I just saw the preview for Justice League 31 on the IGN website, and something in it really bothered me.  This something has been bothering me for a while in comics.

Dinah decks Ollie, her husband, because he embarrassed her.  It isn’t playful roughhousing, or a light smack on the shoulder, or even a slap.  She punches him, and he gets up and says that he deserved it.  Then Hal Jordan, Ollie’s friend, says that he deserved a lot more than that.  Then they go on with the discussion.

I. 

That.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

Let’s run that the other way.  Ollie comes up to Dinah and punches her in the face hard enough that she’s knocked to the ground.  When she gets up, he tells her that he punched her because she’s his wife and she embarrassed him.  Do you think there is a chance in hell that she’d agree?  Or that her friends would also agree and the discussion would go on?  No.  Ollie would go the way of Hank Pym.  He’d get thrown out, beaten up, and his character would be marked as a disgrace for the foreseeable future.

This isn’t Batman and Catwoman fighting because they’re on different sides of the law.  It isn’t the friendly wrestling matches, or even the full-on fights that we see between vigilantes when things get heated.  This is one spouse, in this case the more highly trained martial artist, beating another spouse for not toeing the line.  This has happened before with Ollie and Dinah.  This is not okay.  This needs to stop.

As we last left our Ultimate heroes, Yellowjacket bit off the Blob’s head out of revenge and Wolverine found Nightcrawler lying amongst the poo-gas. Now we continue with the X-Men and see what Thor and Captain America are up to.

Those X-Men sure don’t give a shit about the millions of other people who died. Muties are so elitist. Yeah, I said it.

Thanks to ManiacClown for the usual assistance. I really only mention his name and bold it out out of habit these days. Maniac Clown, dudes.

Tomorrow we’ll get more Thor fun as well as Multiple Man.

Day Five!
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Day Seven!

art from marvel’s new avengers: civil war. words by bendis!, art by leinil yu

(the trade isn’t 100% cage. it’s made up of one-shot issues featuring a specific avengers in the setting of civil war. it’s easily the highlight of the crossover, and the only part of CW that i still own.)

Back for round three.

Yesterday we had Magneto strangle Mystique and then throw a rogue Madrox dupe out the window, where he promptly exploded. I hope they weren’t really in space or else he’d have just doomed them all. What an anti-climax that would be. Even still, by tossing Madrox out the window, Magneto’s letting all the heat out.

Now it’s time for some Yellowjacket and Hawkeye action. It’s best to remember exactly what gruesome sight they’re following up on.

ManiacClown wanted me to fit in a Bad Taste reference in regards to the first page, but only after the fact did he realize he meant Dead Alive. That scamp.

Isn’t it kind of convenient that Pym keeps his special technology to save Janet’s life in the Triskelion rather than the now-destroyed building where his lab was and he was under house arrest in?

Tomorrow we get more X-Men drama. Whee.

Day Four!
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Day Seven!

And we move forward. Yesterday saw Magneto sit back and listen to the Scarlet Witch. But how can that be if Wanda is dead? But what of the Multiple Man hiding out behind his throne? Today’s update has both of those answers.

Thanks to ManiacClown, who tried to have me change Magneto’s rant into a different topic. No dice, my friend.

Tomorrow we’ll see Giant Man vs. the Blob. It’s really stupid.

Day Three!
Day Four!
Day Five!
Day Six!
Day Seven!

Ah, nothing like a major company event taking a lengthy delay to let you stretch out your legs and enjoy your vacation. Time’s up, I’m afraid and it’s time to get back on the horse. Welcome to another week of Ultimatum Edit.

The first two weeks are here and here. If you need to go back even farther, just hit the Ultimate Edit like a good kid.

I’d explain what’s gone on previously, but I’ll just let the comic explain it for me.

Thanks to ManiacClown, who has returned once again to help me co-write this. Tomorrow we’ll get some explosive action with Multiple Man.

Day Two!
Day Three!
Day Four!
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Day Six!
Day Seven!

A couple posts down, Esther asks about what makes Azrael special. What are his selling points? Why should anyone care about the character who took the fall for one of the most infamously disliked stories in Batman’s history?

I’ll tell you why. Because deep down inside, Danny Rand wishes he was Azrael. It’s true! Don’t believe me?

And that right there is what makes Marvel and DC different. In Marvel, it’s the badass, super-rich martial arts master that wants to be Azrael and not the other way around.

Meanwhile, check back here later tonight. Our week is just beginning.

During the panels of a Con, there is often a tug-of-war going on between panelists and attendees. The attendees ask question after question, trying to pull any possible information out of comics publishers, while the publishers bob and weave, trying to – all right, I’ve gotten a dodge ball metaphor in my tug-of-war metaphor, but the point is, the panelists try to keep as much information to themselves as possible.

 

And this year no one had to work as hard to duck the fast-flying continuity questions as Ian Sattler, the senior story editor at DC. Even at the sparsely attended Sunday Conversation panel, trying to get fans to stop asking continuity questions was like trying to pry a British Bulldog off a burglar’s ankle. Read the rest of this entry »

Azrael is the member of the Batsquad I know least about.  He was long gone, continuity-wise, by the time I started reading comics.  The first issue of the new Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight didn’t make me regret that one bit.

It’s not that the book is bad.  It’s just that I don’t care for Azrael.  I can’t exactly pin down why.  The guy’s self-righteous, yes, but self-righteousness is Batman’s stock in trade.  And yes, he does go crazy and try to kill people pretty regularly, but Superman does that as well.  Azrael actually succeeds in killing people, but of course, that’s what the Secret Six do and I love them.  That’s what back-from-the-dead Jason Todd does, and I like him.

That’s right.  Old Azrael ranks below Jason Todd in the Bat hierarchy. 

Azrael fans: What, if any, selling points does this guy have?

Just announced yesterday, the most metal collaboration since… shit, ever!

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

Wowee! Dethklok vs. the Goon!

I was born to bear witness to this comic. I bet the Goon could have killed that lake troll without the need of a cellphone.