X-Force (vol.6) #27 (June, 2022) "From Cradle to Grave" Writer - Benjamin Percy Art - Robert Gill Colors - GURU-eFX Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna Design - Tom Muller w/Jay Bowen Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
In Part Two of our X-Force "double-header", we see Frasier and Lilith arguing before the Quiet Council about whether or not they ought to bring back Omega Red (already), while Forge finds himself attacked by the Hentai Helmet!
It's a fun issue, and a better-than-decent return to the x-ploits of our Mutant CIA. I hope you decide to check it out!
X-Force Annual #1 (June, 2022) "Lab Work" Writer - Nadia Shammas Art - Rafael Pimentel Colors - Carlos Lopez Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna Design - Tom Muller Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
A current year X-Annual that's... worth reading?! Are you kidding me?
Today we kick off our X-Force "double-header", ushering in the Mutant CIA's Destiny of X Era with a far better than expected Annual. The Strike Force takes the fight to Orchis... and narrowly sidesteps Annual-itis, where they're forced to face their weaknesses.
We get some fun banter between Beast and Emma Frost to boot!
Plus: The return of the MIGHTY X-Lapsed Mailbag! It's a good time, I hope you'll join me!
Marauders (vol.2) #1 (June, 2022) "Extinction Agenda" Writer - Steve Orlando Art - Eleonora Carlini Colors - Matt Milla Letters - VC's Ariana Maher Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
Kicking off the second volume of Marauders proper with... a trip into Shi'ar Space? Oh, c'mon...
That's right, we open with a big ol' dollop of "Chrystonite"... but, I guess at least it's not Otherworld. Listen to me raspily kvetch about unnatural-sounding dialogue and the bloat of the Destiny of X line... or, please listen in spite of all that!
Sabretooth (vol.4) #2 (May, 2022) "Know Your Enemy" Writer - Victor LaValle Art - Leonard Kirk Colors - Rain Beredo Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: March 9, 2022
After quite the delay, we're about to hop back into The Pit with Sabretooth and his Uncanny eXiles!
This time out, we get more questions than answers... thankfully, they're questions we're interested in seeing play out! Sabretooth raises some inconvenient truths about the Krakoan Culture, really showing what a house of cards, it actually is!
A very interesting series that X-Lapsed highly recommends you check out!
Immortal X-Men #1 (May, 2022) "Part One: The Left Hand" Writer - Kieron Gillen Art - Lucas Werneck Colors - David Curiel Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $5.99 On-Sale: March 30, 2022
It's a brand-new era... with your same old host, now with extra Covid!
It's time for us all to be flies on the wall to witness the machinations and maneuvering of the Quiet Council... which is somehow some of the most interesting X-Stuffs to come down the pike yet!
An excellent start to the Destiny of X era... and an issue I can't wait to hear your thoughts on!
Another oldie -- this time from on-or-around June 9, 2016! I wrote this as a fill-in for Weird Science DC Comics for their "Top Five Fridays" when the regular writer of that column was outta town or something. I decided to write about some re-purposed DC Comics characters/concepts... some of which were the inspiration for the ol' DC "Near Miss" columns I wrote a couple years back here at the mothaship. Enjoy!
So, you've got a great idea for a new DC Comics character... or maybe it's a new take on an old property... that's great news! The only problem is, DC ain't interested... or maybe they're on the fence and give you a few months before giving the thumbs down... or just maybe you put got a great idea for a pitch, and DC just couldn't get the rights.
Either way, your creation went on to find a life outside the source-wall that surrounds the DC Universe... and just maybe took some of that source material influence with it for the ride, either wholesale or with some cosmetic tweaks. What follows is my Top 5 re-purposed DC characters (in no particular order).
5. Planet of the Apes Okay, this is a bit of a cheat... as neither Carmine Infantino nor Jack Kirby created Planet of the Apes. It's still pretty interesting, and the Infantino did express a great amount of interest in publishing this title for DC. When the brass failed to procure the license to do so (losing a bidding war with Marvel), he turned to legendary creator Jack Kirby to create a series similar in concept to Planet of the Apes.
Jack had worked on a story that was similar to Planet of the Apes... and which was actually published before the first Apes novel, so clearly Kirby was the best fit for the gig.
The King went into his archives and dug up a series of strips he'd worked on in 1958... called Kamandi of the Caves. After reworking that into a series, what we were left with was, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. Jack even gave a nod to some of the Apes film's imagery with the Statue of Liberty on the cover of the first issue.
4. Void Indigo During the early 1980's Howard the Duck creators, Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik pitched a revamped Hawkman to the DC brass... they ultimately passed. It's unknown just how in depth the pitch was, but judging by the story it morphed into it's easy to see why. Void Indigo was the resulting title, and it was published by Marvel Comics under the creator-owned Epic Comics imprint.
Initially commissioned as a standalone graphic novel to be followed by a six-issue series, Void was cancelled after only two... due to poor reception to it's "extreme depictions of violence". In the comics press it was referred to as a "crime against humanity", which likely didn't help. Having stumbled upon this title during the 1990's it feels quite tame in comparison to much of the extreme comics offerings of the day, however this would have been a pre-Crisis Hawkman title, and would certainly not have fit on the racks next to a Curt Swan Superman book.
3. Fallen Angel This one's a toughie... as most of the connections involved in this one are only implied "on the record". Back around the turn of the century, Peter David was writing a(n excellent) Supergirl title featuring Linda Danvers... a literal Fallen Angel. This title needed to be shuffled off to make room for the returning Kara Zor-El (from the Superman/Batman series).
Following the cancellation of his Supergirl, DC Comics launched a series called Fallen Angel, which starred a young woman named Lee working out of the city of Bete Noire. There were plenty of hints scattered throughout that Lee was in fact Linda, and Peter David played along... even going as far as to announce that issues #14 and 15 would be intriguing to fans of his Supergirl.
The title sadly never found an audience, and would only last 20 issues before being cancelled. Peter David retained all rights to the character, and brought her with him to IDW Publishing where he continued documenting her exploits.
When asked about the connection in an interview with Comic Book Resources some years back, David responded with: "Can I say this is Linda Danvers? Of course I can't. However, it's pretty freaking obvious that it is."
2. Nightcrawler Before debuting in Giant-Size X-Men #1, the German mutant we all know and love was set to debut as a member of the Outsiders (not those Outsiders...), a team whose tales would spin out of the Legion of Super Heroes title.
In the X-Men 30th Anniversary Magazine published back in 1993, Nightcrawler creator Dave Cockrum pitched the character to editor Murray Boltinoff, only to have his creation rejected for being "too funny looking"... yup, good call Murray... there's certainly no odd looking Legionnaires out there!
1. Shaft Before creating Cable and Deadpool... and doing the whole Image Comics thing, Rob Liefeld worked on some DC properties including a Hawk & Dove miniseries. One of his favorite DC properties was the Teen Titans (he was even part of a Titans fan-writers association called TTalk). This led to Rob putting together a pitch for his own Titans series (which just may have been called... Titans Force).
This was set to be a team run by Speedy/Arsenal who would be viewed as celebrities and work under the government... just like another team Rob would create... Youngblood.
In an interview with Newsarama, Rob gave the goods: "Shaft was intended to be Speedy, Vogue was a new Harlequin (Joker's Daughter) design, Combat was a Kh'undian warrior circa the Legion of Super Heroes, ditto for Photon and Die Hard was a S.T.A.R. Labs android." It's strange to consider how (or even if) the comics landscape would be affected had DC utilized the characters in the above pitches, in the way they were intended to be used. I suppose it all works out in the wash, however, had DC given Liefeld that Titans Force book... we would have been robbed of having the opportunity of buying Rob's fully-poseable 7" Shaft... and let's face it, there's no fate worse than that!
Another unearthed oldie from a guest-piece I wrote back in the long ago. This was featured at DC in the 80s, and was meant to be the first of many. In revisiting so much of my older "work" of late, I'm realizing that I have a pattern of starting things with a whole lotta P&V... but, follow-thru ain't my strong suit. Oh well. Enjoy!
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Ever wonder what happened between the time young Kal-El was adopted by the Kents and his arrival in Metropolis? If I were to assume... and I probably shouldn't, I'd say most folks reading this site already have a pretty good idea. For this piece/series, we're going to put all of that out of our minds, pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, whatever. Where we're going... we have little need for such terms.
In 1988, Ruby-Spears Productions created an animated Superman series. The episodes would feature an 18-20 minute feature, and be followed by a short Superman Family Album segment which served to fill us in on the Man of Steel's childhood and adolescence. I figure those might be the best place for us to start our coverage!
Let's take a look at the first installment... The Adoption, written by a very familiar name... Marv Wolfman!
We open with Jonathan and Martha Kent sitting in the office of the Smallville Orphanage. They explain that they found the young boy on their farm... and even considered adopting him themselves, after all they'd always wanted a little boy of their own. Gotta mention that the Kents are portrayed as being at least in their 50's, which would put them at over 70 by the time (spoiler alert) Clark becomes Superman. I don't recall them being of the same generation as Aunt May... but, at least in the Ruby-Spearsiverse, they just might. They are told that the orphanage usually looks for younger folks to give children to, but they'll... erm, keep them in mind. As the young boy is handed over, he begins to fuss.
I really appreciate that Mr. Warner from the orphanage isn't depicted to be evil or malicious in any way. He's just a man doing his job, and has no ill-intent for the boy or his previous guardians. As the Kents leave, the Walters family arrives... they're looking for a sweet young boy with no inclinations toward "roughness"... I never realized picking a child was like picking the flavor of ice cream you want in your waffle cone, but we'll let that slide. Either way, Mr. Warner's got just the lad for you... or does he?
The Walters decide to... go another way. Some time later, The Kenny's (and their cat) arrive. At that very moment, our boy is flying off to visit the nearby Zoo... Mrs. Kenny is hopeful their potential new baby likes pets. C'mon now, all young children like animals. Though, this one might like his cats a bit on the larger side.
With another set of parents fleeing the facility, Mr. Warner must stop to consider the possibility that this young tot is acting in way that would purposefully scare potential parentals away. Thinking aloud, he posits that perhaps the boy has his own idea for proper parents... to which, the baby begins clapping. Warner and Conroy leave the baby alone and unattended to check who is next on their list... which seems a pretty unsafe thing to do. Anyhoo... being left by his lonesome, our tot of steel heads out on a night-flight all the way to the Kent Farm, where he nuzzles in between his would be guardians and goes to sleep.
The following morning, the Kents awaken to the shocking appearance of the baby they'd dropped at the orphanage... um, earlier that day? Busy day, right? Martha asks what they should do, to which Jonathan suggests they go back to the orphanage... and convince Mr. Warner to let them legally adopt the child! They (preemptively?) name the boy... Clark Kent. The baby seems to dig the idea, because he chooses now to utter his first words... Mama and Dada. Oh c'mon, don't be such a cliche Clark-O.
A touching start to the series... really quite a cute story.
The strange thing about this series, at least to me, is that I have a difficult time reconciling that this hit network television in 1988. I can't say for certain where I mentally "place" this... but the late 80's certainly ain't it.
I'm not sure what it says about the current comics/entertainment culture where when I sat down to watch this I thought for sure the orphanage's Mr. Warner was going to be revealed as a baby seller and slaver. I was quite pleased to be mistaken... and for the light comedic take we received instead.
I find it funny that nobody thinks twice about this baby flying around a room on a rocking horse or abducting a lion from the zoo. It's just accepted! Imagine having to return a lion to the zoo! How would one even go about doing such a thing? Yeah, I'm thinking too hard about it... it's kinda what I do.
Overall, had a decent amount of fun with this silly short. This (somehow) wasn't part of my childhood, so that's not nostalgia talking. Hope this was an enjoyable read... if you dug it, let me know. Also, if this show was a part of your childhood (or adulthood!) please feel free to reach out and share your memories of the series.
