Hi everyone. Welcome back for another edition of the Handbook.
Here’s hoping Daron is around this week.
Yes I’m here, I’m here, hold your applause. I would have been here last week as well if someone had turned their column in…on time *cough* JIM *cough*
Good to see you to. Ready for another active week?
No, not really. I could really use a vactation…
Cool let’s start.
Fine, whatever
Chad emails
Hey,
I don’t know if you guys are the right people to ask this, but I’m a big fan of the old 90’s animated X-Men cartoon on Fox. Do you know if its out on DVD or if there are any plans for it to be released? How would I find out about such things?
X-Men: Animated Series – The Phoenix Saga
X-Men: Animated Series – Sanctuary/Proteus/Weapon X
X-Men: Animated Series – Reunion/Out Of The Past
Are all available on DVD.
Most of rest like:
X-Men – Apocalypse – The Cure/Come The Apocalypse
X-Men – Beyond Good And Evil – Special Edition
X-Men – Cable – Time Fugitive
X-Men – Gambit – Repo Man/X-Ternally Yours
X-Men – Magneto – Enter Magneto/Deadly Reunions
X-Men – Masters Of Delusion
X-Men – Mastermold – Slave Island/Unstoppable Juggernaut
X-Men – Mr. Sinister – Till Death Do Us Part
X-Men – Night Of The Sentinels/Days Of Future Past – Special Edition
X-Men – No Mutant Is An Island/Lotus
X-Men – Omega Red – Whatever It Takes/Red Dawn
X-Men – One Man’s Worth, Parts 1 & 2
X-Men – Out Of The Past, Parts 1 & 2
X-Men – Proteus, Parts 1 & 2
X-Men – Reunion, Parts 1 & 2
X-Men – Rogue – Rogue’s Tale/Beauty And The Beast
X-Men – Sanctuary, Parts 1 & 2
X-Men – Savage Land/Strange Heart/Dark Phoenix – Special Edition
X-Men – Sentinel – Final Decision/Mojovision
X-Men – Wolverine – Captive Hearts/Cold Vengance
Are all on tape. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full DVD with all the episodes out yet.
I feel the need to say something here, but just don’t know what it is…
James emails
Hey Jim,
Since the Contest of Champions posts center around Death as one of the competitors, what’s the history of Death as a character in the Marvel Universe? How did Thanos fall in love with her? Did she ever return his feelings? And did they really kill her in the Universe X Universe?
Information:
Death can manifest itself on the physical plane at certain times to certain individuals as a sentient, quasi-tangible humanoid entity of either gender. Like Eternity, Lord Chaos, and Master Order, Death is an abstract being embodying a concept, whose true nature and origin is unknown. Death and the being called Eternity are said to comprise the mystical essence of the universe: Eternity embodies the principle of life, and Death embodies the principle of mortality.
Death and Eternity can both manifest themselves as sentient beings, and have spoken of themselves as siblings. They have appeared in humanoid form, although presumably they could appear in any guise they chose. Eternity generally appears in the form of a male, while Death usually manifests itself in female form. This may simply be the form Death chooses to seduce males into doing its will. When Death presented itself once to the vampire lord Dracula as a rival rather than as a seducer, it took male form. While Death can take the guise of a living human, it more often appears to living beings as a hooded, robed skeleton.
The personification of Death sometimes seems to possess fathomable motives. Death seems to seek new conquests, and manipulates mortals with or without their knowledge in order to gain them. Death once attempted to destroy Dracula through human pawns because Dracula was depriving it of conquests by creating vampires who were neither truly alive nor truly dead Death failed on that occasion, but Dracula eventually fell victim to permanent destruction. Although Death ordinarily seems content to maintain a balance in the universe between its power and Eternity’s, Death will seize opportunities that arise to achieve dominance over Eternity. Death once appeared to the mad Titanian Thanos in the form of a woman with whom he fell so much in love that he was willing to destroy the universe in order to please her. Death also apparently works in partnership with Galactus, the destroyer of worlds. Death has on occasion taken the role of gamesman, having once played a tournament of champions with the Elder called the Grandmaster.
Death’s ultimate goals are unknown. There may be a master plan guiding its movements or nothing more than random chance. Virtually all living creatures in the known universe must eventually surrender themselves to Death. Even the Eternals and Asgardians age, although they do so very slowly, and will someday die. The Olympian gods do not age, but can be killed by a sufficiently powerful force. The Elders of the Universe, reputed to be the oldest living beings in the universe, can also be killed by a sufficiently powerful force. Galactus, the only known entity said to predate the Big Bang itself, believes his death inevitable.
The relationship between Death and the so-called gods of the dead of the various pantheons is also very hazy. Death gods like Hela and demons like Mephisto seem to receive certain undefined powers from Death and even rule over extradimensional realms seemingly inhabited by the souls of deceased mortals. But whether they are Death’s pawns or allies cannot be determined.
Death remains one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. At one point, Death was “killed” by the extradimensional being known as the Beyonder, who later “recreated” it. The implications of this on Death’s nature are still a mystery. Later, Death appeared to the Phoenix Force, claiming it to be the product of power of all life yet unborn, and thus somewhat an agent of Death and abstract entity the likes of Eternity and Death. Death helped to convince the Force to leave its then-current avatar, Rachel Summers.
More recently, Death has seemed to take a fascination with the villain known as Deadpool, appearing to him on several occasions in the context of a somewhat romantic nature. Again, the implications of this are still a mystery, even to Deadpool.
Death appeared first in Captain Marvel 27
War in Hell 13-15
Marvel Graphic Novel 1
Man-Ting v2 10
Contest Of Champions 1-3
Fantastic Four 257
Secret Wars II 7
Spectacular Spider-Man 111
Peter Parker 20
New Mutants 41
West Coast Avengers ann 2
Avengers ann 16
Solo Avengers 5
Silver Surfer v3 10
Silver Surfer v3 17
Silver Surfer v3 34
Silver Surfer v3 38
Thanos Quest 1-2
Spider-Man 17
Infinity Gauntlet 1-6
Quasar 25
Damage Control v3 4
Infinity War 2
Marvel Comic Presents 108-111
Doctor Strange v3 45
Quasar 49
Excalibur 63
Deadpool ’98
Deadpool 33-37
Captain Marvel v5 18
Avengers: Celestial Quest 1-8
Deadpool 61
Amazing Spider-Man 503
Thanos since his first appearance in Iron Man #55 seems to always have had a thing for Death. It really became more noticeable when he returned to the living for Thanos Quest and the Infinity Gauntlet
Death never returned the feelings even when he had the Gauntlet.
Yes in the Earth X/Universe X universe she was dead. But seeing as it’s not continuity currently or might never be she’s still alive in 616 Marvel Universe
Rumors are swirling around X-Men 3 and the new Fantastic Four movie. What are your thoughts on the quality of Marvel churning out movies (can they keep up quality?), and who do you think should have a movie that hasn’t had one as of yet?
They can keep up quality if they work hard to do it. I mean it’s always depending on Marvel Studio’s Avi Arad and Stan Lee plus everyone they get to do the movies.
Right now I’m not as worried about X-3 as everyone else is. I think what’s going to happen is we’ll get like 3-4 false scripts like the past few movies as well as a possible writer change. I’m also thinking that they might wait for Singer to become available again. Fantastic Four I think will be better then everyone thinks.
Also remember you can’t go by a lot of reviewers of movies. They rarely like comic movies.
Personally, the FF movie looks good, but it doesn’t seem to have much substance, that one may be a rental for me. X3, well it’s just too early to tell. From everything we’ve been hearing it’s hard to really get excited, but I really can’t say anything till we at least start seeing some trailers.
As for other Marvel characters coming here’s who we know.
Silver Surfer
Iron Man
Captain America
Iron Fist
Ghost Rider
Deathlok
Wolverine
Magneto
Black Widow
Thor
Gargoyle
Killraven
Sequels:
X-3
Spider-Man 3
Punisher 2
Hulk 2
I haven’t read Avengers for the past few years, is Carol Danvers still around? And if she is, what identity is she using now and what are her powers?
Carol is still around. Although she’s not an Avenger at this time she has come to help the team during House of M under her old name Ms Marvel
In the DC Universe, Green Lantern’s ring is considered “the most powerful weapon in the universe,” what’s the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe?
I think the best weapon would be the Infinity Gems and the Infinity Gauntlet. That’s some power there.
While I agree with you Jim, I think James may have been referring to a weapon that was a bit more “mass produced” like the GL rings. Something that multiple people could wield. Clarification, James?
Tom emails
quick note about shatterstar’s power’s. he actually does have a mutant ability to send some sort of shockwave through his swords. not sure if it was dependant on the metal of the swords or if it’s just metal he can send it through. he’s only used it a few times and he always complains about it tiring him out when he does.
Hmmmmm good point. Although not sure that’s really clear it’s his mutant powers.
And people say I like to argue…
Joe
Great column, I’ve only just started reading it since last week, but I enjoy it, even though most of it is way over my head. I haven’t gotten into comics in almost 15 years (I’m 34 now..so it’s been a while), and I have a few questions.
1. How did Abomination come to be? What about Doc Samson, is he still around the Marvel Universe? I always loved the psychological aspect of the Hulk series, especially when Banner went insane, have they ever touched on the topic of it again, or has the reset button been pushed on it? What happened with The Leader? And finally, the last Hulk question: Other than intelligence (as Banner Hulk) and strength, did the Hulk have any other sort of powers that have been discovered?
2. I admit it, I’m a huge fan of the Clone Saga. After reading a few sites online, I feel like I must be the only one. Anyways, what ever happened to Ben Reilly? Did he ever come back, is he still out there? I always thought that he would have made a more fitting “Spider Man” or at least a continued run with a Scarlet Spider comic, since he was basically the Peter that I enjoyed. Single, free to play the field and all of that jazz. Also on a related note, what were your thoughts on the Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly?
3. On a personal note, I’m really wanting to get back into reading comics, and I’m wanting to know if there are any comics that you can recommend? I’m looking for something that I can jump into without 500 pages of backstory. I’m looking for something that is virtually new so I won’t have to buy 100 other comics from 5 years ago to understand the story.
Thanks for the time and keep up the superb work on the column!
*Looks Around For Jim*
Where the hell is my straight man? I’m just the quirky Overlord/sidekick…my answers aren’t supposed to be substantial!
Oh well, here goes anyway.
1. To be honest I have absolutely no idea what’s going on with Doc or Hulk. I’m really not a fan of either character and have never really followed them.
2. Well this one I think I can handle. While I can’t say I’m a big fan of the Clone Sage, I was however a big fan of Ben. I really enjoyed a “fresh” take on Spidey. Unfortunately, Ben never came back that I’m aware of.
3. As far as recommendations go…this will be a little rough seeing as I’m REALLY behind on my reading at the moment, due to real life stuff. I’m going to list some of my favorite titles (not necessarily Marvel titles, and hopefully Jim can help out with those next week…as well as an answer to your first question).
1. Manhunter – DC
2. Small Gods – Image
3. Astonishing X-Men – Marvel
4. Flash – DC
5. Supreme Power – Marvel
6. Gotham Central – DC
Those are some of my favorites that I’d recommend you check out, and except for Flash, none of them are more than 2 years old, with some being less than a year…
Here’s hoping we hear from Jim on your other questions next week.
Thanks for the email Joe, I’m glad you enjoy the column. I hope you like the rest of the site as well.
Daron
Re: Magneto and Israel…
If Magneto is Jewish (and note that it’s never been EXPLICITLY stated that he is, if I recall correctly, but it can be reasonably inferred from his time in Auchwitz – still, he could be a Gypsy, or one of the other groups that the Nazis persecuted), then he can still be considered an Israeli citizen – that is to say, Israel has laws allowing Jews to gain citizenship with a fairly minimal effort. Mind you, he likely has not done so – he’d need to establish a residence, for example, and other such legal niceties that I sincerely doubt that he’s done – but it’s a possibility.
That being said, he could also be taken for Genosha, too, since I think running a country can be considered to grant you citizenship in that country. Just a hunch. Or Asteroid M – didn’t he try and claim Asteroid M as sovereign territory once upon a time?
All that being said, I’m unsure if *citizenship* in a country qualifies you to represent it in the Contest of Champions, or if it has to be your *country of origin.*
Well it was our best guess though. Even the movie sort of hints at the same thing with the guess. Can’t say I’m positive or right about this but it’s all guess work with Magneto
Oh, and calling Thor for Asgard is cheesy. Probably a legal move, but still cheesy
Daron that ones all yours.
Again, I admitted that I was unsure of his “nationality” but as you say I don’t think it really matters. We know he’s not American born, so it works…
As for Thor…well I don’t see it as cheesy at all. First off we’re talking about 2 cosmic beings bringing together a group of champions to fight. Why then shouldn’t they be able to pick champions from wherever they want? On top of that, it was stated in the rules that we could pick from ANY Marvel characters, dimensions, etc. And lastly, it wasn’t exactly fair to begin with. Jim got to choose his team in it’s entirety before I even knew we were doing it. If we’d done more of a draft then it would have been fair all around. I was just fighting fire with fire…that and I’m just evil…
House Of M
Continuing House of M. Next week I’ll do a bio series if I can with the info. Watch out though. This is full of spoilers
Spoiler space
We’ll start with Spider-Man House of M # 1
We start with Gwen and Pete married with a son. Pete’s sons name is Richie
Pete in this world is a Scientist and pro wrestler by the name Spider-Man. He’s also a mutant it seems. He also shaves his head in this issue for his birthday.
His Uncle Ben is still alive.
Working for Pete are Rhino, J. Jonah Jameson,
Captain Stacy is still alive in this world as well and a cop who with Parker corp creates the Spider shotters
Norman Osborn is still around in this new world but his company gets taken over by Parker in this issue as well.
Crusher Hogun is still around in this world as well and going by Green Goblin in the ring as Pete’s rival and friend
Aunt May is still around as well.
In the end of the issue Pete fires JJ and the real Green Goblin shows up
—————-
House of M # 2
We start in the new world with Captain America who’s an old man receiving mail labeled Captain Steve Rogers and still living in NY
We then find loving couple Scott Summers married. She is teaching an orphaned Franklin Richards
Next we find Alison Blaire the star of her own tv show with Simon Williams a tv star.
We also find Carol Danvers still Ms Marvel and a hero who in this issue captures Remy Lebeau
Elsewhere: In Cincinnati Kitty Pryde is a teacher of mutants
Hells Kitchen: Luke Cage is a thug running his own gang. Sam Wilson is a cop who is investigating him
Elsewhere: Doctor Strange is a psychologist who’s treating some guy who might be Robert Reynolds (Sentry)
Russia: Colossus is a farmer
Chicago: Stark Labs: Henry McCoy and Henry Pym as employees with Hank Pym wanting out
Paris: Storm is working with the House of Magnus and has Janet Van Dyne working for her
Hellicarrier: James Howlet leader of Shield wakes up with Mystique in bed with him. It looks like Toad and some chick (Guesses X-23) working for him
That’s it for me this week. Daron care to sign off?
Alrighty then. Reporting from the Marvel Universe I’m Daron Kappauff. Have a great week and see you at the comic shop.
Alrighty then. Reporting from the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a great week and see you at the comic shop.
Hmmm, that was weird…
