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Marvel Legends – Smart Hulk Wave – Rock Python

Jul 8th, 2019
by Ramen Junkie.
1 comment

So, this one will be pretty short and to the point for sure. Rock Python is definitely a beyond nobody level character in the grand scheme of things. Hell, I keep wanting to call him Rock Viper.

There’s not anything particularly new or special aside from his goofy snake helmet head. It’s not even particularly snakey either, unlike say King Cobra or Cottonmouth. Aside from the Smart Hulk BAF piece, he is mostly notable for being part of the Serpent Society.

I really think it’s neat how they keep slipping these guys in, since they also are kind of a big group of nobodies. But a band of snake themed villains hits the right notes for me on the goofyness level, so I’m trying to pick them up as they come out to build a little squad of Snake themed dudes.

So, there isn’t really much else to say about Rock Python. He’s not particularly snake-like and doesn’t have any accessories. His most notable traits are the BAF part and being an accessory to King Cobra.

Weekly Wednesday Haul – A Fist Full of Comics Edition

Sep 27th, 2017
by Ramen Junkie.
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Nothing physical new this week, but Amazon was having a pretty amazing sale on Marvel Digital comics, like 90% off on a LOT of books, so I binged a bit and picked up a stack of books I’ve been looking forward to reading.  I once did comics reviews, I may have to start doing it again.  Anyway…

A lot of newer stuff in there, I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the art style in a lot of older comics.  The two main drivers here were Ms. Marvel and Spider-Gwen, both series I’ve been wanting to read for a while.  I’ve started on both.  I also picked up the Kate Bishop Book because I really enjoy the Hawkeye^2 run.  The same thing can be said of Jessica Jones.  Alies was enjoyable and the Netflix series is my favorite of those shows, so it felt like a no brainer.

Spinning off a bit from Marvel, I’ve heard the Darth Vader series is pretty decent as well.  I’m always kind of wary of Star Wars Expanded Universe stuff, it tends to feel a little Fan-Fic-ish which I don’t care for.  I decided to give this one a go however, and the Doctor Aphra book I believe is related.  Whatever the case, Doctor Aphra I believe is getting a Black Series figure in an upcoming wave, and I’d like to know why.

I was a little hesitant to go for Gwenpool.  I’m not real big on Deadpool, and Gwenpool kind of feels like an even more MEME ridden version of Deadpool.  For what it’s worth I passed on Squirrel Girl for this reason, also I can’t stand the art in Squirrel Girl.

IronHeart Ironman was kind of a random gamble, I know there was some uproar over this book and it’s protagonists so I figured I’d check it out.  Mockingbird was also a random pick up.  I like what I’ve seen of the character elsewhere, so I figure I’d try out her series.

Lastly, Marvel 1602, I have almost zero idea of what this is but it sounded like a neat concept.  I generally like these sort of “re-imagined what if” style stories, probably because they tend ot be self contained while still keeping the idea and spirit of super heroes.

SDCC 2016 – Marvel’s Doctor Strange Trailer

Aug 4th, 2016
by Ramen Junkie.
1 comment

Back on the Marvel front, for the last interesting trailer to come out of SDCC, is Doctor Strange.

This one looks… interesting.  Cumberbatch fits way better than I thought he would when he was announced as the lead for starters.  I think maybe the goatee helps offset how goofy looking he is.  I imagine his kind of odd personality (at least in a lot of his roles) will fit pretty well with the character of Doctor Strange as well.

He’s always kind of been the make or break aspect of this movie for my interest.  I really don’t care for most of his roles outside of Sherlock.  It also really felt like there were other, better choices that better looked the part of Doctor Strange as well.  Marvel seems to prefer more “big names” for it’s big heroes though.

Instead it seems like the make or break will be the effects, which almost feel like the real star here.  Lots of little glitchy bits, the whole repeated use of the Kaleidoscope effect, they almost feel like they may be come too much.  I guess it’s part of who the character is, so it fits.  I also wonder if, or how, the whole multi universe angle could work into the MCU.  Mostly because it feels like it could be exploited for some fun Easter eggs related directly to other “Universes” like the comics, or the Fox X-Men, or even older Marvel movies that technically aren’t “MCU”.

Like Ant-Man and Guardians, Doctor Strange is kind of an “off cycle” step in the MCU, though if the former are any indication, that will make this a bit of an unexpected hit.

SDCC 2016 – Wonder Woman Trailer

Aug 2nd, 2016
by Ramen Junkie.
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Next up for SDCC Trailers, Wonder Woman.

So, first off, I’m not entirely sure why but Wonder Woman is really being pushed to he spotlight in these films.  She was introduced in Batman V Superman, she’s getting her own movie, and she’s looking pretty prominent in Justice League.  I’m not complaining, she’s kind of a neat character, though at this point she hasn’t gotten a lot of characterization, and her theme feels like it gets way over used.  On a side note, I mentioned in my thoughts on justice League that I hadn’t watched Batman v Superman, I’ve since remedied that.

Which kind of makes discussing this trailer a little more constructive.  It’s also a little hard not to talk about it without comparing things to Captain America.  Wonder Woman kind of comes of as a lady version of Cap, with added Sword.  I don’t know which one actually came first, I suspect Wonder Woman, since this trailer suggests her origins lay in Word War I, where Captain America was a product of World War II.  Also, aside from the combat similarity, there isn’t a lot else linking these two.  Wonder Woman seems to have much less “Fish out of Water” aspect going for her than Captain America during the future settings and Wonder Woman isn’t the product of some science super serum but comes from Greek mythology.

Of all of DC’s offering so far, Wonder Woman seems like the most interesting.  BvS has it’s issues, which I’ll probably discuss later, Justice League has promise but feels like it may carry some of it’s predecessor’s problems.  Suicide Squad seems like an interesting concept that may get over shadowed by it’s Xtreem Edgyness.  Also Leto is trying way too hard to top Ledger’s Joker.

Back to Wonder Woman though, I like the concept of something not set in modern times, it’s part of why I like The First Avenger.  Wonder Woman is pretty tough but not overpowered like Superman.  She’s strong and has her weapons, but she is still a ground fighter, which is more interesting than randomly flying around while obliterating cities.  I don’t know enough about DC lore to speculate on who the ultimate villain is, I’m sure there is a Red Skull hiding behind the scenes somewhere.

It looks good though.  I’m apprehensive about DC’s other offerings, but this one looks fun and exciting, I look forward to watching it.

SDCC 2016 – Justice League Trailer

Jul 29th, 2016
by Ramen Junkie.
1 comment

Shifting gears a bit on these SDCC trailers, I want to take a moment to give some thoughts on this Justice League trailer.

I should probably preface this by mentioning, I have not yet watched Batman vs Superman, or Man of Steel.  I’m not as much of a fan of DC as I am of Marvel either.

I do like Batman quite a bit though.  The character, less so the Nolan movies.  I’m still not really sold on Ben Afleck as Batman, though he does seem pretty alright in this trailer.  He does sort of fit with the idea of the “older guy” batman, which I believe is what they are going for.  I’m still kind of disappointed they didn’t roll off the Nolan Batman Trilogy when they started making their DC Universe for the big screen.  They are definitely trying to push into that Grimdark tone, they even have an excuse to not use Christian Bale.

In general I kind of wonder what DC’s logic is on these movies.  I guess maybe they just don’t want to completely copy Marvel’s model, but they DO already have a Flash on TV, and people seem to mostly like that show.  Yet, here we have a new Flash.  I like the effect of the Flash, the lighting both in the later fast shot and the slow motion lighting during the earlier slowmotion shot (in the trailer).  I’m not real sold on the character here, he seems a little too cocky or something.

Aquaman seems alright, Wonder Woman we’ve seen before, I’m still not really sold on Gal Gadot as WW.  Cyborg doesn’t get a ton of screen time here, I almost missed him the first time I watched this.

This leaves two questions, what is this bug evil force that Bruce Wayne is recruiting for, and where is Superman?

SDCC 2016 – Marvel’s Iron Fist

Jul 28th, 2016
by Ramen Junkie.
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There were quite a few trailers that came out of SDCC, but I figure it’s appropriate to follow up Luke Cage with Iron Fist.  Though it’s considerably less of a trailer, more of a teaser.

The general gist, at least in the comics, is that Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist, uses mystical martial arts power to fight crime.  Honestly, looking into it, it’s all a little confusing.  I do think this will end up being a pretty good series.  Iron Fist seems to have quite a bit of pre-established comic lore to draw from for one.  Unlike Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, he also seems like he’s a bit more of a traditional “I have a costume and an alter ego and some general super powers” sort of character, more akin to Daredevil.

Comic Book Iron FistI kind of wonder how they will handle his costume.  Most of these series, and the Marvel TV shows in general, have taken a very “down to earth” style with it’s heroes.  Jessica Jones and Luke Cage of their own shows prety much just wear street clothes.  Their side characters like Patsy Walker (Hellcat), Simpson (Nuke), even Kilgrave, who is purple in the comics, are just people with heightened abilities.  Then you have characters in Agents of Shield like Quake and Mockingbird, who never actually use code names and barely wear “suits”.  The movies are kind of an exception, and Daredevil starts out very basic before donning a more traditional red suit.  The point is, I wonder if Iron Fist will ever wear a suit.

In all of the media he looks like a bum.

A guy in a green and yellow suit with the flaming hands, looks less like a bum and kind of like a bad ass.  Just saying.

SDCC 2016 – Marvel’s Luke Cage Trailer

Jul 27th, 2016
by Ramen Junkie.
1 comment

Luke Cage debuted in the second Netflix series based on Marvel characters, Jessica Jones, now he’s getting his own show. This actually isn’t any huge surprise, he was one of the original four slated for a series from the start. The trailer debuted at San Diego Comic Con last week.

While Daredevil was an easy contender for a series, reasonably known hero with several known villains, action oriented, interesting abilities, I had my doubt about Jessica Jones. Jessica Jones is kind of a nobody in the hero world, I’m honestly not sure she has really done much outside of her one run in Alias aside from being a side character to others. Fortunately, Jessa Jones managed to be pretty decent, partially thanks to Luke Cage. I’m not really inclined to go into spoiler details, but Luke is pretty important to Jessica’s story in an overall sense. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

Luke’s solo outing looks pretty awesome to be sure. Back to more of the action aspects of Daredevil, with a bit more of a brawler angle. It’ll be kind of interesting to see how they manage to add some tension to Luke’s adventures though. Daredevil is pretty much just a well trained guy. Jessica is strong, but she’s not invulnerable. Luke Cage, at least what we’ve seen of him, is kind of both of these things. Super strong, and more or less indestructible. There’s the possible Lois Lane angle, where people he knows get in trouble, but so far he mostly seems to only really hang out with Jessica Jones, and she doesn’t really need much saving.

I’m also curious to see if we’ll get any crossover going. Jessica Jones only had one bit with Daredevil, and not even any of the main cast. Luke Cage has a lot of history and reason to cross paths with Jessica again. There’s also Iron Fist, who is also getting his own series. Luke Cage and Iron Fist have a strong history together with Heroes for Hire, among other adventures. I suspect that will be saved for after the Defenders event, once our heroes all have their own introduction series out of the way.