Authority and Planetary.

I picked this guy because he's at his best when he's writing about technology, as evidenced by his Iron Man: Extremis work, and Doktor Sleepless and Anna Mercury for Avatar Comics. He just knows how to come up or use the right amount of belivible gadgets and upgrades to make you wonder. Even more scary when you think how some of the stuff he comes up with, winds up turning up for real later down the road.

I'd imagine he give the Metal Men a darker, more grittier edge and feel, but enough of his infamous dark humor would be display. I'm just curious on how he'd wrap and twist the technology in the book, and how the Metal Men would adapt and evolve under his pen. Probably best you let Ellis have a mini by himself, but what fun it would be.

2). Mark Waid.


Speaking of fun and the silver age, there's always Mark Waid. If you don't know his work by now, fucking google him. He's shown in the past, and even now with Daredevil, that not only does he write the characters he handles well, but especially in the cases of longtime comic stables like Captain America or Flash, he elevates and reveers them. He writes and treats them with the  utmost respect, all the while makng them fresh and exciting for a new generation. Just look at his work on JLA: Year One. I imagine it was this maxi-series that really helped grease the wheels over at DC and set them in motion to eventually bring back both Hal and Barry, which eventually did happen.

Plus he's just really good at humor and character work, getting to the heart of a person, and going from there. And as a lover of all things silver age, you know the Metal Men are relatively safe in his hands. No unnecessary ret-conned bad pasts or skeletons in the closet for them.

1). Grant Morrison.


Speaking of  a lover of all things silver age and wild ideas, none get wilder, than those that come out of this guy's head. Ol' Mr.Morrison's long proven he can always find new and exciting takes on older properties. Just look at the new ideas and fresh coats of paint he put on characters like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Batman, and The X-Men.

He almost never seems to run out of ideas, themes maybe, but never new ideas. I can only imagine all of the wild and crazy fantastical ideas he'd use to showcase the Metal Men. Not to mention the ways in which he'd highlight there different personalities. Hell, his Doc Magnus alone might get many to ask for a Doc Magnus solo.

And that my friends is a the Top 5 list of comic creators that haven't worked on the Metal Men(that I know of) but should.

Have a good weekend folks:)

90's Week: Day 4

TGIT!!!!!!!

Well we've finally come to the end of 90's week here @ The House. It's okay, don't be sad.

I do want to correct an error on my part from yesterday's post. I accidently left the Stone Temple Pilots off my influential rock list. As I mentioned before, I'm pretty sure I heard their music before borrowing their debut album from a friend in middle school. After that, I was hooked and became a fan for life.

So, sorry guys:(

I was thinking of what to topic/subject to wrap up with since I've already covered some TV shows, cartoons, and music.

I was debating whether or not to talk about the toys, but then I've already briefly done that in a post from 2011, when talking about the X-Men Toy Biz figures I bought up like crazy back then.

Then I figured, well maybe wrestling, but then Shlomo would just call it silly(Love ya' Bear Jew;)

So, I guess I'm stuck with the comics side of the 90's.

You know, that decade, depending on who you talk to about, either consider it a low point from comics, or a decent enough era that set up the new millenium.

I think the truth, like most things, lies in the middle.
After all thanks to Image Comics back then, the industry was all about the art, with less attention or stardom heaped on the writers. Plus the gimmick covers. Oh sweet Jesus the gimmick covers!!!!

So yeah, there was both good and bad, so here's just a few samples of the good stuff that stood out to me during the 90's.


1). Image Comics.

Yes, Image Comics. I know they got a bad rap in the early days for it's bad writing that had little to no substance, over-reliance on gimmick covers, and characters that looked too much like exact clones of the more famous Marvel and DC characters. But really in hindsight, was that all that surprising considering it was mainly artists and not writers that created that company?

Really the only one worth a damn as a writer back then was Erik Larsen. Someone had to be while everyone else was content just to be superstar artists. Maybe it's not their faults that their main strengths and attraction was the pretty pictures they drew and the sexy, almost naked chicks that made Fanboys like me drool.
At least they tried. Hell the only successful marketer of the group was Todd McFarlane, and that was with just one character versus the gazillions of characters the other creators(with the possible exception of Larsen) throw out there.

 But that's all in hindsight now. Back then, I didn't care if how bad the stories were, because like everyone else I cared more about the pretty pictures and wild-ass characters that made up the early Image roster.
1995 was the year of Image Comics for me, since once I discovered the product, I was instantly hooked. I'd go on to hunt and scour down every back issue of the titles I liked until I was satisfied.

Early favorites included:

The Maxx, Bloodstrike, Brigade(still miss that title actually) Supreme(yeah I know, I know;) Youngblood and any extra title associated with it, Cyberforce, Shadowhawk, WildC.A.T.S., and Glory(but only because she was drawn so sexy. What? I was a young teenage boy, you do the math)

Say what you will, but without those first years of trial and error, Image wouldn't be the more well-rounded, balanced publisher it's now become in the last decade or so. Well that, and thanks to Robert Kirkman obviously;)

2). DC Deaths

DC had to do something, anything to compete with the red-hot Image Comics and their stranglehold on the industry back then. So some genius in marketing said "Hey, I know! Let's kill and/or replace some of our iconic characters. That'll bring 'em back in!"
Well at least that's how I imagine it went;)













So off to the races DC went, killing off their cash cow Superman, crippling and replacing Batman, and Turning Hal Jordan heel and replacing him, while simultaneously eradicating the the entire GLC.

Good God DC was cleaning house!

The last bits of of those types of tactics was a little event called Zero Hour(Loved it back then) which effectively killed off the trusty old JSA, almost killing Wally West, and Superman's duel identity of Clark Kent(which didn't stick for very long either)

DC got their extra revenue, press, and attention, but it wouldn't last long after blowing their load so to speak, and ruining characters like Hal Jordan and Hawkman for a very long time.

3). Heroes Reborn

If you want to really talk about a polarizing topic, just bring the now infamous take over of the popular mainstay titles of Marvel Comics by Rob Liefield and Jim Lee. A collective groan is more than expected when this object of discussion is brought up. Yes it didn't age well, as in at all, but it was a quick shot in the arm for a company facing bankruptcy.

Yes you heard me right, bankruptcy. Back in late '96-'97, the House of Ideas was staring the dread B-word in the face and fast. So then Marvel Comics EIC Bob Harras and the powers that be decided to they needed to do something, and do something quick. So gave Jim Lee and Rob Liefield(fresh off being ousted from Image) a ringy-dingy, and history was made.

I have to say at the time and being a bit more ignorant of how things in the industry worked back then, this all seemed like a good thing. Books like Avengers, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, were suffering from an all-time low in sales, and this seemed like just the thing the books needed. Of course sacrifices had to be made, and the 1st critically-acclaimed run on Captain America by Mark Waid and Ron Garney was cut short right as it was starting to make become buzz-worthy. The Fantastic Four were also cut short just as Carlos Pacheco getting warmed up, and then there was Warren Ellis' too brief run on Thor.


Thanks to Professor X going bad(again) and becoming Onslaught, the Avengers and FF were forced to conveniently sacrifice their lives so that they Lee and Liefield could give them all makeovers Image Comics-style.

It was fun for a bit, but then one by one, creators came and went, and by the second year it was mercifully put out of its misery. It really was something exciting at first, but just went to shit faster than Liefield's rendition of Captain Man-Boobs America.















4). Warren Ellis is God!

Well okay not really, but he's pretty damn popular.
The late 90's, not to mention the coming decade would not have been as exciting if it wasn't for this man.

All I have to say is Stormwatch, The Authority, and Planetary and you already know where I'm going with this.

Ellis brought something new to the table. He brought excitement and wonderment back. Not to mention, along with Grant Morrison, single-handedly invented the Michael Bay-esque wide-screen action/adventure comic.


He turned what could've easily amounted to nothing more than a true 90's rip-off of the JLA in the Authority,  into a fresh concept. If these guys were the JLA, they were the JLA like you wish they were; proactive killing machines that got the job  done, no matter the difficulty level, just without the pesky moral dilemma of killing people.

And then there was Planetary.











Only Ellis could make a concept like Super-powered archaeologists work, and work he did, along side artist extraordinaire John Cassidy. Planetary allowed to explore the hidden world of the then Wildstorm Universe, showcasing all sorts of weird and secret going-ons, while allowing readers to feel as they were going to these wild and exotic places along with Elijah Snow, The Drummer, and Jakita Wagner.

Plus Ellis' version of an evil Fantastic Four in the, well, The Four, was fun as hell to watch.

Thankfully Ellis and Cassidy got to end the book they wanted too, but I wouldn't be against an occasional special every now and then. Oh wait, that'll probably never happen because of the stupid DC reboot. Damn you Didio!!!!!!!

5). Grant Morrison's JLA


It just wouldn't be a true 90's list, without mentioning the true saving grace of DC back then. Hey, that's no bullshit either!

The Justice League as a team and concept wasn't much to look at back then. It was mostly comprised of some main-eventers like Wally West Flash, WW, and maybe Hawkman(?) with the rest being second- and third-stringers like Blue Beetle, Metamorpho, Ice Maiden, Crimson Fox, Obsidian, and Nukleon.

When Morrison was announced to takeover the book with a new #1, fans were skeptical, and rightfully so. After all, Morrison at that point was mainly known as that "Edgy Vertigo Guy", so there was plenty trepidation about someone like him taking over a mainstream title, and a huge franchise one at that.






But Morrison pretty quickly proved the naysayers wrong with his White Martian Invasion story-line  and from the there the hits just kept coming. JLA vs. the forces of Heaven, "Rock of Ages", Prometheus, His Crisis from the 5th Dimension, and so on. Not to mention Earth 2 and his last arc, World War 3.

I also cannot forget or stress enough just how awesome series artist Howard Porter was on that book. No doubt inspired by Morrison's love of all things Silver Age, Porter infused every panel and page with true creative energy that just made the every scene pop out at you with excitement and wonder.

That'll do it for me this week. As always, feel free to comment like a motherfucker on what you read, or skipped over. it's all good in the hood;)

Have a good weekend people......