Hi everyone I’m Jim Trabold. Welcome back for another edition of the Handbook.
Hey Daron how’s it going?
Doing pretty well this week. Finally kicked that cold I had last week”¦
Going good here. I’m having a good week so far. I’m thinking this one will be interesting. I think we’re about done with the Iron Man/X-Men debate though. Wonder what’s next?
Let’s start up and find out.
Ratcat posted
Ok, here is another stupid question along the same lines as my Batman aftershave question over on the DC board…
Are there any memorable times that Daredevil used his super-heightened sense of taste to defeat the forces of evil?
It seems to me that enhanced taste would most likely be the least useful of 5 senses and I wonder if any writer has been able to do anything with it
Approximately 80-90% of what we perceive as “taste” actually is due to the sense of smell. Just think about how dull food tastes when you have a head cold or a stuffed up nose.
Is one of the most common and fundamental of the senses of animals. It is the direct detection of chemical composition, usually through contact with chemoreceptor cells. Taste is very similar to olfaction (the sense of smell), in which the chemical composition of an organism’s ambient medium is detected by chemoreceptors. In a liquid medium, taste is often used to describe this act as well
So in reality he does use it but just not as often.
*Blink, blink, blink*
Where the hell did you pull that one out from Dr. Jim?
Sly_Reference posted
I remember hearing that there was supposed to be a version of Moon Knight coming out where MK was a woman, and Marc Spector was dying of cancer. Have I gone insane, or did that really happen?
Actually oddly enough you’re close. Around Moon Knight 42 there was like the battle of Moon Knights. With all different version of Moon Knight appearing from other universes.
There was Moonshade his Evil Doppleganger from Infinity War
Crescent Moon was the leader of a team of religious warriors
Dark Moon was a dark and grim vigilante, defender of Skyline City
Dino Knight was a crime-fighting, gun-bearing dinosaur
Grey Wing was Crescent Moon’s opponent in the “Holy War” they fought in
Mister Spector was a crime-fighter, with a sidekick named Ivory
Moon-Fang was a vampire
The Moon Ghost was a crime-fighter
Moon Man and Moon Boy were the defenders of Cosmopolis
Moon Maid was a mermaid
I think the story took place while he had cancer. There are 2 females in the list.
Considering the recent importance of the Middle East in recent times, I’ve been wondering if here have been any major storylines set in that region. Also, what Middle Eastern-themed heroes and villains are there in the Marvel U?
Sure. I’ve got a list for you
Aminedi, the Cutting Wind (Desert Sword)
Apocalypse
Arabian Knight I & II
Ashake
Batal
Black Raazer (Desert Sword)
Black Tiger
Captain Assyria (Forever Yesterday)
EarthLord (EarthForce)
Garret (Egyptian sorcerer)
Grace (Knights of Pendragon)
Horus (Forever Yesterday)
Iron Man (Forever Yesterday)
Jamaal (Forever Yesterday)
Living Mummy
Magar the Mystic
Moon Knight
Ozymandias
Sabra (Israeli Super Agents)
Scarlet Scarab
Sceptre (Monica Rambeau Forever Yesterday)
Sedara Bakut (Psi-Force)
Shear (Strikeforce: Morituri)
Shroud
Sirocco (Desert Sword)
Sphinx I
Sphinx II
Skyhawk (EarthForce)
Timeslip (New Warriors)
Trojak the Tigerman
Turbo (New Warriors)
Viel (Desert Sword)
Wind Warrior (EarthForce)
Zephyr, Mistress of the Winds (Elementals)
TherCanBeOnly1 emails
Greetings once more. This is an interesting debate. Let’s get it on.
First of all, let’s settle on some rules for the Iron Man/X-Men Super Wrestlemania Grudge Death Match. How many X-Men will be fighting? I’d say pick 6 or 7, with their current powers. How much prep time is there? I’ve been going under the assumption this fight was spur of the moment, no prep time. I’d accept the limitation that IM uses his base armor, no specialty suits. But do they know they’re going to be fighting? Is it set up before hand? That’s pretty important, because then Tony can bring modules for the armor with him. So wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be scripted as a chance meeting that turns into a fight, for whatever reason? Otherwise, what’s to stop Tony from bringing backup armor, and if his suit is damaged enough, then just jump into the Hulk- or Thorbuster armor and keep fighting. Where are they fighting? In some generic comic wasteland far away from anyplace that has civilians or structures that shouldn’t be damaged? In the heart of NYC?
I don’t know what other conditions should be set. What do you guys think?
I’m willing to say that Stark wouldn’t attack Xavier’s. He’s smart. Take the battle someplace deserted.
As for how many X-Men. We’ll go he challenges each team separately. Makes sense
Reason for fight: Because Gambit stole something from Stark
Prep time: An hour
How is that for rules?
To be quite honest I think this debate is fizzling out. I think both sides have hit their high points, and at this point we’re just arguing to argue. On top of that you can’t really introduce these types of rules now. They should have been implemented at the beginning. So with that in mind I’ll defend any points that have been made, but I’m not going to introduce anything new for this particular debate.
Now, for what Colin said. First of all, I never suggested IM has never been hit before. He has. I also said that a lot of writers have used him badly. With all the sensors in the armor, he shouldn’t be hit. Or he shouldn’t be hit as easily as he has been. But I also said in a previous email that Tony seems to like slugging it out. He’ll stand toe to toe and trade shots a lot instead of using strategy. How the F does the Melter give IM a hard time, except that a lazy writer is using a third rate villain to attempt to create tension.
But also look at a lot of IM’s opponents. The Living Laser is…. a living laser. He can move at the speed of light, yes? I’d hope he could hit IM. His biggest opponents have been the Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo, both armored villains with their own targeting systems. Ultron, Ultimo, both are robots. Probably half the villains he’s faced have been robots, cyborgs, armored, computerized, whatever.
No offense, but your big deal about Forge is plain ignorant. Forge’s mutant power is the ability to build anything. Ok. And he can build these things instantaneously? He just thinks something up and it appears right away? Then he should be the most powerful character in all of comics. Oh wait, you mean he has to build it? And he doesn’t have super speed? Or any type of defensive capabilities of his own? So Tony’s going to sit there and watch Forge build from scratch, on the battlefield, where he’s gotten all the parts from….. his ancestors? and not do anything. Right.
Hehe makes sense. But if Forge is called in he might already have something made up to deal with Iron Man. Knowing Forge he comes up with that type of stuff in his sleep.
Sensors can only do so much for Tony, he still needs to be able to react to the information they’re giving him, and more importantly sensors can be tampered with…meaning they can be disabled. Something I’d say Forge would probably quite good at it. His sensors might also be affected by say a sonic attack, and since there are 2 X-Men with such attacks”¦
Now to Forge in general. First, as Jim said even without prep time Forge usually packs a few toys, and I’d say he should have at least 1 thing that would be of some use in this fight. Secondly, yes he has to build his toys, but as we’ve seen it doesn’t take him very long at all to build them (see his battle with Fitzroy and his toaster gun).
Lastly, the inclusion of Forge was to counter all the ridiculous “prep time/extra suit of armor” crap that’s been flying around here. If Tony has enough time to make mods or figure out exactly what he needs for this fight, Forge should have MORE than plenty of time to build whatever the X’s may need.
I’d say Forge is probably the weakest X-Man you could possibly pick for an unplanned encounter.
Daron still won’t/can’t answer my point about individual defensive powers. Again, one shot from a low level repulsor takes out Havok, Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, and however many other X-Men who have no defensive capabilities. And they’re out for good. So if Havok and Cyclops miss, or the armor absorbs part of their energy blasts, and Tony fires back, then what? Tony’s not missing. So again, Tony can take out half the team all at once, or even more than half depending on who’s chosen.
Daron this ones yours.
Ton’s not missing. So you’re saying Tony never misses? If I go look at a bunch of Iron Man comics, are you telling me I’ll NEVER see him miss a target”¦ever? Somehow I seriously doubt that. I’m also sure if anyone’s still listening we’ll get some testimony on this in a week or two”¦ But that’s not really the question at hand. The question of the X’s defenses was actually discussed last time, by Colin I believe. He suggested that the X’s uniforms act as a defensive buffer. Without having to really research this I’d say this is a pretty good assumption considering we’ve seen plenty of the X’s get hit my various attacks and continue fighting. I’m not sure why you think Iron Man’s attacks would do more damage than Magneto’s, Apocalypse’s or any of their other villains, but I’d say if they can bounce back from them IF Tony hits them they’d probably bounce back as well.
Past that though, the X’s have the advantage of teamwork on their side (no matter who is in charge”¦these characters have been fighting and TRAINING together for years. They know how to protect each other). There are plenty of ways the X’s could defend each other if their uniform defenses wouldn’t suffice. Just a few examples, the heavy hitters (Colossus, Wolverine, etc) could easily dive in front of attacks that might significantly injure less protected characters and absorb the attacks. Other instances could have Nightcrawler teleporting potential targets out of harm’s way. There are a lot of these possibilities, yet you seem to think the X’s are just going to stand around and let Tony blast them off the battlefield. Regardless of where this battle takes place the X’s would be a more difficult set of targets than you give them credit for. As someone pointed out a week or so ago, the X’s are used to taking on not only 1 much more powerful foe but groups of such foes. I seriously doubt Tony would give them as much trouble as you seem to think.
Just out of curiosity, how did this whole thing start anyway?
I think it came out of X-Men Legends 2. Iron Man is one of the unlockable characters. Just not many know about it.
Didn’t you ask about it? Hell I can’t remember either”¦
Megan emails
Hey there– Just a quick question. I loved your Bobby write-up last week, and I wondered if you could do the same for Nightcrawler. I know he’s had some darkness in his past (he killed his foster brother, yes?), but I’d like to see what he’s been up to since then, especially what’s happening in current continuity (since I just can’t bring myself to read Uncanny…shudder). Is he one of those “group leaders” at Xavier’s? What’s up with him and Storm?
First the Nightcrawler thing:
A native of Germany, Nightcrawler has blue fur, yellow eyes, fangs and a prehensile tail. He has three fingers and toes on each appendage and can stick to walls. He is a line-of-sight teleporter and is also a master swordsman and acrobat. His teleportation, which smells of brimstone and sulfur and makes his signature “BAMF!” noise, takes him through another dimension. Generally, though, his teleportation is instantaneous.
Kurt spent his formative years in a traveling carnival with his foster-mother and -sister, but then left to explore the world. As a young man, Wagner spent some time in the Munich circus under their control. Eventually a boy named Philip freed Kurt. He was forced to kill his foster brother Stefan, who had become a mad children slayer.
Hunted by the mob from the nearby village for his appearance and the resultant presumption of being the murderer, he was rescued by Professor Charles Xavier, who invited him to join his second team of X-Men. There, Wagner adopted the name Nightcrawler.
With the X-Men, Nightcrawler at last found a home and a family, and his humorous, swashbuckling Errol Flynn-like. He also found a close friend in his fellow X-Man Wolverine, and had a romantic relationship with his foster sister, who was living under the identity of Amanda Sefton in the United States for a time.
He was also reconciled with Margali, who had been convinced that he had killed her son Stefan in cold blood but with the help of his fellow X-Men and Dr. Strange, the mistake was cleared.
After some years with the X-Men, Nightcrawler sustained a serious injury while fighting the Marauders Riptide and went into a coma. While he and fellow X-Man member Shadowcat were recovering, the X-Men appeared to die during a mission in Dallas.
Nightcrawler and Shadowcat left to join Captain Britain in an adventure in the UK. After working together so well, they decided to form the group Excalibur. Leadership of the group was originally assumed to be Captain Britain’s but Nightcrawler assumed leadership of the group.
Kurt regained his ability to teleport during a battle in Limbo. Excalibur split up for vacation and Kurt was home with a broken leg, he took in the members of the Technet and trained them as the N-Men. Kurt and the others discovered that the X-Men were indeed alive and after Brian and Meggan’s wedding he, Colossus, and Shadowcat returned to the States to rejoin their friends. It was around this time it was revealed that his biological mother is the mutant terrorist Mystique
Among his more interesting character traits, Wagner is an extremely religious man. A devout Catholic, his demonic appearance obviously makes it very difficult to attend church services. He managed to almost become a Catholic priest unfortunately his studies were interrupted by a villains known as The Neo.Dr. Cecilia Reyes saved his life and brought him back to the X-Men.
Along with his adventures with the X-Men he also teamed with Amanda now the new Magik. Still, he remained committed to both his faith and his friends. When his best friend Colossus sacrificed his life to cure the Legacy Virus, Kurt was shaken to the core. He was confronted by Sinister who offered to make a clone of Peter for Kurt for a small price to be discussed later. He smashed it instead. He also left the X-Men.
Kurt rejoined the team and on a mission to rescue Stacy X from the Church of Humanity, Kurt encountered the mysterious Supreme Pontiff, who did something to the X-Man that caused a severe personality shift. Nightcrawler became a brooding pessimist and afterwards a flamboyant showoff.
In another altercation with the Church of Humanity the Supreme Pontiff revealed a plan to make Kurt a candidate for Pope and then cause a mass disappearance of followers using their teleportation technology revealing Kurt as a mutant and toppling the Church. The X-Men defeated the Pontiff and fixed everyone back to normal.
His family life was complicated with the opening of a portal on Isla Des Demonas that led to the demon Azazel, who revealed himself to be Kurt’s biological father. Kurt’s teleportation powers were part of a very long-range plan of Azazel’s to open a large portal back to Earth using all his children including known mutants such as Abyss. Kurt rejected his father’s plans and the X-Men escaped back to Earth, where Kurt took some time to get to know his half-brothers.
More recently, following the destruction and rebuilding of the X-Mansion, Kurt worked on some solo cases in New York while also functioning as part of Storm’s X.S.E., and found himself attracted three women: Storm, Marvel Girl III and Night Nurse Christine Palmer. Which way Kurt’s heart will lead him remains to be seen.
Thanks much,
Welcome
Blake asked
10 most inept villains.
1. Toad
2. Porcupine
3. Beetle (I know he’s good now)
4. Blob
5. Eel
6. Shocker
7. Spot
8. Puma
9. The Ghost
10. Purple Man
10 best villains.
1. Thanos
2. Doom
3. Magneto
4. Sinister (if used right)
5. Apocalypse
6. Kingpin
7. Mephisto
8. Blackheart
9. Kang
10. Green Goblin
Last House of M bit (unless I do a full bio series later)
Now I promised a full update where everyone was. Not easy but here’s my try at it.
British royal family:
Captain Britain
Courtney Ross
Marvel Girl
Meggan
Peter Wisdom
Psylocke
Clan Yashida:
Keniuchio Harada
Mariko Harada
Dragon Gang:
Shang-Chi
Exiles:
Beak
Blink
Mimic
Morph
Sabretooth
Sasquatch
Fearsome Four:
Doctor Doom
Doom’s mother
Inhuman Torch (Kristoff Vernard)
Invincible Woman (Valeria Doom)
It (Ben Grimm)
House of M:
Apocalypse
Black Bolt
Black Panther
Devin Price
Exodus
Karima Shapandar
Namor
Phantazia
Polaris
Pyro
Quicksilver
Sabretooth
Scarlet Witch
Sentinels
Storm
Strong Guy
Sunfire
Unus
Vanisher
Horsemen of Apocalypse:
Apocalypse
Archangel
Iceman
Nightcrawler
Howling Commandos:
Dum Dum Dugan
Jim Sanders (Speed Demon)
Human Resistance:
Alicia Masters
Abner Jenkins (MACH IV)
Cameron Hodge
Donald Pierce
Erik Josten (Atlas)
Paula D’onofrio
Seiji Ashida
Hydra:
Madame Hydra
Invaders:
Bucky
Captain America: Steve Rogers is now an aged veteran (married Peggy Carter)
Human Torch I
Namor the Sub-Mariner
Toro
Kree Army
Genis-Vell (Photon)
Marauders:
Banshee
Black Tom
Blob
Callisto
Mammomax
Sunder
T-Rex
Nazi:
Adolf Hitler
Baron Zemo
Master Man
Red Skull
New Mutant Leadership Institute:
Cypher
Dr. Sean Garrison
Dust
Jubilee
Karma
Mercury
Prodigy
Quentin Quire
The Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe and Sophie)
Tag
Wallflower
Police detectives:
Bishop
Sam Wilson
Pulse:
Ben Urich
Betty Brant
Kat Farell
Resistants:
Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, Lotus Shincheko, Lin Sun (Sons of Tiger)
Cloak
Danny Rand (Iron Fist)
Dr. Stephen Strange (psychologist)
Felecia Hardy (Black Cat)
Hawkeye
Layla Miller
Luke Cage
Matt Murdock
Misty Knight
Moon Knight
President Harry S. Truman
Scott Summers and Emma Frost are married and living in Connecticut. is a social worker who is seeing the now orphaned Franklin Richards
Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) is a junior high history teacher
She-Hulk
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Spider-Man: Peter Parker is having the time of his life as a famous pro wrestle. Married to Gwen Stacy. Has a son. Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Captain Stacy all alive and helping him
White Tiger
Sapien Death Match
Johnny Storm
Iron Man: Tony Stark
Flash Thompson
SHIELD:
Aurora
Bucky (dead)
Commander Garrison (Kane)
Earshot
Elixar
Jessica Jones (dating Scott Lang)
John Greycrow (Scalphunter)
Julian Keller/Scion
Magik
Moonstar
Mystique
Natasha Romanov
Nightcrawler
Northstar
Rogue
Quill
Sebastian Shaw
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)
Surge
Synch
Toad
Victor Borkowski/Anole
Wind Dancer
Wither
Wolverine
Stark Enterprises:
Forge
Henry McCoy
Henry Pym
Howard Stark
Iron Man
Vision
Wakanda:
Black Panther
Monica Lynne
Shanna, the She-Devil
Weapon Plus
Weapon XXXC.
Wolfpack
Raphael Vega
Unknown:
Baron Von Strucker
Dr. Chen Liu (Radioactive Man)
Others
Angel Salvadore (rich model)
Blunderbuss
Bruce Banner (Hulk) member of tribe of Aborigines in Australia
Cable is an infant raised by Mr. Sinister
Cannonball
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), America’s favorite superheroine
Colossus lives happily on a Russian farm
Dazzler (Alison Blaire) has a popular daytime talk show
Deadpool
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards and Sue Storm mutated and died in a rocket explosion along with John Jameson
Jamie Braddock
Janet van Dyne is a fashion designer
Juggernaut
Kevin MacTaggert (wanted)
Kevin Plunder (in asylum)
Mary Jane Watson (famous actress)
Mastermind (Business man)
Moira MacTaggert (wanted)
Mole King (dead)
Nocturne
Opal Luna Saturnyne
Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus) is working on stem-cell research
Professor Xavier “died so Genosha could live
Remy LeBeau is a petty thief
Rhino: Spidey’s bodyguard
Rockslide (wrestler)
Roma
Sentry is a disturbed father
Siryn
Strongarm (wrestler)
Wonder Man is a famous actor
Decimation
Ok this week I don’t have much room to fit everything about the issues but I do have an updated list on powerless characters:
Depowered:
From House of M # 8
Iceman (Robert Drake)
Magneto (Magnus)
Tag (Brian Cruz)
Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega)
From House of M: The Day After:
Blob (Fred Dukes)
Callisto
Feral (Maria Callasantos)
Hannah Levy
Jubilee (Jubilation Lee)
Moonstar (Danielle Moonstar)
Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff)
Thornn (Lucia Callasantos)
From Exiles # 72:
Angel (Angel Salvadore)
Beak (Barnell Bohusk)
all but one of their children, Tito
New X-Men: Academy X #20:
Aero (Melody Guthrie)
Hydro
Prodigy (David Alleyne)
Specter (Dallas Gibson)
What do you think Daron?
Regularly, or right now?
I thought it was a good column. I like how the readers are wanting more information in lines of characters. I’m going to get back to a few of those last 10 years of characters things. I have a few I left for after HOM.
So how about this week you sign off first. I’ll go after.
Whatever you say, non-bossman.
Have a great week everyone and see you next Wednesday.
My turn then.
Notes/links:
1. Marvel.com question of the week: Which Decimation book are you most looking forward to?
2. Superherohype poll: How would you rate how Thomas Haden Church looks as Flint Marko (aka Sandman)? (with 10 being best)
3. As always your opinions on anything in the article or out on the shelves is welcome. After all you never know what type of response you will get.
4. Keep those emails coming and make sure to label them something I will open.
That’s it from my end. Reporting from my corner of the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a great week and see you at the comic shop.
