Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N.

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Some Questions Simply Must Be Asked

And the Lion of Olympus is the man to ask them!

Sometimes, We Can But Dream

I have no idea where I found this or who drew it. Anyone knows, let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. On a related note, goddamn. I would buy that comic.

Villains with Potential-Blizzard

Low-rent C-list Iceman. That's Blizzard. He's got ice powers. He freezes things. Or makes bridges. Or walls. Out of ice.
That's it, really. Sometimes he's a schlub named Donnie Gill. Other times, somebody else.
It's the latter I want to talk about. Remember this one? Yeah, it's funny how that concept can be applied to a lot of these bad guys.
The suit is basically a gun. A white and blue gun. Anybody can wear it, anybody can use it. The technology is supposed to relatively simple; nothing fancy, nothing too high-tech. An idiot can use it.
The key to the Blizzard character is that, like the Beetle, there can be anyone under that mask. A man, a woman, an LMD. Anybody. And that is the character's strength. Imagine this:
Say there's a cult. And this cult, they worship the Cold-the semi-sentient personification of Earth's Ice Age. Now, imagine this cult hunting down poor Donnie Gill because they want his suit...heck, maybe they're hunting down every superhero or villain with cold-based powers, because well, why not?
But Donnie is special, because of the suit. See, if they get their hands on it, they can replicate it and outfit every member of the Cult with it. And then, of course, we get dozens of cold-bombers...men and women dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Cold by setting their suits to overload and causing a ruckus in certain places. They tear up the town for a-while, then, POOF, winter in July, buildings frozen, people frozen.
Or, hey, let's go for broke. Maybe one day, the Cold spoke to Donnie. It reached into his warm, human soul and turned it to ice, and a new Donnie Gill was born. One who wants to do nothing more than spread the Cold throughout the world. From punk to world-beater in one easy step. And he brings others in-the lost and disaffected. Mutants, criminals, hipsters. And they listen, because Donnie isn't promising salvation, so much as absolution. The peace of oblivion. The chill kiss of the Cold.

The Sad Strange Tale of Dwayne McDuffie

(click the pic)

Hey, remember this? Well, apparently there's some wine and roses mixed in with that doom and gloom. New Milestone series? Possible Spider-Man work? That'd be nice. Know what would be even better? A Thing series. Maybe a new series of Marvel Two-in-One, with McDuffie and Matt Fraction alternating. I'd pay $3.99 for that.

Dorkin and Thompson's BEASTS OF BURDEN

I've written about this before, but there's a new interview up at CBR, so I thought I'd mention it again. Beautiful art, good, meaningful stories that tug the heartstrings without being saccharine or manipulative, and monsters. Lots of monsters. Zombies, werewolves, witches, ghosts, the whole lot. Go read the interview and whet your appetite for the series.

The Politics of Polarization

On a seperate, but equally valid note, that hat is entirely too small for him, don't you think?

Help Save John Ostrander's Sight

John Ostrander, the guy who gave us Suicide Squad and the better issues of Checkmate, as well as a ton of other quality comics work, needs an operation to save his eyesight.

An auction will be held at the Chicago Comic-Con (nee Wizard World Chicago) the evening of Saturday, August 8, 2009 to raise funds for comics veteran John Ostrander, who is undergoing a series of operations and medical treatments to fight off blindness.

Recently, John underwent a series of operations that might have saved his remaining eyesight. Progress has been made but he faces considerably more treatment in the months ahead.

Diplomacy.

SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T WORK.

Villains with Potential-the Lizard

What's this? A classic Spider-Man foe? Here?
Well, yeah.
Familiarity, as they say, breeds contempt, kids. And the Lizard is a stunning example of the maxim. He's Spider-Man's very own guilt sink, his responsibility made manifest-beloved mentor and raving monster rolled into one. Too often, however, that's all he is. He's trotted out to give Spidey something to angst over for an issue or two, then he's back to normal. In the right hands, that's interesting enough, at times. Other times, he's a joke that has a downer of a punchline (after all, poor Dr. Connors will never be cured of being the Lizard, will he?).
So let's spice it up, shall we?
The Lizard is, in essence, a walking, talking biological weapon. He's everything we fear about genetic testing, stem cell research and the various scientific boogie-men wrapped into one scaly package. So why not play off of that?
When the Hulk bleeds, he bleeds radiation in liquid form. His blood is highly toxic, but also potentially mutagenic. The same for Spider-Man. In fact, most every character in the MU who has been genetically altered in some way is depicted as being something of a living pathogen in regards to spreading their abilities (or a painful death) around via blood, saliva, etc. So why not the Lizard?
Connors Syndrome. Says it all, doesn't it? Spontaneous Reptilian Dimorphism.
Think about it. What if Connors created what would eventually become a virus? Something that attaches itself to other genetic sequences and changes them? Or, better yet, what if it affects everything? Like mold or a fungus? Even inorganic matter can fall victim to Connors Syndrome (Why? Comic book science.). It makes the zombie-plague look like a garden party.
A few of the Lizard's scales left behind at the scene of a fight on the roof of an apartment building take root and spread like mushrooms or weeds, covering the building in a leathery skin, turning it into something out of HR Giger's wet dreams and slowly working a Lovecraftian change on the inhabitants. From there, it gets into the water mains, spreading, slithering through the dark, changing everything it touches into...what?
Definitely something unpleasant.
But then, certain terrorist groups weaponize it, and use it as a biological agent. People buy it, cultivate it, sell it as trendy fashion accessories or as the perfect pet. Others attempt to use it for it's original purpose, i.e. medical. It's penicillin on amphetamines.
Now here's the kicker. As 'patient zero', the Lizard's human alter-ego, Connors, is immune to all of this. In fact, he's the best chance the world has to create an antidote or to figure out a way of controlling the unpleasant side effects. SHIELD is after him, AIM and HYDRA are after him. Silver Sable and the goddamn Wild Pack are after him. Super villains, super heroes, everyone is after him. So Connors is running. Running because he can't trust anyone not to turn his deadly secret into a weapon. And the Lizard...well, the Lizard knows that wherever he goes, the world becomes something beautiful...

Colanesque

Gene Colan draws a good Thing, don't he? And his Doc Strange isn't half-bad either.

Awkward Moments at the Baxter Building

Happy Fourth!

By Request...

Greg Lamberson requested some Godzilla, so today Godzilla he will have. I can resist nothing to the man who gave us Johnny Gruesome.
...
Godzilla had his own comic series once. I'm not talking about the lovingly rendered Art Adams one, but the cracked out Doug Moench/Herb Trimpe one. Godzilla in the Marvel Universe is the stuff of legends. It had aliens, time-travel, property damage and Dum-Dum Dugan, which pretty much puts it head and shoulders over every other series out there.

See what I mean? Anyway, I found a pile of these old Godzilla comics at the flea market one time...specifically the ones where Godzilla goes toe-to-toe with various super-hero groups one after the other. The Champions, the Avengers and, of course, the Fantastic Four.



Also, cowboys.
I mean, granted, Godzilla didn't, y'know, look like Godzilla, but the spirit was there. Also the fiery breath. He used it to kill a rat once.



To explain why he was fighting said rat would be too complex. It was a multi-layered book. Okay, it really wasn't, but the panels should speak for themselves. Suffice to say, there were Pym particles involved. And time-travel. Also, a fight with Devil-Dinosaur, but I don't have that one, unfortunately.
...
I will find it though. It is my grail.

Speaking of Arthurian nonsense...



That's the beginning of one of the great moments in comic history right there. A shrunken Godzilla and Dum-Dum Dugan getting into a fist-fight. One day, I'm going to put that onto a t-shirt and proudly wear it in public, because, really, who wouldn't want to display the awesomeness of a possibly slightly-inebriated Irishman trading punches with an atomic lizard on their chest? To not share such a thing with the world would be a crime, I say.
God bless you, Doug Moench. God bless you, Herb Trimpe. You brought a thing of beauty into the world.
...
Of course, Art Adams wasn't no slouch either.

Bonk.

Bonk, Bonk.
...
Bonk.

Golden Age Goodness

So, I stumbled across this site a few days ago during my daily web wanderings, and, being the generous soul that I am, decided to share it with the four of you who read this site.
Golden Age Comics is a site compiling a number of public domain comic books from the-wait for it-Golden Age for your downloading pleasure. I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to soon!
From their site: 'Welcome to Golden Age Comics. The #1 site for downloading FREE copyright free golden age comics. All files here available for download have carefully been research by our users and staff to make sure they are in the public domain.'

Good stuff, right? Enjoy!