Looking Back at the "O*'s" - The 5 Worst Stories of the Decade

Since we are officially closing out the first decade of the 21st century, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect back over the next few posts on what we've had happen. There have been some winners, and oh boy have there been some stinkers. Let's start this off by looking at the 5 worst storylines of the decade:

1 - Spider Man - "One More Day"

I know I've picked on this storyline a number of times already, but I'm not alone in my hatred of it. In four issues, Marvel decided to completely change the character of its core hero. He wasn't this superhero/husband...he was just this stupid little selfish boy child.

The man gladly without hesitation sacrifices his super-model wife who has stood by him unceasingly through the whole "Civil War" fiasco and numerous other attempts on his and her life. And why does he do it? Well, that would be just to save his Aunt May, who has already died and returned several times before.

Many people (myself included) thought this was just a stunt and that Marvel wouldn't be so stupid as to stab their faithful readers in the back like that, but they did. Twenty years of comic continuity wiped out in a few pages. Stupid beyond compare.

2 - DC - Final Crisis

DC has nailed up the word "crisis" so much that Marvel doesn't even bother touching it in any of their titles. When DC announced a "Final" crisis, we were all so excited and thought it would be something amazing. Then someone forgot to keep Grant Morrison sober long enough to write the thing and we get a storyline so convoluted no one can understand more than two pages at a time.

I have no idea what he was smoking, popping, or drinking when he came up with this, but they should have included free samples with each issue. Even when you buy the collected edition, you have no idea what's going on.

The incredible thing is that it had a 52-issue lead-in called "Countdown to Final Crisis" meant to prepare the way for the story...but then Morrison completely ignored the series and just jump-started the storyline where he wanted. Then we had "Death of the New Gods", in which all the new gods died...and then Morrison killed them again in this series in a different way. More on Countdown in a minute...

3 - Batman - "R.I.P."

So you want to ride the "Captain America's Dead" wave and kill your own flagship hero? How do you do that? Well, if you're DC you give it to the man who brought you the tripe that is "Final Crisis".

After successfully killing Batman in "Final Crisis", Morrison did it again in "Batman: R.I.P."--but in a different way. Yes, the man who wrote both series killed the same character in two different ways.

While this could have been an iconic moment filled with great moments, instead this was another Grant Morrison twisted storyline that you had to have a Master's Degree in obscure comic book moments to fully appreciate (or understand). Why was he a purple/yellow/red Batman? Why did the villain look like Bruce Wayne (hasn't Hush already pulled that little trick?)? What in the world was going on?

Rather than take this to the same storytelling level of Marvel's death of Captain America, we ended up with a hero death that wasn't worth telling.

4. - Marvel - Secret Invasion's "Mighty Avengers" and "New Avengers" era

While Secret Invasion may have been a good story (not the best, but good), Marvel felt the need to do some massive backstory explanations to let you see where it all came from and what had been going on behind the scenes. Rather than put out another mini-series, or even condense it all into one or two issues, Marvel took both Avengers series hostage and filled each month with story after story of things you really didn't have to know.

The problems were everywhere. Many of the covers had nothing to do with the characters or stories inside. Most of the stories were told in one issue, ending in a cliffhanger that wasn't resolved. The vast majority of the stories were interesting moments that could have been condensed to one-page flashbacks in the main title. It was nothing more than months of "filler". If they didn't want to progress the titles, they should have suspended them until the Invasion was over. As it was, subscribers like myself ended up with issues we've read once and thrown away.

5. - DC - Countdown
When DC put out "52", it was a fairly cool concept and was an interesting story. It has its moments and showcased some great otherwise-unnoticed characters like Question and Booster Gold. DC's follow-up was a little gem called "Countdown to Final Crisis". It had the potential to be awesome, but instead died a slow, painful death.


Look at the moments we had in this storyline: the death of Karate Kid, the birth of Red Robin (Jason Todd), and multiple trips throughout the Elseworlds to revisit some of the better stories from then. 


Unfortunately, immediately after this series ended, DC erased every bit of continuity from it. Jason Todd's trip from angry vigilante to Red Robin was, in a word, "epic". They had found a way to get him into the suit and give him a reason to be a hero...and then as soon as  it was over they took him out of the suit and turned him back into Red Hood. And I'm not even mentioning how Darksied suddenly goes from this story to Final Crisis.

Next week, we look at the best the first ten years had to offer us! Feel free to sound off below of any suggestions or changes to this list or the next one you'd make.

Merry Christmas!

No major posts this week. I just wanted to wish a very special "Merry Christmas!" to all our readers! Hope you get every cool comic book, toy, or heroic "whatever" that you wished for!

Lousy Leaders

There are those guys who can lead their team through anything and bring them out alive and winning. But for every Captain America out there, there are those leaders who have no reason to be in charge of anything but always are. Here are a number of leaders we don't think we'd ever follow:

Cyclops

The on-again, off-again leader of the X-Men has never done anything noteworthy in his years of service. And yet, somehow, he always seems to end up the leader of whatever X-team he's on.

Jean Grey has died how many times under his watch? How about Thunderbird, Banshee, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde over the years. Yet when it's time to pass the leadership mantle, folks are scrambling to follow this guy.

Only Wolverine has ever really given him grief over his leadership (though Storm took control of the group for a brief time). It's sad to think the beserker rage guy has more sense than most of the other mutants in the Marvel U. Thankfully, they killed him off in the final X-Men movie (albeit offscreen). I think it's about the nicest thing anyone says about that movie, for some reason.

Jack (from Lost)

Holy cow! If you want to make the right decision on this island, then just find out what Jack wants to do and then do the exact opposite. While he might have started out strong, every single decision he's made in recent years has done nothing but gone wrong.

Trust Naomi and the freighter folk? Trust Ben Linus, then distrust him, then trust him, then don't? The list goes on and on. It's safe to say that if the story were real, it would be incredibly easy to figure out who should be left to go fishing with Jin while everyone else figured out what to do.

By the way, I realize Lost isn't a comic book, but comic fans everywhere seem to appreciate the intricate time-traveling storyline.

The Red Skull

Give me one scheme this guy has tried to pull off that's actually worked over the years! Decades of trying to kill Captain America and yes, he finally pulls that off...but then he doesn't because Steve Rogers is back again.

Can you imagine how it must be for him to recruit people? "Yes, we are hiring and I know our record isn't that good...but this time I promise you we are going to take down that wretched super hero! Captain America? No, I'm afraid I've given up on that one. Now we're specifically targeting Captain Carrot and his Zoo Crew! They will pay, American swine!"

Nighthawk

Look, I love this character and think he's got a really cool costume, but let's be honest about his record with the Defenders. He was leader for 70+ issues, and in that time he alone was kidnapped and held hostage by some supervillain or another over a dozen times!

That is no exaggeration. At one point, he even had his brain swapped out for five issues where he showed up in the book, but was really a bad guy leading the team. And while "Defender for a Day" was an incredibly cool storyline, the mere fact that dozens of heroes (and a few villains) could show up and call themselves Defenders without the leader's consent shows a definite lack of leadership potential. You think a few heroes would have shown up at Avengers Mansion and called themselves Avengers while Captain America was in charge? Nope.

No Powers? No Problem!

For every mutant, alien jewel, radioactive spider, cosmic experiment powered hero out there, there are those who have nothing more going for them than just their nerves of steel and a few cool gadgets. Here are some "normal" guys who can still hold their own against the big guys.

Batman

Just pick your incarnation of this one. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson both are great at what they do. Nothing more than extreme athletic ability and more nifty toys than James Bond, and these guys are ready to stand their own against tough villains like Solomon Grundy, Darkseid, and more.

I guess you could count his "you can hit me even at point blank range" ability as an actual power, but for the most part he's pretty much just a normal guy who's been extremely lucky.

Oh, and let us never forget he can beat Superman down whenever he feels like it.

Hawkeye/Ronin

Yes, at one point he was Goliath and had super powers, but for now he's back to being plain on Clint Barton. When he was Hawkeye, he had no super powers other than incredible archery skills.

Now that he's become Ronin, he's shown a sudden ability to use anything as a weapon and be incredibly good at it. I don't remember him being an expert martial artist before, but I guess he is now.

Even though he doesn't have any super-soldier serum in him, he was even considered by Tony Stark as a replacement Captain America. I, for one, am glad he turned that one down.

Gangbuster

Jose Delgado appeared about 20 years ago in a Superman comic book. He disappeared for a while but recently was brought back in the weekly "Trinity" series from DC Comics last year.

He doesn't have any super powers, but just like the others on this list he's made it just fine without them. Operating mostly out of Metropolis, Gangbuster has one of the cooler costumes out there.

He did end up crippled at one point from a fight, but he's back now and ready to go.

Punisher

He's dead now, but Frank Castle made it for years with nothing more going for him than a burning desire for revenge and about a million bullets.

Here's the guy who's taken on just about every hero AND villain in the Marvel universe. He's never backed down from anything, and played a key role in the Civil War and in World War Hulk.

Unfortunately, somebody at Marvel got the stupid idea that killing him off and bringing him back as a zombie would sell books. They've tried this before and it didn't work, but they just didn't learn. Bring back Frank Castle!

Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu

In the 70's, this guy was popular! Of couse, so was Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies in particular. The son of Fu Manchu himself, Shang Chi is an expert martial artist and yet isn't cocky about it.

He recently made a return in Heroes for Hire, but it's his series in the 70's that we remember him for. It was 70's camp at its best with secret agents, angry Chinese bad guys, and villains that have pretty much disappeared from continuity. Still, the artwork was cool (even if some of the covers were blatant rip-offs of Bruce Lee posters) and the stories stayed fairly consistent.

The biggest thing going for him was the fact that he didn't kill his enemies that often. For the most part, he'd beat them down and move on. If his stories came out today, I have a feeling he'd make Quentin Tarrantino blush.

Awesome Aliens!

Some of the most powerful heroes in the comic book world didn't even come from our planet, but thankfully they decided to be friendly. Here are some really cool heroes who are a long way from home:

Captain Marvel

A Kree warrior who had a long, hard life before finally passing on to the other side, Mar-Vell was very powerful in the 70's. The Nega Bands allowed him to shoot energy beams from his hands. His cosmic awareness helped him to know what was going on everywhere at all times. He could fly in outer space with no ill effects, and faced down big baddies like Thanos and the Skrulls.

No mere villain could take him down (though Nitro had a big part to play in it). Instead, he died of cancer in Marvel's first graphic novel. He came back in a way during the Secret Invasion, though he was actually just another Skrull. The real deal remains one of Marvel's few "he's dead for real" characters.

Hawkman

It's hard to really classify this as an alien, though he is from Thanagar in a way.

He's been killed more often than most major heroes, and he remains in the game. Even though he's currently a Black Lantern, I have a feeling that's only a temporary setback. He always has a way of coming back into the game.

Hawkman will soon be making an appearance on TV's "Smallville", and from the pictures I've seen he looks incredibly true to the character. Now we'll see if he has the same problems with Green Arrow that he does in the comics.

Silver Surfer

Originally from Zenn-La, Silver Surfer now counts Earth among his allies. He's fought Galactus (and lost...but who hasn't?), and was instrumental in stopping Annihilus a few years back.

Fueled by Power Cosmic, there's not much this guy can't do. Ironically enough, one of the best stories to feature him in recent years is "Silver Surfer: Requiem". It's a great story about the death of the Silver Surfer. If you haven't read it, it's worth picking up.

Currently, he's back working for the big purple dude, but that probably won't stick for long.

Superman

Ok, how could I make a list like this and not include the Man of Steel?

The first inhabit from Krypton we met, he changed the face of comic book characters forever. His popularity has grown and waned over the years (and he hasn't had luck with movie appearances in recent years) but he still remains one of DC's most popular characters. Even people who don't read comic books recognize him instantly.

Near limitless power and tough as nails...yet he still gets his hienie handed to him every time he and Batman throw down. Go figure.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Enjoy the turkey and dressing and meet me back here Monday for more comic book fun!

More Cool Costumes!

It's been a while since I've looked at cool hero suits, so let's see how things have fared since last year! Here's my "Best Dressed" collection:

Union Jack

He wears the British flag...and a gun and a knife. He holds his own in a world full of super-soldiers, vampires, and mutants. What more do you need?

This costume has remained relatively unchanged since his introduction years ago in Invaders #8. The person behind the mask has changed 3 times though. There must be something right with the costume to have it last that long.

Yes, I know Marvel has played around recently with some major deviations from the original design, but here's hoping they realize some things just need to be left alone. This is simplicity, and it works.

Ultimate Hawkeye

You have to admit the obvious comparisons to Grifter, but the Ultimate version of Hawkeye really stands out. While keeping the purple color that seems forever linked to the original version, this suit takes the character in an entirely different direction.

He's also given up the bow and arrow for pistols (and basically anything else he can get his hands on). While I'm not too fond of the bullseye on his forehead, the rest of the suit looks good.

Moon Knight

Ok, so he may be Marvel's answer to Batman, but the dude looks cool. The complete opposite of Batman's dark colors, Moon Knight still has most of Batman's toys. He has crescent darts, a cool helicopter, flowing cape that can help him glide, and all the other nifty trappings of a hero.

Originally the suit had a glider type cape attached to his wrists, but thankfully that went to a full cape very early on and has stayed that way ever since. Otherwise, this is the suit that's been true to the character for 30 years.

Catman

The anti-hero who was once nothing more than a running joke in Batman comics has stepped into his own and become one of the only reasons to read "Secret Six" each month (Deadshot being the only other reason).

I don't know who at DC decided to reboot this character, but they did the job right. They also did a great job on his suit. He looks a lot like Batman in design, but the color scheme and weapon choices make him different enough. The earth tones rock in this one.

The Spectre

Probably the most basic costume you'd see (and definitely the most basic on this list), but still it has a way of being cool. No logo, emblem, or design of any kind. Just basic green and white, but when you see that glow coming off the suit in Alex Ross drawings, or the way Jim Aparo gave him the vengeance look as he took down criminal after criminal in some cold-hearted fashion, you just realized how cool the guy really was.

His look changed briefly when Hal Jordan was the Spectre, giving him sort of a Green Lantern touch to the outfit. Recently he's grown a beard thanks to his current host, but I still think his simple, original look remains the best. The term "actions speak louder than words" could be applied to this hero more than any other on this list. You mess up with him, it's over.

Plot Twists That Didn't Work - Invaders 8 & 9

Sometimes comic book writers create an incredible moment in a comic book story that catches us all by surprise and makes the reader race to the store next month to find out what happens next. Then there are times when it doesn't work as planned. Here is one that immediately comes to mind when I think of "We Sort of Saw That Coming" moments:

The End of an Invader (Invaders 8 & 9)

During the mid-70's the Invaders were a mildly popular title for Marvel comics. Issue #8 gave us the "return" of an old WW1 superhero named "Union Jack". This was the first incarnation of the character still around in Marvel comics today (as a different person). Lord James Falsworth was a superhero during World War 1 who retired. Apparently he was part of a supergroup called "Freedom's Five", a series of heroes who were later pretty much retconned into Marvel continuity. Phantom Eagle was the only one we ever really saw again though.

A visit from the Invaders makes UJ long to put on the blue-and-red suit again (one of the coolest costumes in comics ever), so he does to help them.

On the final page of the story, Union Jack agrees to join the Invaders as a regular member. Everyone is in awe and excited about having this "legend" among them...even though he's pretty old and fragile by then.

At the bottom of the page, just below the panel of Union Jack joining the team, the build-up for the next issue says "The End of An Invader!" Who could it be???

Was there ever any doubt in any reader's mind when they bought the issue next month they'd see Union Jack going down? Even though they said "It's not who you think!" in that panel? Actually, it was exactly who we thought.

Sure enough, the next month said it would be "The End of an Invader!"

So let's run a quick roll call here: Captain America...still around so it can't be him. Namor...same. Bucky...dies in an explosion later. The Human Torch...death later on as established in comic history. The only people it could have been was Union Jack or Toro.

True, Toro was sort of redundant to the team. They had Torch for flame powers, and Bucky for the teen audience, so Toro didn't have much use. But what use did they have for a 60 year old man with no super powers either?

Sure enough, Baron Blood and UJ got into a big fight toward the end of the book and Blood crushed the hero's legs. Even though Blood dies later in the book (only to come back again a dozen times over the years), the title does indeed live up to they hype. Union Jack never walks again.

Issue 20 sees the new Union Jack come into the game. This time it's Brian Falsworth taking up the family mantle and he fared a little better. Brian was the son of the original UJ and did well until his death a few years later in a car crash. Joey Chapman picked up the suit and title then (thanks to the return of Baron Blood) and wears it today.

The lesson for Marvel? If you're going to kill off a character--or end their career--you can get a little more mileage out of it if you let them be on the team for at least one full issue before you get rid of them. And whatever you do, don't let them join the team and end the book with "Next issue: Somebody dies! Wanna guess who?" That's like watching a horror movie and seeing some boy open the door and say, "I'll be right back" when the killer's outside. Yeah, we know he isn't going to be in the sequel.

Blackest Night -- The Winners and Losers So Far

We are now officially at the halfway point of the "Blackest Night" storyline for DC. While the main story has been pretty amazing up until now, it's easy to see how this could be scaring some folks away. DC has a long history of having one running series and a dozen offshoot stories that you must purchase to properly follow along, and this one isn't really an exception.

The exception this time through is how good the main story is, how easy it is to keep following even if you miss some of the offshoot series, and how it appears to be building. Geoff Johns has done an incredible job of salvaging DC after the "Final Crisis" fiasco last year.

Here's how things stand up to this point:

Blackest Night (the main series) -- Winner!

From the opening pages of the story, it's been an intense ride that hasn't stopped. Having Elongated Man and Sue Dibny kill Hawkman and Hawkgirl right off the bat showed us how serious this story was. Since then, heroes have been dropping like flies and some have been returning with a really mean streak to them.

This is the first book I open when the new batch of comics come in. Definitely worth every penny. While I usually wait and collect the trade paperbacks of most series now, this is one I collect every month and enjoy. And even though we know Nekron is behind it all, now we get to see what part Batman plays in all this (remember, Black Hand is holding Bruce Wayne's skull in most images and in the story)!

And now with Hal Jordan off to the other side of the galaxy, it's nice to see Barry Allen stepping up as leader of the heroes. He's showing strong leadership that Wally West wouldn't have been able to give us in this role.

Blackest Night: Teen Titans -- Winner!

If you missed this three-issue miniseries, you have got to get out there and find it. It's no secret I love the old Hawk & Dove team, and I knew they were coming back as baddies so I ordered this. Instead, Don Hall (Dove) can't be affected or touched by the rings so he couldn't be resurrected (guess who that means can't be touched either)! And while the dead Titans have come in with a vengeance to do their nasty work, the one person I thought would pretty much be useless has turned out to be the most important player in the story!

I won't give anything away, but issue 3 closed the miniseries out by showing us the one person who can singlehandedly defeat the dead heroes. My guess? This person will also become the first White Lantern when the time comes. Get this series!

Blackest Night: Batman -- Neutral

While it was a real thrill to see Deadman in action again, and the idea of him being both dead as a hero, and alive as a Black Lantern, was cool, I can't say the story was central to the plot.

The pieces were all there: Both Dick Grayson and Tim Drake had lost their parents at some point, and their parents were now back as the undead. Yeah, that was cool. Watching the Tim's undead dad relive those final moments against an undead fat Captain Boomerang as they did in "Identity Crisis" was cool. Even Deadman possessing Etragan was cool! But somehow they didn't add up to a "must read" story.

This one felt more like an independent story that just gave you a taste of what Batman had to face. Unlike the "Titans" storyline (which will obviously play a huge part in the main story), this one didn't seem like it was necessary. It's still a good story though, so I'll keep the verdict neutral.

Blackest Night: Superman -- Loser!

Krypto ripped dead Lois's arm off to get rid of her ring. That was pretty much the best moment of this three-issue bust.

This one had probably the most potential of all of them, as Superman from Earth 2 and even Jonathan Kent were at DC's disposal to come and wreck havoc in Clark's life. Unfortunately, this Superman vs. Superman fight seemed almost just like any other.

I can't see where the actions that terrorized Smallville will hold any real implications to the final "Blackest Night" storyline. This is one you could easily skip and it not affect your understanding of the story. It's a real shame too. This could have been the strongest of the bunch.

Blackest Night: Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps -- Winners!

What can you say about these? Hal Jordan is doing all he can to fight dead heroes coming back and even faces the return of his predessessor Abin Sur. Kyle faces the return of the love of his life, Jade! And topping all this off is the revelation that Guy Gardner will soon become a Red Lantern (thanks to the death of Ice and her subsequent return as a Black Lantern)!

While some of the story seems to be filler right now, there's no doubt this is where the main action will be taking place in just a little bit. The introduction of the Indigo Lanterns and what they can do with a Green Lantern present is huge.

The thing I like about "Green Lantern Corps" is the fact that every GL that dies comes back as a Black Lantern. The tide is turning against the good guys with every death and I love the story!

And now DC has announced several "one shot" comics coming in January that will carry things along. We'll even see the return of The Question, and if you'll remember that's something I've been hoping we'd see! I have no idea how DC is going to collect all these into TPBs later on, but you definitely need to pick them up if you aren't following them now.

Marvel's Tragic Loves

There's no doubt that being a hero and having a girlfriend do not go well together in the Marvel Universe. While heroes like Superman can marry Lois Lane and live happily ever after, Marvel thinks their heroes are much cooler when being dragged through emotional barbed wire. Here are some of the more famous "tough love" scenarios:

1. Daredevil and Elektra

This one has to start the group simply because it was probably handled better than any other. Matt and Elektra were lovers, and then years later ended up as enemies. Neither really wants to hurt the other, but at the same time they can't seem to live and let live.

Elektra's death soon after her initial appearance was a real shocker to comic fans everywhere. The storyline seemed to just be taking off and full of potential when suddenly she was killed by Bullseye.

Of course, who stays dead in comic books, right? So a few issues later she's back and has been pretty much ever since. And yet they still can't seem to hook up. It's a tragic ongoing love story that probably will never have a happy ending.

2. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy

Why do I list this one above Peter and MJ? Because Peter willingly chose to give up MJ forever to save Aunt May, while Gwen's death was unwanted. She was arguably at the height of her popularity with Spider-Man fans and the doorway seemed open for a bright future.

For the time, Marvel took a big risk in killing her off. They hadn't really taken a chance like that with a big character up to that point. Her father, Captain Stacy, had been killed earlier which set up this "I blame Spider-Man" sub-plot that had great possibilities. Unfortunately, she never found out that Peter was Spidey before she was killed.

Of course, Marvel had to completely destroy her memory a few years ago by bringing in this stupid storyline where she had actually been Norman Osborn's lover and had his children. But that's Marvel for you. They love to do horrible things to childhood memories in the name of "pushing the envelope".

There are still those today who think Gwen should have been left alone and MJ should have been the one killed. Who knows which would have ended better though? Maybe she got out while the getting was good.

3. Bruce Banner and Betty Ross

While Spider-Man's enemy killed his girlfriend, it was Banner himself who had a hand in killing his own wife. After years of being exposed to radiation by being around Bruce, Betty found out she had gamma radiation poisoning and was dying.

The Abomination found out about Betty's condition and hastened things along with a blood transfusion of his irradiated blood and she was dead. We never liked her father that much, but this may have been one of those cases when the daughter should have listened to dear old dad and stayed away from the giant green man.

There are a lot more wonderful Marvel relationships that didn't end well that I'll hit in future posts. For now, who do you consider a tragic relationship for Marvel that I didn't mention?

Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?

We hit CGC comics just a couple of weeks ago, so let's hit something else near and dear: toys! Action figures, accessories, vehicles, and secret bases...every little kid's dream.

As a recent visitor to 3 different comic book conventions this year, I've seen the frenzy toy collectors go into when looking for "that figure". You know which one I'm talking about. It's the one they need to finish the collection, or that rare one that everybody else seems to be searching for.

To make it worse, each package has to be perfect! If there's a single dent, split, tear, or crack in any part of it, it becomes worthless to the collector. Now keep in mind, these are the exact same guys who mercilessly taunted Beanie Baby collectors years ago.

When I was growing up, I never once considered the future value of some figure my parents bought me. I didn't lovingly cradle in it in its case and think, "I'll hold on to this for years and sell it someday." Nope, as soon as I got to the car with it that package was in a hundred pieces and I was having fun the way God meant that toy to be used!

Looking back on it now, I do realize how much those Star Wars, Mego Superheroes, and GI Joe figures would sell for today...but they were worth that much to me back then as I saved the world time and again from whatever super villain I happened to create. My grandmother would carefully sew costumes for my Mego figures which allowed me to have heroes like Nomad (the blue and yellow version), Stingray, White Tiger, and a lot of other characters that still haven't seen figure form.

Today I still collect toys, and I still open them to display them (some of the time). I have a fairly nice JLU collection, along with the DC Universe stuff. Marvel isn't having the best showing recently, but that's probably because they haven't had much come down the pike. Still, even with my desire to have a good collection of cool toys (at this moment, I am surrounded by 13 different Galactus figures and statues and I'm on a constant scan of Ebay for new ones), there are some lines I won't cross.

Spending $100 on a figure just doesn't grab me. Toys rock. Toys are cool. But they are still just essentially toys. They're plastic and paint. I've seen frenzied comic con fans go crazy trying to talk down a collector who has some special Batman figure for $125, and they end up paying $100 for it anyway.

I watched a guy at the SDCC this year telling someone else that he didn't have any money left to eat on, but at least he had this year's exclusive Green Lantern figure. My friends, to me that is going too far. While I'd love to get my hands on a Hal Jordan Blue Lantern figure as much as the next collector, I do value that whole "eating and paying the bills" thing more. Toys are meant to be fun, right? Hasn't Buzz Lightyear taught us anything in 2 movies?

Don't get so uptight! Why does it have to be perfect anyway? You're just going to either sell it to someone else, or stick it in a box in the attic somewhere.

The first season of "Big Bang Theory" had a wonderful moment that poked fun at comic geek collectors everywhere. Leonard is selling off his comic collection and his friends circle like sharks trying to grab the Golden Age Flash figure so they can complete the JSA collection. He holds up a Georgi LaForge action figure and threatens to open it if they don't get out of his way. Everyone treats this as a hostage standoff at that point. It's hilarious! And unfortunately, it's true for some folks.


So what about you? Does your heroic taste move beyond comics and into another area? What's the most important figure in your collection, or the one you'd most like to have?

Vengeance of the Moon Knight - Is Marvel Finally Coming Around?

I am a Moon Knight fan. Even when I first read his stories in the back section of the magazine format "Hulk" in the 70's, I knew this dude was cool. He was like Batman in so many ways, but somehow just a little edgier because he had 3 different secret identities.

When Marvel announced two years ago that they were bringing him back, I subscribed to the title as soon as possible. I was excited to see this hero coming back, though Marvel warned he would be "a little more violent". That was an understatement. The title was so graphically violent (including a scene where Moon Knight literally rips Bushmaster's face off with his teeth) that I canceled the subscription and dropped reading the title altogether. Call me a wimp if you want to, but I grew up in an age where heroes were heroes and didn't have to kill someone just to prove they were big and bad.

And now along comes Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1. I was a little leery about giving the title a try, but boy am I glad I did! Marvel has set this character up to be everything he was meant to be by giving him this code against killing. Now he just wants to take the bad guys down without seriously hurting any of them, and it's a breath of fresh air from the ultra-violent crap Marvel has been putting out lately.

Issue 1 starts out with Moon Knight stopping a bank robbery in broad daylight with such flair and panache it makes Batman look like an amateur. My favorite scene is him riding an overturned van down the street like a surfboard. And issue #2 even brings in the Sentry for Marvel's ultimate "This is our Superman and Batman" type of confrontation. I know this might be considered a second-rate comparison team, but I still love it! The characters are similar, yes, but different enough from their DC counterparts to give us some cool possibilities. While I really like the Sentry character, we're almost five years into him as a regular hero in the Marvel universe and Marvel still hasn't figured out what to do with him so I imagine he's not long for this world anyway. Still, it's good to see him in action again.

Now issue #3 is bringing Bushmaster back, so I'm holding off on subscribing again until I see if this whole "no killing" rule is written in stone or if Marvel is just toying with us before making the character so gruesome it's sickening. But I hope Marvel has decided to make this a trend and finally give us one title that we can read without seeing tons of blood and gore all over every fight scene.

DC consistenly out-performs Marvel with its core heroes. Batman does not kill (unless Grant Morrison writes him) and hasn't for decades, and he remains one of DC's most popular characters. It's not necessary to make him a killer to make him cool, and DC has proven that time and again. Why can't Marvel pick up on this and realize a hero who slaughters every group of thugs he faces isn't that cool?

So for now, I'm giving Marvel a big thumbs up for doing a great job with the first two issues of this title. Now let's see if they can actually use restraint and give us a hero to root for without him killing everything that moves. I don't care how much he gets compared to Batman by the press, let us enjoy him!

What about you? Do you feel comics are too violent today and need to dial it back just a little for the average reader?