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It’s the time between ThanksGiving & Christmas…

A time that I refer to as Thanksmas.

It doesn’t stop the news though…

NOTHING DOES!

Especially when we have broken the internet into
bite-size four-thousand and ninety-sixths here on –

So here we are – another week, and this week we have just as much news as last week, but without all of those solicits to keep us busy. I do have some feedback and some questions that I will try and answer, and there are SOME interesting tidbits of news mixed through the nothingness.

Also – later in the column: A WARNING FOR YOUR KIDS!

Did you guys see Harry Potter yet? It’s got the Superman 30 seconds… and yeah, I know you saw it on your little monitor”¦ but it’s REALLY pretty on the big screen.

To the news:

…BUT BEFORE THE NEWS
(Courtesy of Newsarama)

Let’s just get some previews out of the way. This is the first batch of pages for Son of M. Anyone who reads this knows that I try NOT to read previews, because I’m about as big of a fanboy as they come when it comes to the X-Verse… sooo if it’s really cool, just smile internally and know I’ll be happy about it next week.

Click that link to see em’. I don’t even want their iconic visions of loveliness gracing my column.

MARVEL GETS A LITTLE HEAD…
(Courtesy of Newsarama)

Yay, subtle sexual innuendo!

Actually, Marvel is bringing in Death’s Head 3.0 to Amazing Fantasy. For those who DON’T know who Death’s Head is (like me). Let’s find out what Transformers‘ writer and creator of the original Death Head – Simon Furman – has to do with this project… and who the hell Death Head is…

The original cyborg bounty hunter was assimilated by Minion and the latter became Death’s Head II. There was a big push for Death’s Head and other Marvel UK characters and titles (other than Death’s Head, there were Dark Angel, Hell’s Angel, Knights of Pendragon, Killpower, Cyberspace 3000, etc) back then, especially during the Mys-Tech Wars crossover event where characters like the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four and even Venom appeared. Is Death’s Head 3.0 part of a larger plan to bring back and revive the Marvel UK properties?

Okay, so that didn’t explain what Furman had to do with it, but you got enough cool neat bits of info about Death Head and possibly future plans of Marvel for me to just blow off that I didn’t answer that one stupid little question.

Call me Joe Quesada. HA!

MORE SPIDEY-COSTUMES!
(Courtesy of Newsarama)

Yeah… so the run of alternate Spidey covers continues. This time, the second printing of MK Spider-Man #20 gives us what some people are clamoring for… The Scarlet Spider

MARVEL STEALS ANOTHER ARTIST…
(Courtesy of Newsarama)

Ramon Bachs, the upcoming artist on the Generation M mini-series, has recently signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.

His first new assignment as a Marvel exclusive will be taking over the art chores on The Pulse alongside fellow Generation M creator Paul Jenkins to become the new creative team when the title goes monthly with issue #15.

Again – continuing the trend of ‘they brought it in on time… give em a check and a contract’ school of comic’s publishing, Ramon gets his own permanent desk at the House of Ideas.

Has anyone noticed the Liefeld’s disappeared from Marvel again?

If one idea makes the other possible, then HIRE EM ALL!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
(Courtesy of Newsarama)

EXTRA EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Thing Hands might be used to HIT things! Thusly they are a dangerous toy. Kids are being told that to use these gloves they should engage in ‘Clobbering Time’, and so… OBVIOUSLY… these big foamy fists are… evil?

Other toys considered dangerous:
* THE GALACTUS DIGESTION KIT
Take the ‘Planet Molder’ and create a chocolatey or vanilla planet… then after your parents have helped you… EAT IT! DESTROY MILLIONS OF LIVES! You are the Alpha and the Omega.

* SILVER SURFER BODY PAINT
This was only considered dangerous because it clogs up your pores. Apparently if you close them all up… you die. …whatever…

* WOLVERINE ‘SNIKT AT DINNER’ KNIFE SET
Put on the dangerous list after kids realized that you didn’t have to use the plastic knives that were provided, but could attach steak knives to these special gloves.

* SPIDER-MAN WALL CRAWLING HAND SUCTION CUPS
If all it takes is one 8 year old plummeting 10 stories for this toy to make this list… I don’t think I like America anymore…

* THE MR. FANTASTIC ADULT ATTACHMENT
….nuff said?….

* MR. SINISTER GENETIC PLAYKIT
Do you want a Puggle? How about a Tabby/Siamese? How about a Gerbil/Hamster? Maybe a new Mommy/Daddy? How about an Elephant/Lawn Chair? This kit gives you all you need to restart life… with anything.

OK! Now it’s time for Feed-Back!:

This letter comes from Colin Pigeau – a faithful reader with some really really detailed questions about Nightcrawler… and admits he doesn’t read Marvel? This is gonna be fun!

I wish to know about House of M. All these depowered mutants, are they in the full 616? Or is this an alternate universe that has been created? Is it supposed to be as permanent as anything can be in comic book land? I ask, because if it’s all true, 616 and permanent, I’m glad I don’t read Marvel anymore. Not having Havok, Iceman, Jubilee, Quicksilver and Magneto is criminal.
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Colin, first off… thanks for reading.

Second off, for someone who doesn’t read Marvel – the rest of your questions are REALLLLY Detailed.

As far as the world is going right now, it seems that we are STILL in Marvel 616. It’s possible that they could come out later and say that we aren’t, but I am fairly certain this is it.

Now where I too am upset about some of these characters losing their powers. (Namely Jubilee… Danielle is still weeping openly) Let me just say that this is probably the most amazing thing that’s happened in the Marvel Universe in YEARS! There was ACTUAL CHANGE! Status quo was REALLY MOVED! I’m not knocking you Colin, but all readership as a whole (myself included).

When Marvel and Quesada or Bendis come out and say ‘THIS WILL CHANGE THINGS FOREVER!’ …we all laugh and wait til next month when everything is the same. This time, we have taken a growing portion of the Marvel populace (mutants) and given them this huge beacon of storylines to work with. Now characters like Cyclops and Beast have reasons to be wary as X-Men, Iceman has to wonder whether he is STILL an X-Men, and Quicksilver has lost EVERYTHING.

Our first reaction is to get pissed off that they changed characters that we love. Well sadly, we can’t have it both ways. So I’d say at least give them credit for trying to give these characters a new layer of depth.

Okay, now onto your Nightcrawler questions.

Nightcrawler question #1: I’ve been thinking, and if his father is a demon, doesn’t that make him a demon (or at least a half-demon) and not a mutant? Namor is a mutant, but is a mutant because of his flight and strength; his Atlantean blood naturally gives him the ability to breathe underwater. But if Nightcrawler is the son of a demon, and he travels through a demonic dimension to teleport, that’s not really a mutant power, but a demonic power. His only power that MIGHT be considered a mutant power is his sticking to walls, but who’s to say that that isn’t a by-product of demonic blood? And you can’t say he’s a mutant because of Mystique, because Graydon Creed was a flatscan.
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This is actually a great question that I have no idea how to answer. The first reason is because it relates to the Draco storyline from Chuck Austin, which I had just RECENTLY forgotten, and you have now brought it back to the forefront of my brain.. and Colin.. I blame you.

This is one of those weird situations that really has been lost in it’s on cannon. YOu are completely correct that since ‘Crawler is the son of Mystique and a Demon, he is technically a half-demon and his powers might very well come from that since he goes to a ‘demonic dimension’. All we can really kind of assume is that Crawler’s blue fuzziness comes from Mystique. Anything else is now going to be in question due to the Draco storyline. I tend to ignore almost all of Chuck Austin, as slowly but surely they’ve removed it from continuity.

Nightcrawler question #2: If Nightcrawler was falling to his death, and he had gained a lot of momentum and velocity, he couldn’t just ‘port to the ground because he would still carry the momentum and go splat, yes? Could he teleport such that he would tun his momentum around? I mean, could he reappear from his ‘port and fall UP, at least until gravity brought him back under control, and he could safely teleport back down to the ground?
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Okay, I got this one covered! Wooo! I feel like Jim Trabold. Anyway, even if it’s never explained, I can kind of see how this one is possible. Take Crawler, and have him falling. He is going to teleport, right? Well for a brief moment he is in a demonic dimension. During that brief second, I would think it’s possible for him to spin 180 and have his portal (for lack of a better term) fire him UP.

So NOW, Crawler is still facing the same way he was (and not landing on his head), and has shifted his gravity fairly well.

YAY! I GOT ONE RIGHT! Anyway”¦ thanks for your questions Colin, man I spent way too much time thinking about that…

So now the mini-reviews and you can go back to looking at softcore.

M I N I – R E V I E W S

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #526 – Well, the fight has begun.. and the original statement that Peter is going to lose a vital organ comes true.. well at least half-true. I really don’t want to say anything to reveal it. It was pretty badass though.

DAREDEVIL #79 – When will this story end?!? Not because it’s bad.. it’s not at all – and features the first ever Bendis action sequence I liked… it’s just that it’s reaaaaaaallly good and keeps ending on reaaaalllly good cliffhangers. I swear this is what it was like to be a lil kid in the 60s.

NICK FURY HOWLING COMMANDOS #2 – I was asked to review this book. I didn’t buy it. I wouldn’t read it either… yech… don’t expect a review of it.

SHE-HULK 2 #2 – Are you reading this? You should be. Self-referential, and I’m starting to believe that each issue is nothing but a cunning way for Dan Slott to admit he hates Marvel and all of it’s writers.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #65 – It is through this column that I realize what books were missed on my pull-list. I am saddened to not know what happened. Damnit!

THE END?

Yeah.. done til next week.. I need more Emergen-C to beat the hell out of this cold. Geez.. thanks again to Colin for letting me bulk up another week with nothin’ going on.

Geez.. announce Stephen King to the world, and then forget about helping out Comics’ Nexus.. THANKS JOEY Q!

Til next week.