Week of Review - X-Men: Evolution's X-23

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It’s day 3 of X-Men week here on the Lido Shuffle and time to address the BEST X-Men show ever made: X-Men: Evolution.  Premiering 4 months after the smash hit that was 2000’s X-Men, X-Men: Evolution was meant to continue the adventures of everyone’s favorite mutants though with a bit of a twist.  The series borrows elements of its aesthetic from the films such as the look of Xavier’s Institute and the more uniform costumes but for the most part feels like a throwback to the ‘70s X-Men stuff rebranded for the modern era, or at least a modern late ‘90s. 

The show focused on the X-Men and Brotherhood as teenagers in high school struggling to balance their lives even as the threats they face grow greater and greater.  It’s one of the most character-driven superheroes shows there is and embodies adolescence shockingly well, comparable to Daria levels of well.  Seriously, I’d be here forever praising it so instead I’ve decided to focus specifically on the show’s most enduring creation: X-23. 

Panel Vision - History of Hydra

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There’s been a lot of chatter in the online comic circles lately about the fictional organization Hydra.  A lot of this has come out of Marvel’s big, 2017 comic event Secret Empire, a follow-up to Nick Spencer’s Captain America work where it was revealed Captain America was secretly a member of Hydra all along.  Admittedly, the real mechanics of Secret Empire are shaping up to be a lot more complicated than that, with one of the biggest issues of contention being the comics’ emphasis on separating Hydra from the Nazis within the fictional universe.  

This is a distinction made all the more complicated by the fact Marvel has been pushing “Hydra as Nazis” in the films since Captain America: First Avenger and even more so as part of the current Agents of SHIELD storyline about a simulated world ruled by Hydra.  With the comics and superhero fan communities abuzz over the topic of fictional fascists and what we’re allowed to feel about them, I figured it was well past time to do a deep dive into the actual history of Hydra. 

Static Thoughts - Star Trek 'Patterns of Force'

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So, the current mega-event that’s set to dominate comic book stores from Marvel this summer is one Secret Empire.  I don’t want to get too bogged down in the details because the discussion surrounding this event is more toxic than a nuclear spill, largely because the core of the series is all about Nazis and Nazi collaborators.  There’s been a lot of back and forth about this from the top minds on the Internet, but the whole thing got me thinking about one of the stranger corners of the Star Trek universe. 

I’m speaking of course about ‘Patterns of Force,’ a season 2 episode of the original series that famously featured a planet of alien Nazis and when I say “alien Nazis” I mean that quite literally.  The episode set Spock and Kirk against a mysterious humanoid species out in space that sported a direct copy of the Nazi regime from Earth.  It’s a weird mystery episode that’s always held an odd place in Trek canon, with particular scenes coming to be definitive of the TOS era in our collective memory while the rest has become banished to obscurity. 

Cover Story - Top 10 Silver Age Captain America Covers

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This Friday marks the premiere of Captain America: Civil War.  It’s a major event, the first Marvel film of 2016 and the launch of their 3^rd phase that will climax in the epic Infinity War two-parter.  What’s more, this is the first big, multi-hero Marvel film after Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was good but received a less than stellar reception from fans and at the box office, losing out to Jurassic World and Star Wars: Force Awakens in the year end wrap up.  There’s a lot riding on this but at the same time, Captain America has emerged to be the superhero of the 2010s, embodying the ideal of the superhero within the cultural zeitgeist in a way few others have. 

Chris Evans’ Captain America is right up there with Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Michael Keaton Batman, and Toby McGuire’s Spider-Man as the living symbol and ambassador of this whole genre.  Given that wait and circumstance, let’s celebrate this turn of events with another dive into the shallow end to get the Cover Story on the top 10 Silver Age Captain America covers.

Captain America: Civil War Trailer 2

Edited by Robert Beach 

There’s really no need for a preamble here is there? Captain America: Civil War is easily going to be one of the biggest films of the year, the starting pistol on phase 3 of Marvel’s vaunted cinematic universe after the mixed bag of phase 2 and the next installment of the seminal superhero of the 2010s. What’s more, the movie stars almost the entire Marvel roster of characters at the moment making it, in function if not in form, basically Avengers 2.5. 

It’s also serving as the introduction point for both Black Panther and Spider-Man, two long-awaited heroes finally making their way into the Marvel cinematic universe. The fact that everyone and their mother are breaking down this new trailer is as simplistic and acceptable a fact of life as gravity or the sky being blue.

Captain America: Civil War Teaser

Let’s not drag this out.  Captain America: Civil War is the 3^rd film in the Captain America series and will be the 13 Marvel Studios film overall.  Picking up in the wake of Avengers: Age of Ultron it follows the new team of Avengers led by Captain America and backed financially and logistically by Tony Stark who’s adopted quasi-retirement.  The film swirls around an international incident that causes the world governments to question the necessity of the Avengers overall and, at the very least, how smart it is to allow them to run around completely unsupervised leading to legislation to bring the heroes under the control of the government.  The decision brings a split between heroes as Iron Man supports the decision while Captain America opposes it owing largely to its impact and relation to his lost friend and comrade Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier.  The division splits the heroes down the middle all while sinister forces seek to manipulate the situation and now it has a trailer and it’s great.

Cover Story - Top 15 Nick Fury Covers

Edited by Robert Beach 

Hello, and welcome to Cover Story: digging as little into comic books as we can. Cover Story isn’t exactly a new column around here as I’ve been doing “Top Cover” lists since August. now, I’m just giving it a name and making it an official weekly column alongside Comics Rainbow and Movie Monthly. With that said, let’s dive into this week’s cover subject: Nick Fury. 

I’ve already talked at length about Nick Fury earlier this week and how he served as Marvel’s super spy answer to James Bond, and how he’s been through numerous iterations in his 50-year history.  I’m mainly focusing on him because Spectre came out this week, and I’m a sucker for topicality. At the same time, Nick Fury’s various covers feature work by some of the greatest artists in comic book history, including Jim Steranko, a towering legend of the medium and concept artist for Indiana Jones. So let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on the top 15 Nick Fury covers. 

Hail Hydra #3 Review

I lay into everything wrong with the entire, bloated Secret Wars train wreck and the ongoing failure that is Rick Remender's Captain America run with the Battleworld tie-in comic Hail Hydra:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/02/hail-hydra-3-review-comics/

Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra #1 Review

David Mandel, one of the best Seinfeld writers and the upcoming showrunner for HBO's VEEP, has written a comic tie-in to Marvel's Secret Wars...it's very strange, check out the review over on Front Towards Gamer.com
 

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/08/28/hank-johnson-agent-of-hydra-1-review-comics/

Madame Masque Villain of Agent Carter Season 2

Edited by Robert Beach 

here’s no denying this has been a rough year for Marvel studios. Age of Ultron did well but wasn’t the same cultural smash as the first film, and Ant-Man’s modest success was undercut by the MCU’s ongoing issues with representation. Yet one area Marvel has really thrived in 2015 is in television. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was finally able to find a major audience as it ramped up its connection to the films; Daredevil was a smash hit on Netflix that catapulted the Kingpin to a major villain position and helped fast track Jessica Jones, and their winter mini-series Agent Carter has been picked up for a full series. 

Now with half of the year over, and the fall and winter seasons looming, the first details on Agent Carter season 2 are beginning to filter through the media cracks. Some early news indicated the series was going to be set predominately in Hollywood this season and would feature the return of Howard Stark despite Dominic Cooper’s role in Preacher. The first major reveal has been slipped: the season 2 villain will be Iron Man antagonist Madame Masque. 

Panel Vision - Ant-Man

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I don’t think there’s been a movie to garner the same kind of snarky dismissal that Ant-Man has in the lead up to its release.  To some extent the press relationship to Ant-Man is understandable.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a cultural juggernaut unlike any we’ve ever seen before and it seems plenty of folks in film journalism are just sharpening their knives waiting for the big boys at Marvel to collapse and Ant-Man really seems like the best possible option for them.  An adaptation of a C-list hero so out there and bizarre even Marvel abandoned the character pretty quickly in the comics.  Follow that up with Ant-Man’s troubled production and the very public parting of ways between Marvel Execs and geek auteur Edgar Wright and it’s easy to see why this film might be considered at ‘high risk.’  However it turns out everyone was wrong because Ant-Man is really good, in fact it’s downright excellent, a true stand out of the overall very sloppy Marvel Phase 2.