Once upon a time, there were three little comic readers who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them all away from all that and now they work for me. My name is Gavin.

Borderline microscopic week this time around, what with DC taking a siesta due to there being five Wednesdays for the month. I’m joined by the usual crew of David, Was Taters and Space Jawa.

Before I forget, I’d just like to congratulate David on being quoted (as “4thletter”) on the back cover of BPRD: Plague of Frogs Volume 2. Not only that, but he got higher billing than IGN and the other cherry-picked reviewers. Good going, man!

He did get quoted for the first volume too, but that was as “Comics Alliance” so I don’t give a flying fuck. :colbert:

Daredevil #6
Mark Waid and Marcos Martin

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz #3
Eric Shanower and Skottie Young

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Pretty small week on the Marvel front. They were sold out of Fantastic Four, so I only picked up Captain America and Bucky. I got the usual crew this time around with David Brothers, Was Taters and Space Jawa.

Kind of a small week on all fronts, now that I think about it.

All-Star Western #3
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Moritat and Jordi Bernet

Annihilators Earthfall #3
Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Tan Eng Huat

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First off, I got to go to Survivor Series the other day. There I got to meet Zack Ryder’s buddy and supporting character on the Z True Long Island Story, the Big O.

Us internet sidekicks need to stick together, you see.

Well, this is long, long, LONG overdue, isn’t it? Again, I apologize. I simply timed everything wrong when trying for this Summerslam Countdown. I started watching too late and by the time I finished, I only had a day before the first update was due. These updates take a lot out of me, and doing them on a daily basis eats away at me. At a certain point, you just have to wave it away and decide, “You know what? I think I’d rather spend the next couple months writing about superheroes instead.”

Plus other things stepped into the forefront and put this on the backburner. Since it’s been a while, here’s our list so far.

23) Summerslam 1995 (Diesel vs. King Mabel)
22) Summerslam 1997 (Bret Hart vs. Undertaker)
21) Summerslam 1993 (Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger)
20) Summerslam 1999 (Austin vs. Triple H vs. Mankind)
19) Summerslam 1988 (Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks)
18) Summerslam 1994 (Undertaker vs. Undertaker)
17) Summerslam 1996 (Vader vs. Michaels)
16) Summerslam 2007 (Cena vs. Orton)
15) Summerslam 1990 (Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude)
14) Summerslam 2010 (Team WWE vs. Nexus)
13) Summerslam 2000 (Rock vs. Angle vs. Triple H)
12) Summerslam 1992 (Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog)
11) Summerslam 2005 (Hogan vs. Michaels)
10) Summerslam 2009 (Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk)
9) Summerslam 1991 (Match Made in Heaven/Match Made in Hell)
8) Summerslam 1989 (Hogan and Beefcake vs. Savage and Zeus)
7) Summerslam 2003 (Elimination Chamber)
6) Summerslam 2008 (Undertaker vs. Edge)
5) Summerslam 2006 (Edge vs. Cena)
4) Summerslam 2004 (Orton vs. Benoit)

Let’s finish it up with our top three.

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Okay, going a little early on this one. In just a little bit, I’m off to Madison Square Garden to check out Survivor Series. If the entire arena is to be killed due to a cataclysm caused by Mark Henry’s immense rage, know that I wanted to go out this way.

I’m joined by Space Jawa and Was Taters. Taters supplied a panel for Nightwing that, according to her, best describes her feeling on the book as a major Dick Grayson fan.

While I don’t usually want to give out context, the panel right before the one I chose for Avengers Academy features Finesse breaking through a window while screaming, “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” and hitting Magneto in the face with a projectile escrima stick. Balls the size of Celestials.

Wait… does Red Hulk’s voice sound like Deadpool?

Avengers #19
Brian Michael Bendis and Daniel Acuna

Avengers Academy #22
Christos Gage and Sean Chen

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This week I’m joined only by Space Jawa. It’s a somber week of panels, as Darkwing Duck meets its end through the final issue. There are rumors that Disney is going to try to start an imprint within Marvel and I really, really hope it works out.

My comic shop got double copies of Point One, so they did the sensible thing and cut the price in half. Even then, I found I just didn’t care enough to pick it up. I heard the Nova stuff was terrible.

Also, remember, if you see a panel in a new comic and want to see it represented, by all means send me a line.

Avenging Spider-Man #1
Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira

Batman and Robin #3
Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

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Nature forced me to take last week off, so like usual, I just merge last week’s missing update with this week. Probably wasn’t the best plan, since between myself, David Brothers, Was Taters and Space Jawa, we have a total of 55 panels. Great Zampano, that’s hefty!

Space Jawa, by the way, has ended up convincing me to check out the new Ninja Turtles series. The first issue is a bit shaky, but the rest of it has my attention. Especially digging the different origin that goes a long way in explaining why Raphael is the grittier and less refined of the team.

And away we go.

Action Comics #3
Grant Morrison, Rags Morales and Gene Ha

All-Star Western #2 (Was Taters’ pick)
Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Moritat and Jordi Bernet

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Welcome to This Week– ah, screw this. I’m getting my random YouTube clip out of the way. Look at this shit.

What the hell, 80’s? What the hell?

Yeah, so I got David, Was Taters and Space Jawa on board. If ThWiP is about whittling down a comic to one panel, I think we’ve done gangbusters with Supergirl #2.

Avengers #18
Brian Michael Bendis and Daniel Acuna

Batman #2 (Was Taters’ pick)
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

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It’s Sunday, New York Comic Con is over and I am completely exhausted. Wait, shit. It’s Sunday, which means I have to go home to doing a ThWiP update? Ughhhhhhh… All right, let’s get to it.

I’m joined by David Brothers, Was Taters and brand new contributor Solenna. Space Jawa is currently on location in Turkey, filming the next Agent Cody Banks installment. I wish him well.

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #5
Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy

Batman and Robin #2
Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

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blah blah blah panels blah David Brothers, Was Taters blah Space Jawa.

On with the show.

Action Comics #2
Grant Morrison, Rags Morales and Brent Anderson

Animal Man #2
Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman

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I’ve always said that professional wrestling is the most fascinating of all businesses to the point that a lot of the times, the goings on behind the curtain are more intriguing than what’s going on before the audience. Unfortunately, the business is also marred by being incredibly scummy and petty, giving us stories very much like that of the film the Wrestler. Because of that, it’s always nice to see a story that actually gives us a happy ending. Recently, one of the big stories to put a smile on my face is that of Mark Henry.

(Gifs by Jerusalem who is the coolest of cool dudes, except for the Matt Striker one by Klauser, but he’s okay too)

Since I’ve been watching WWE through his entire career, I thought I’d take a second to go over what’s been a pretty interesting and endearing story. Mark Henry competed in the Olympics in 1996 to pretty big fanfare, known for being a record-breaking power lifter. WWF signed him to a major contract of $10 million for ten years, figuring him to be such a big deal that he’d easily be worth the money. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well for them. Mark Henry ended up losing at the Olympics due to injuring his back while trying to pick up too much weight. Still, there was much potential in a guy they could label “The World’s Strongest Man”.

Henry made his WWF debut at Summerslam 1996, where he joined the commentary table with Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect to watch a match between Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Jerry “The King” Lawler. Henry got involved and it led to him making his wrestling debut against Lawler at the next In Your House PPV. Henry won and proceeded to singlehandedly fight off Marty Jannetty, Leif Cassidy and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The guy was made to look like this unstoppable patriot who was easy to get behind. Then, in preparation for Survivor Series, Henry got injured. Well, shit.

Henry came back and joined the company’s resident militant black stable the Nation of Domination. His only positive note during this time is that the company booked him to destroy Vader on more than one occasion, causing Vader to experience internal bleeding. Killed momentum aside, there were other problems with Henry. The guy just wasn’t very good in the ring, his weight was starting to balloon a bit and he was getting lost in the shuffle. In 1996, when the company was in dire straights, WWF believed he could give them a push against WCW. But when he was gone, the company began to find itself and new stars rose upwards. Henry simply wasn’t needed.

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