The world's greatest superhero is a giant bulldog

Sometimes you come across something on the Internet that is so overwhelmingly kewl just on the basis of the obvious amount of passion and intelligence poured into it, that you can't wait to praise the effort and share it with others.

That's what I felt after finding Lockjaw, The World's Greatest Superhero. It's a very detailed site that, with great affection and eloquence, argues why Lockjaw of the Inhumans from the Marvel Universe is the best comic book character around. In terms of innocence, nobility, and utter power, this Terrigen Mist-altered bulldog lives a life of romp, play, and the occasional rescuing of the universe on his own terms. Not even Galactus comes close to matching Lockjaw's unrestrained abilities, the author insists.

Gotta give the props to whoever made this site. And hopefully Lockjaw will be a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, instead of just getting to scratch his ears :-P

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If you haven't been reading WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN...

...then you really owe it to yourself to go find the back issues, or if you're patient enough then to wait for the trade paperback and buy that as soon as it comes out. 'Cuz this seriously might be the greatest story about Wolverine that Marvel Comics has ever published.

I first wrote about the "Old Man Logan" arc back in August when Wolverine #66 hit the stands. The story begins fifty years in the future, long after Logan wandered away and threw himself into self pity following the night that the bad guys finally conquered the country (and maybe the world). In all that time, Logan hasn't "popped his claws" even once, having relegated himself to the role of a pacifistic farmer, husband and father. During the long odyssey that he and the now-blind Hawkeye have taken across the ruined plains of America, there have been heavy hints that whatever it was that drove Wolverine to renounce violence, it must have been very, very bad.

With Wolverine #70 and Part 5 of "Old Man Logan", now we know what it was.

My God...

Wolverine has long been the most popular mutant in the Marvel stable. But I don't know, in the almost 35 years since the character was introduced, if there has been a single story... nay, a single issue... that has evoked so much both horror and empathy for the guy. Whatever it was that you thought might have been cause for Wolverine to "throw down his sword" and walk away from the fight, that probably is still not anywhere close to what writer Mark Millar came up with. I'm not saying that it will go down in comics history as being anywhere as tragic as the death of Gwen Stacy, but ya gotta give it up for the crew behind "Old Man Logan": they definitely went for broke and into places that even as often a dark a character as Wolverine, has never gone before.

"Old Man Logan" is highly recommended, even if, like me, you are only a casual reader of comic books.

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WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN looks like a terrific arc

It's been awhile since I picked up an issue of an ongoing comic book, apart from the odd Star Wars-related one-shot every now and then. But yesterday Lisa and I were in the Borders in Greensboro and the cover of Wolverine #66 intrigued me enough to purchase a copy. Written by Mark Millar (recently known for the Civil War arc that raged across most of the Marvel line), it's the first chapter of the "Old Man Logan" saga.

And based on what I enjoyed reading last night, "Old Man Logan" might become the best story involving Marvel's most popular mutant since the groundbreaking Origin over six years ago.

The "Old Man Logan" arc takes place fifty years after "the night the heroes fell" and the bad guys finally conquered America. The land is now carved-up into a series of territories and whatever it was that happened, it completely broke Wolverine's spirit. He wandered off into the wasteland, completely renounced violence, dropped his heroic moniker and became simply Logan. When the series begins we find that he's got a wife and two children, eking out an existence as a tenant farmer in California and trying to pay off his landlords.

In Logan's case, this turns out to be the inbred progeny of Bruce Banner. Imagine the degenerate hillbillies of Deliverance as a gang of Hulks. If that alone will not hook you into "Old Man Logan", I don't know what will.

The Hulk Gang beats Logan to a pulp and threatens to kill his family if he can't pony up the rent. Hawkeye - now a blind man - tells Logan that he's got a delivery to make on the East Coast and if Logan can help him get there, his family will get all the rent money they need to pay off the Hulks. By the end of the issue, Hawkeye is in the driver's seat of the rebuilt Spider-mobile with Logan navigating, as the satellite system shows them the three thousand miles they must maneuver through the dominions of Kingpin, Doom, and the threat of much worse in order to reach a place called New Babylon.

Mark Millar is saying that "Old Man Logan" is shooting for the same kind of vibe as The Dark Knight Returns. I can see that here. And in addition to Deliverance there's also a sense of The Grapes of Wrath and maybe even Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at work in the story, with Part 1's final shot of Wolverine and Hawkeye driving off into the East toward whatever adventure awaits.

I'll definitely be picking up Part 2, and probably the rest of this eight-issue series as well. Well worth looking into, whether you're a die-hard Marvel geek or a more casual fan.

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Striking while IRON MAN is hot: Marvel announces 2010 sequel and Avengers movies

Good friend of this blog Crystal is the first to pass along word that Marvel Comics has already declared that Iron Man 2 will hit theaters in April 2010. No doubt that a $100-plus opening weekend helped expedite the matter :-)

In addition to the further on-screen adventures of Tony Stark, Marvel has also announced Thor for July 2010 (I was wondering the other day if they'd make a Thor movie and if so how could this possibly translate into a big-budget feature), and The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers - which has no relation to that strange 1998 movie of the same name - for 2011. Cinematical is hinting that Samuel L. Jackson's appearance as Nick Fury in the post-credits scene from Iron Man was far more than a mere cameo and with this slate of upcoming films it does indeed look like Marvel is going to be building a cross-brand franchise: something that's never been done before with big-budget comic book movies so far as I can recall.

Cinematical also claims to have a source in the know who reports that in the sequel, Iron Man will take on the Mandarin (not really a surprise: they set that up in the first one with The Ten Rings terrorist group) and that Mandarin will set Fin Fang Foom on his titanium-clad nemesis (doesn't seem likely to me, but wackier things have happened). No doubt we'll also see James Rhodes put on the spare armor and become War Machine too 'cuz that was set up nicely in the first movie. Maybe even an adaptation of the "Demon in a Bottle" story too, which some consider to be the definitive tale of Tony Stark.

Oh yeah, Marvel also said they're doing an Ant-Man film too. If they're this serious about making Avengers movies, maybe they should go ahead and cast Kang the Conquerer? I nominate Michael Emerson, AKA Benjamin Linus from Lost!

(By the way, in case ya missed it here's my review of Iron Man from a few days ago :-)

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Marvel Universe: Maybe it's time for a reboot?

Geoff made this comment on the post about Captain America getting killed in the Marvel Comics...

"Marvel is a crazy universe. I can't believe the did this."

Me neither, Geoff. But it does lend some validity to something I've been thinking for awhile, about the Marvel Comics universe...

It's this "moving time" principle by which Marvel establishes that all of its comics are canon, even though most of them now contradict real-world stuff. I mean, it's like Tony Stark was originally wounded in Vietnam and that's what led him to become Iron Man. The thing of it is it's 2007 and Stark would now have to be, what in his sixties-seventies by now, if he started then? The Fantastic Four's fateful spacelaunch happened because America had to beat "the commies" - as Susan Storm put it - into space. See where the problem there is?

Well, the thing of it is, Captain America is firmly established as a product of World War II. So is Nick Fury. And with more and more years that pass by, well... it's really starting to stretch belief that these guys, even with the Super Soldier Serum and the Infinity Formula would still be fighting the good fight. There's a few other things mucking-up Marvel's moving timeline, but World War II is the big kahuna of them.

So, maybe it is good and proper that Captain America die now. And let him stay dead.

And maybe along with him, Marvel can do something drastic to make these stories last forever, instead of creeping into obsolescence.

So here's my proposal: with Captain America, and the events of the Civil War, let the Marvel Universe as we have come to know and love it... have it stop. Right here. In 2007. Make that the new immovable date in Marvel history. Everything that has happened in the Marvel Universe, let it be reckoned as happening between World War II and 2007.

And then, reboot... or perhaps "reboost" would be a better way to put it... the entire shebang.

No, I'm not talking about something like the Ultimates line (which put me off with that ridiculous "Ga Lak Tus" thing). I mean something more daring... and the more I think about it, more right.

Marvel should start every character in the Marvel Universe as they are now, and then, year by year, chronlogically age them as they would in real life, if their lives really did start at 2007 and proceeded forth.

Yes, I mean let's see them grow. Let's see them age. Let's see them meet all the challenges that come with those things. And then, one by one, let them die.

If Peter Parker were a real person and he was 15 years old in 1962 when Spider-Man first appeared, he would be sixty years old now. Personally, I think an older, wiser Spider-Man would be a wonderful thing to behold. Peter Parker is the paragon of everything that is good and noble about human character and determination. But for him to mean anything as a symbol for us... well, he has to be like us. With all the weaknesses and frailties that come with living a life bereft of things like whole-body cloning and whatnot.

Whether at the hands of one of his enemies, or from illness, Peter Parker should be given the chance to die like the rest of us. All of these characters should. Because that's what it's going to take if they're meant to persist as metaphors for everything that is good, and bad, about humanity.

If Marvel is wise, they will do this. Start a long-term strategy where the characters from this point on will age chronlogically alongside real time. And one by one, let them go into that long twilight.

But as they go, introduce new characters to take up the mantle after them.

Let some new kid pick up the shield and go forth in Captain America's name. Give Spider-Man a child who inherits Parker's abilities. Let there be a new Fantastic Four led by Franklin Richards... with his daddy Reed advising the team as "leader emeritus". As for Hulk: he might be one of the few characters who could persist for some time, what with his gamma-enhanced biology. The same with Wolverine. The fun thing about those guys is that they are going to live a long, long time: well, let's see how they adapt to the changing times and let them be a "cipher" through which we come to see the world around us in the way that only comics can do.

I don't think that this would mean the end of the "classic characters". Not by a longshot. Marvel can still publish stories set within the 1941-2007 timeframe, and this would give them a chance to re-interpret a lot of those pre-existing stories so that very messy thing called Marvel continuity could finally get the cleanup it's been screaming about for ages.

(Hey who knows: maybe in long-term Marvel canon, the "clone saga" really didn't happen after all.)

I really doubt the honchos at Marvel are going to follow through with something like this though. But that's how I would manage things if I were editor-in-chief over there. Use Captain America's death (assuming he stays dead) as an opportunity for some much-needed growth against rising graphic stagnancy.

If nothing else, think of this: the X-Men would die. And they would remain dead... forever!

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Captain America has been assassinated!

Breaking on news outlets everywhere now. Cap had just surrendered after the events of Marvel Comics' Civil War #7 and was being taken into a courthouse when he was shot and killed by an unidentified assailant.

I say: if he's dead, let him stay dead. Let his death have meaning. 'Course this being Marvel Comics, it's probably only a matter of time before Doctor Strange does some mystical hoodoo and not only resurrects Cap, but mind-wipes everyone on the planet into forgetting that Civil War took place, that Spider-Man unmasked himself, will make Mar-Vell dead again too etc...

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What the... CIVIL WAR is over and WHO won?!

Jeri Rowe's article a few days ago at the News & Record was the first time I'd heard from Marvel Comic's Civil War storyline in some time. I did a little follow-up reading and knowing what I know now - yes even considering the DUMBEST thing that Marvel Comics has EVER done - I must say that it sounds like I've missed quite a show, just going by how this ended...

In case you haven't heard, in Civil War #7 the whole thing about superhero registration - which Tony Stark aka Iron Man has led the charge for and which Captain America has led a resistance movement against - comes to a violent crescendo. And... Captain America surrenders! The Superhero Registration Act is now fully enforced. Cap is taken away in shackles and Stark is now the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. (if you know Marvel comics you know how big a deal this is). What's more, each of the fifty states is set to get its own team of superheroes as part of "the Initiative".

Whoa...

If Marvel doesn't "pansy out" and opts to play for keeps with this, it might be the most invigorating thing they have done to their comics line since... well, in a gosh-awful long time that's for sure! What I mean by that is, Iron Man better not decide that superhero registration was a bad thing after all and have Doctor Strange mystically mind-wipe the whole Earth from remembering it ever happened.

If Marvel decides to abide by what they've inflicted on their universe and not to play it safe, then I might forgive them for resurrecting Mar-Vell. I might even forgive them for the legendarily horrible "Clone Saga", too.

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