POWER PACK

I used to be really into Marvel when I first started reading comics, but I've been into DC almost exclusively for a pretty long time. My favourite comics are those with strong female characters, of which DC has many and Marvel doesn't. Recently I thought to myself, "what did I ever see in Marvel? There aren't that many characters I even like." Then I read Power Pack, and all became clear: Marvel is home to Katie Power. And Katie Power is awesome.

Katie's power is the absorption of energy which she can then attack others with. In one issue, the Power Pack team up with Iron Man and occasionally Rhodey to take down a bunch of old Iron Man suits that come to life in a museum through the machinations of the Puppeteer. They're doing okay with the older costumes, but the newer costumes are proving to be a bit of a problem. There are sensors on the wall in case of theft: if you touch one, you get a blast of 10 000 volts (which, sure: I'M GONNA GO UP AND TOUCH THE SENSORS ON THE WALL). Katie decides to absorb the power these sensors provide:

And singlehandedly destroys like ten Iron Man costumes. She's the strongest member of the Power Pack AND SHE KNOWS IT.

In Thor and the Warriors Four, the Pack go to Asgard and meet up with Thor and Beta Ray Bill. Katie immediately takes a shine to Bill and he doesn't really know how to handle it.

I remember seeing the first panel where she asks if he wants a bite of her carrot (she thinks he's a horse) but it took me forever to notice the second panel, WHERE HE ACTUALLY EATS THE CARROT.

There can never be enough of Katie Power being held by other superheroes. So cute.

And then he gets blasted by Katie Power, who is sick of this shit.

As a side note, I'm loving that they put him in his new costume. They don't use that costume enough, methinks.

I want these two to team up forever. How awesome would that be? Super awesome.

"Damn."

1. I love that Catwoman is so excited to be working with Supes, I love her when she's all happy and funny, as opposed to dark and femme fatale-ish (although I don't m

ind that either).

2. How awesome is her outfit? DC has finally realized that what a woman needs when she is frequently engaged in physical combat is not fishnets or cleavage bearing shirts (cough CANARY cough, I love you but that outfit has got to go), but sturdy boots and an ensemble

that covers everything! I'm not required to suspend disbelief when I look at her: I really believe that this is a good choice for being a cat burglar.

3. I highly recommend Brave and the Bold. Guys, Supergirl teams up with Lobo! And later Aquaman teams up with Etrigan. Granted, I like Jason Blood more than Etrigan, but whatever, he speaks in poetry so I'm down with that.

Okay Dick, I see that you're having a case of selective memory loss. Apparently you've forgotten that:

A) You were like 10 when you started working with Batman, so you can't really throw stones in this situation.

B) You're training a 10 year old psychopath, which is a recipe for disaster if I've ever heard one. Also, in this situation, said 10 year old psychopath attacked a dude before realizing that this would cause a building to blow up. This sounds like recklessness to me.

C) Before Steph was the new Batgirl, she was Robin. And before she was Robin, she was Spoiler. I think she's pretty much earned your trust.

While I find this hilarious, it is also an extremely unsatisfying conclusion to my ship. I guess it's back to shipping Herc and Namora. And Shulkie and Aquaman, even though that will never happen.

Y: The Last Man was otherwise pretty flawless though

The Shulkster's second fastball special! I guess this means she's stronger than Herc, making her probably the third strongest hero in the MU, after the Hulk and the Thing. She's awesome.

You have to use the fastball special wisely though. The consequences can be dire.

Out of all the stupid horror movie tropes, this is probably the stupidest. If you're talking to someone and they look at some point over your shoulder and go "don't hurt her" would you A) act confused and ask what's going on, or B) LOOK BEHIND YOU? Come on, Allison, you're smarter than that.

For a split second when I read this, I thought Dick was just being a dick to Damian. Like, "Yeah? Well YOUR MOM'S paramedics are here." Then I realized that, yes, Talia probably did instantaneously hear about her son's injuries and send her own paramedics.

Guy only says he's the best because it's true

This is random, but I LOVE how Guy is always the main Lantern they use on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Hal gets way too much exposure, I think.

Kilowog's kids are the most adorable things I have ever seen. Especially the little girl.

There's just something so cute about the Hulk carrying around pet coyotes. Also, this was probably the most depressing issue of anything I've ever read. I'm including Deadpool putting Al in the room with knives everywhere, any issue of Booster Gold that involves all the heroes dying, and the issue of Green Lantern that was basically just Kyle and alternate reality Alex talking about how the other one was dead in their respective universes.

The fastball special never gets old. I also love how every time anyone uses it, they put a different spin on it. Here and in She-Hulk (Shulkie's used it twice, now that I think about it) it's the woman throwing the man and in Runaways it's the (superpowered) 11 year old girl throwing the teenage guy.

I also like the Tin Soldier segment

If you were going to make a joke about the Greek gods' choices in sexual partners, you could do a lot better than a homosexuality joke. For instance, you could talk about Zeus's penchant for fucking anything with four legs, or his penchant for fucking his relatives.

Hey, I love Fantasia 2000. Rhapsody in Blue and Carnival of the Animals were great.

My favourite part of Superman/Batman was Superman's unexpected snark streak. He's kind of like Betty White on Golden Girls: you think he's so sweet and innocent and then BAM snark attack! It works especially well since Batman (when not written by Joe Kelly at least) is so humourless.

Sound Effect Mania

I've had a bunch of sound effect pictures saved for an epic post, and that time is TODAY, my friends!

Green Goblin is second only to T-Ray (and maybe Typhoid Mary) on my list of most hated villains, but he has some badass sound effects. BWOMF? Come on, that's awesome. If I ever write comic books, I would have so much fun making up the most random sound effects.

Plus I love puns.

Booster Gold/Donkey Kong crossover: SO WRONG, IT'S RIGHT.

I'm sorry, but I have NO IDEA what KRAKKA KRAKKA FOOM is supposed to sound like in real life. Maybe the FOOM part, but not the

KRAKKA KRAKKA.

Ditto for RRAKKOOOO. Half

the time I think the writers are just fucking with us with some of these sound effects.

PS: I like that Hal/Parallax says "Gnats" when something goes wrong.

Like RUMP? Come on, that's a noun, not a sound effect. Parenthetically, I have no idea what comic this is from. I should label my pictures better.

So that's the sound that grabbing a hidden recorder from a dbag in a weird looking wetsuit makes.

If you've ever wondered what it sounds like when your fake parents from another universe make a cake come into existence out of thin air...now you know.

On the other hand, this is a great representation of what it would sound like to get your heart removed by Zombie Ted.

Fred Van Lente is, hands down, the king of sound effects. Sproy bloom? It makes NO SENSE but it's AWESOME.

PS: This is my only exposure to Namora, and I LOVE HER despite the fact that she is for some reason in love with her cousin Namor, he of the Spock eyebrows and scaly Speedos.

Edit: Apparently Namor and Namora are NOT related by blood, making her crush less uncomfortable. I still ship Namora/Herc though.

Pull my finger

What I like a lot about Incredible Hercules is that they take stories from mythology and make the gods into real, accessible people and show how the myths affect the gods. For example, Hercules is slightly ashamed of Zeus's predilection for both incest and forced bestiality. And then there's this:















I'm not giving context for the floating brains. Side note: My other favourite Incredible Herc moment is when Hercules is fighting an evil version of himself in the underworld. It shows Sisyphus pushing the rock up the mountain and then one of the Hercs smashing into it. Sisyphus is like, "Yeah!" but then it reappears (with the sound effect "Sisypoof") and he's immediately sad. People think comics are for dumb people, but most of the time you have to be smart to understand what's going on. You won't be able to get half the jokes in Incredible Herc if you don't have some kind of understanding of the Greek myths.
















IhavetosayitIhavetosayitIhavetosayit...
Bees. My God.
I think this was from Jodi Picoult's run on Wonder Woman and I'll be honest...I wasn't expecting much. I still think she is the most RANDOM choice ever to write comic books. I actually really liked it! Surprisingly, I'm enjoying it slightly more than Gail Simone's run (BUT I STILL LOVE YOU GAIL)(Also I'm not that many issues in). I feel like she wrote Nemesis really out of character, but he was so much fun that I didn't really care.

This might be my favourite Spider-Man joke ever. I still laugh when I see it:

Batman/Wonder Woman...OTP?

So here's something I've been wanting to talk about for awhile: Batman/Wonder Woman shipping! Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who can carry a conversation about shipping except my bro, and he's not really the shipping kind of guy. So I'll just write about it in my blog.

To me, Batman/Catwoman are OTP (and it's pretty much canon now, if I recall) but there's just something about these two that makes me love them together. Maybe it's how they are romantic and kickass on the same page, or maybe it's how they are sometimes hilariously awkward and sweet. Who else but an Amazon could handle Batman? Bruce very rarely smiles...but he seems to always smile when he's talking to Diana. Even though they will probably never end up together, there's just something that seems right about the pair.














I recently watched an episode of the Spider-Man cartoon from the 60s that featured a violinist who could blow things up from his violin. I pretty much freaked out when I was reading Secret Six and found this guy. He is called the fiddler and he wreaks havoc with his violin. What are the odds that TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE could come up with the same concept of a violin that BLOWS SHIT UP?














When I pick comics, I tend to read Marvel exclusively, then switch to DC, then back. I almost never read a mixture. So when I switch to a different universe, it always takes awhile for my mind to catch up. Like sometimes I'll be like, "Is that Bucky?" or something and then I'll realize I'm reading a DC comic. Anyway, I was so excited when I saw this because I thought that was Conner Kent and I pretty much love him. Then I remembered that I was reading Marvel and that was Ares. How can I make that mistake? They are in no way alike. I think I just got confused because Ares didn't have his helmet.

Man, no arms AND he's in hell? That sucks.

It's kind of disgusting, but I find myself charmed by Hawkeye here. And you're all, "Well, YEAH, it's Clint, he's supposed to be charming." Nope, that's Bullseye. And now I feel unclean.















This is pretty hilarious in and of itself, but even more so when you figure out who that mysterious no-armed man is.
















Believe it or not, people actually do this. I was a waitress for a very miserable two months of my life. True story: Every day, a group of old men came in for coffee or sometimes actual food. One guy wanted to order something and this is how the conversation went:
Man: (Point, mumble)
Me: Kid's fish and chips?
Man: Kid's stuff.
Me: Fish and chips?
Man: (indeterminate head gesture)

So I'm like, okay, whatever, put the order in. I give him his food, he eats everything, blah blah, then he waves me down and is like, "That was some delicious pizza!" I pretended I had no idea what he was trying to tell me so that I didn't have to deal with it. Basically, I got him the wrong thing, he ATE THE WHOLE THING, and then decided to bust my balls about it after. I mean seriously? If you just told me I brought you the wrong thing first off, I could have switched it. But then you ate the wrong thing and make me feel stupid, and nobody wins. Don't eat the whole thing and then bitch at me about the meal THAT YOU JUST ATE. Moral of the story: never, ever, be a server. It sucks.

Never talk about the fastball special

This is my favourite moment of Incredible Hercules so far. I think Ares is supposed to be a bad guy (yes? No? Antihero?) but this just makes me love him.

















Wolverine has something uncomfortable pointed out to him. I have no idea why Shulkie is dressed like that.















I was so charmed by this for some reason. Thanos as a child looks so hilarious. And he's tackling a stumpadon. STUMPADON. Marvel, never change.














So with that shirt, we're giving up any pretense of Shulkie ever having dignity, huh?

In other news:













Tony Stark hates puppies.
He invented this new "ghost armour" to sneak into Doom's castle. After Doom pointed it out, I realized this was a monumentally stupid move. One of Doom's nemeses is the Invisible Woman. GEEZ, Tony, get it together.

Things I Find Inexplicably Hilarious

A toad man from outer space yelling "Scarper!"














The fact that Ares' outfit is half Greek god wear and half normal denim.














A loincloth-clad person from the past yelling "DISEMBOWEL HIM!" Way to be specific in your threats.
















Dr. Strange laughing in delight as he is lifted by She-Hulk. From what I've seen of him, he seems almost on another plain than the rest of the characters - you'd never see him just hanging out, or whatever, so when he does something refreshingly normal, I find it very charming. Dr. Strange is another one of those characters that I just LOVE, even though I've hardly seen him in anything. I've only seen him in Cable/Deadpool (and he wasn't particularly noteworthy there) and on Scans Daily. For awhile I kept mixing him up with Mr. Sinister (another character I just love without seeing much of him. That stems purely from his appearance in Cable/Deadpool when he told Deadpool to wash his hands after spending about ten panels peeing). Although it's not too inexplicable, actually. I saw a few pages of a comic on Scans Daily where he teamed up with Spider-Man and he was going about his normal daily routine - checking the fabric of reality for problems - with a coffee and doughnut in his hand.

Also I love him for this:














You wouldn't think the greatest sorcerer in the world would need glasses, but there you go. Dr. Strange is an appealing mixture of you know, ethereal, otherworldly qualities - he's not very accessible as a character, really, when you think about it - and also of the mundane (like the glasses and the fact that he has a coffee and doughnut every morning). I want to read more stuff featuring him. On She-Hulk, a character gets exiled to Duck World (where Howard the Duck comes from) and gets help from Ducktor Strange, a duck version of Dr. Strange (obviously). I think those two need to team up in a mini or something. If they fight my favourite villain (Dr. Doom) and another batshit villain like the Armless Tiger Man and maybe team up with Squirrel Girl, that would be like, my ultimate comic. Nick Fury could join them. Oh man, that needs to be written like, YESTERDAY.