Amazing Spider-Man vs. the Prodigy #1

You know when comic books make good public service announcements?  Never.  Or at least, this comic isn’t an example of one.  It was published in 1976 and is now in the public domain, presumably because Marvel wants nothing more to do with the thing.

Spitballing - Thor

Alternate Title: Thor From The Point Of View Of Someone Who Just Got Through Reading The Poetic Edda And The Prose Edda And Is Going To Be Pretentious About It

Freakazoid!, Season Two

 

A few months ago, I reviewed Season One of the 90s cartoon Freakazoid!, which defied all conventional logic but still managed to be one of the funniest superhero shows I’d ever seen.  Today, I’m going to review Season Two, which continues to defy all conventional logic but still manages to be one of the funniest superhero shows I’ve ever seen. Welp, that about covers it.  Can I go home now?  No?  Ah, well.  It’s not like writing about superhero stuff is hard.

The (Comic) Book Was Better - Under the (Red) Hood

 

I hear there used to be an old saying about comic books, how only three characters ever stayed really and truly dead: Uncle Ben, Bucky and Jason Todd.  Well, in January 2005, Marvel decided to stomp all over that axiom by resurrecting Bucky Barnes as the slightly unstable and infinitely more complex Winter Soldier.  The very next month, DC followed suit by resurrecting Jason Todd as the slightly unstable and infinitely more complex Red Hood.  I eagerly await the day when Marvel revives Uncle Ben only for DC to overshadow this event by reviving Thomas Wayne, but until then, let’s talk about Jason Todd and how both comic and cartoon have handled his return.

Highlander

 

I guess if you want to get picky, Highlander isn’t your typical superhero movie.  There’s no aliens or adoring/condemning public or big flashy costumes, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone refer to the title character as a superhero.  Then again, it does feature a good guy fighting a bad guy, rescuing damsels in distress and generally being a broody loner, so I say it counts.

Thor and the Warriors Four #3-#4

So far we have seen:

A bunch of kids display more sense than Peter Parker
No, I will not stop with the One More Day jokes, darnit
Thor agree to help the kids save their grandmother, if he can
An incredibly helpful nurse
An incredibly helpful old guy
An incredibly helpful person who turns out to be Loki
The Enchantress turn all of the adults present into toddlers
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Thor and the Warriors Four #1-#2

 

I hear a lot of complaints about how comics nowadays are just too dark and gritty.  Most of those complaints come from me.  So imagine my happy surprise when I discovered this delightful four-part story from 2010 in which no one gets maimed or axed, our heroes hardly angst at all, and even the villains are all snuggly-wuggly!

(Also, that first cover is a liar.  Thor doesn’t even show up until Issue Two.  I don’t know why this surprises me.)