Monday Challenge - Who's Better To Trick and Treat At?

Here's today's challenge....where would you get better candy,

Wayne Mansion

or

Avengers Mansion?

You know, that word that means about your eyes

The title is an optical allusion, by the way...hehe.

Anyhow, two questions I would like to know:

1. If Cyclops sees something without his visor on, doesn't that mean that the object is blasted? So since it goes as fast as the speed of sight, then people shouldn't be able to DUCK it, right?

2. Is Superman's heat vision a blast of heat from his eyes, or does it just make stuff hot by looking at it? Basically, the question is, "Do people see red blasts emitted from Superman's eyes?"

I appreciate your answers, thank you.

Who Is It?

Remember, make your guess and tell me which hint gave it away!

1. This creator is not American.







2. This creator's most acclaimed works have dealt with life in Montreal.







3. This creator won the 1991 Harvey Award for Best New Talent.








4. Her collection of her stories about her experiences living in New York City for a few years won her a Firecracker Award (an Alternative Book award).








5. Her most famous work is the series Dirty Plotte.

Who is it?

Snark Free Theme Day for 10/28

Today's theme is (Non-Spider-Man) CLONES!!!!

1.Early in John Byrne's Superman,we meet Bizarro.This Bizarro is a clone of Superman.

2. Guy Gardner stilll has a clone running around!

3.Professor X's current body IS a clone!

4.Daredevil elped fake his death once using a clone made by Magus (himself sorta a cloneof Adam Warlock).

5. The classic Goodwin/Simonson Manunter was a clone!

Any more clones that I forgot to "send in"?

Really Cool Scene - End of the First Chapter of Born Again

As Dave recently pointed out on his blog (Dave's Long Box, natch), Born Again by Frank Miller has a LOT of "f*@k yeah!" moments in it.

A moment that sticks out to ME, though, is different Dave's moment.

My pick is the end of the first issue.

The Kingpin has thoroughly torn apart Matt Murdock's life. He has alienated him from his friends, his livelihood, basically everything important to him. Kingpin has done this systematically and efficiently, and most importantly, he has done it subtley.

This is changed at the end of the issue, where Murdock's apartment is destroyed.

As we see Matt among the rubble...we see that amongst the tears, he is actually almost HAPPY.

Because up until now, as he claims, "Nothing about this said gangster...until now. This was a fine piece of work...you shouldn't have signed it."

What a GREAT ending!

Cover Theme Game for 10/26

Last time's answer was that all the cover depicted Paris, France.

Here's this week's covers!!

Remember, it's got to be something not obvious, like "All of them are superheroes. All of them have a pricetag on the cover. All of them have titles!"

1.

2.

3.

Let's hear them guesses!!

Top Five Most Unfortunate Skull-Caps!

I do not like skull caps in comics. Here are the top five most unfortunate examples of the things.

5. Archangel.



This is ranked low because Warren never seemed to wear the darned thing!

4. Devil Slayer



I never understood his skull cap. Why a skull cap?!!?

3. Mother Night



HER skull cap, I at least understood. Creeepy.

2. Red Skull II (The Communist)



In a shocking upset, Red Skull II makes the list for his literal Skull Cap!



1. USAgent



Remember Force Works?

Remember this short-lived skull cap that USAgent used to wear?

Scary.

Luckily, Agent moved on soon after to a new costume, sans skull cap!

Monday Challenge: Longshot vs. 1980s Style Black Cat

Who would win in a fight?

The guy with the good luck powers or the woman with the bad luck powers?

What is the greatest pun-filled name for a comic book character?

Of course, all Peter David creations are exempt. He likes puns too much.

So, outside of Peter David, what is the greatest comic character (or pair) that is based on a pun?

Mike Barr's Force of July?

Karl Kesel's Locke and Lode?

Gardner Fox's Major Disaster?

What do you think?

Who Is It?

Share your guess, and which hint gave it away for you!


1. This character was a member of the Suicide Squad.







2. This character was a Firestorm villain.






3. This character was foreign.







4. This character was female.









5. This character eventually married a superhero.

Who is it?

Selina Kyle as Batwoman: Good Idea?

I am torn.

DC has confirmed that they are launching a new title called Batwoman after the "One Year Later" event of Infinite Crisis.

An interesting rumor making the rounds is that this new Batwoman will turn out to be Selina Kyle (the other, more prevalant rumor is that it will be a healed Barbara Gordon, but I just don't see DC giving up on Oracle, so I just won't believe that).

I think that could be an actual good idea.

They will have the whole "was I brainwashed into having a change of heart from a thief to a do-gooder," and at the end, Selina will decide to break from her criminal past (look at what her past has led to in recent Catwoman issues) and start a new, only by changing ONE letter!

This will allow DC to also introduce a NEW character named Catwoman, who can be the villain.

So they get their pie, and eat it, too.

A new title (Batwoman).

A new BATMAN tie-in title (Batwoman).

A good character arc for Selina Kyle.

PLUS, they get to keep Catwoman as a property. Heck, they could even make the new Catwoman black, to tie in with the Halle Berry film!

So I am coming down in FAVOR of the idea (if it happens). What say you?

Who is the most obscure hero that you can think of to receive an analogue?

We all get that people like Superman and Batman are going to receive analogues. It is par for the course. Whenever a character is HUGELY important, they are going to receive an analogue.

However, occasionally, even MINOR characters have analogues as WELL.

For instance, basically every member of the current Legion of Superheroes was given an analogue in the Imperial Guard in the X-Men.

So would it be a Legion member? Just pick the obscurest Legion member?

Or is there a character even MORE obscure out there than the obscurest of Legion of Superhero members?

Cover Theme Game Delayed

Now, if only you kind readers could point me to a nice place where I could find covers.

Top Five Batman Nicknames

This week's Top Five List is the Top Five Nicknames for Batman!!

Just missing the list, due to a technicality, is "Dynamic Duo," as it is not really a nickname FOR Batman, but rather, for Batman AND Robin.

5. Bats

This nickname is down on the list, because it is less refined nickname, used more as a way to tease Batman. If you are not in the Justice League, you should not refer to Batman as Bats.

4. World's Greatest Detective

This is fairly low, because, well, let's be honest...who's to say that it is even TRUE? As fellow blogmate, Sean Whitmore, so aptly made reference to awhile back, nowadays, it often seems as though Batman's investigatoty skills rarely vary beyond beating up hoods to get information.

3. Masked Manhunter

I have not even really heard this one that often, but it does at least apply to Batman.

2. Caped Crusader

Here's a fun game, find out the last time that a Batman comic actually referred to him as a caped crusader!!!

1. Dark Knight (and the derivitive, Dark Knight Detective)

This is the clear winner, as Batman even has a comic NAMED "Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight," and "The Dark Knight Returns."

Great nickname, isn't it?

Have I actually missed any good nicknames?

Monday Challenge - Who's the coolest Superman analog?

Is it Hyperion....



Supreme...



Ultraman....



or

Apollo...

David Finch Chat at Comic Book Resources on Thursday!

David Finch is the artist on New Avengers, and he is having a chat at CBR on Thursday, October 20th at 5pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern.

Be sure to check it out!

Click here for more details.

Who Is It?

Make your guesses, and share which hint gave it away!!

1. This artist was born in Denmark.





2. This artist earned an Eisner nomination in 1993 for a Tarzan story.





3. This artist drew the first officially licensed Superman story produced outside of the United States.





4. This artist drew the graphic novel, "It's a Bird."





5. This artist worked with "It's a Bird" writer Steven Seagle on "House of Secrets."

Who is it?

Snark Free Theme Day for 10/14

Today's theme is...Post-Byrne Revamp Superman "Almost Secret ID Blown" Events!

1. Early on in Byrne's run, a computer program revealed that Clark Kent was Superman. Luthor just thought it was a joke.

2. Later on, the computer programmer revealed to Superman that she knew he was Clark Kent, but she died soon after.

3. Kenny Braverman, Clark Kent's childhood friend, became a villain known as Conduit, and he also knew who Clark was, but Kenny also died with his knowledge.

4. Manchester Black learned Clark's identity, but killed himself without telling anyone.

5. Black gave the information to Luthor as well, but erased the information from his brain before Black killed himself.

6. After he "died," they had to explain how Clark Kent happened to show up at the same time Superman did, so with the help of Supergirl's shape-changing abilities, Clark and Superman stood side-by-side.

7. After Clark forgot to take his wedding ring off, that started a whole "Mrs. Superman" craze that died down when the rest of the JLA revealed that THEY were wedding bands, which was a symbol of their "marriage to justice" or something like that.

Am I missing some?

Crisis Of Infinite Chats!! Marv Wolfman AND Tom Beland Chat!

This Sunday, at 6pm Eastern - Tom Beland!

This Monday, at 8pm Eastern - Marv Wolfman!

Hope to see you folks there!

Cover Theme Game for 10/12

Last week's answer was "Each cover featured a character created by Dan Jurgens."

What's THIS week's theme?

Remember, it's got to be something not obvious, like "All of them are superheroes. All of them have a pricetag on the cover. All of them have titles!"

1.



2.



3.



If your answer is different than mine, but is good, I'll count it as well!

Top Five Russian Heroes

Top Five Russian Heroes!!!

5. Ursa Major

Okay, Ursa Major really wasn't THAT cool, but he turned into a BEAR! That's awesome.

That's good enough for #5, I think!

4. Red Guardian II

She would be ranked higher on the list, if it were not for her lame "Falling in love with the Presence" thing. She was also the feature of last week's Who Is It?

3. Darkstar

She was a member of the Champions, dated Iceman, and also had a poignant death by Grant Morrison, in that he used her death to point out the absurdity of people getting mad about people dying in comic books.

2. Rocket Red

Dmitri was a fine character. He was a comic relief character, while still being able to be serious when need be. His recent death in the OMAC Project was a really sad sight to see.

1. Red Guardian I

The first Red Guardian was married to the Black Widow, which, in and of itself, is pretty darn cool. However, he also was basically the Russian Captain America, and when they fought, he was willing to look beyond party differences to the greater good, and sacrificed himself so that others could live.

Great hero, and GREAT costume design!

Monday Challenge - A Venomous Match-Up!!!

Here is the challenge for today...

In a fight, who would win?

Batman pumped up on Venom or Man-Bat with the Venom symbiote?

Really Cool Characters - Captain Comet

With his recent appearance in Rann/Thanagar War (and I presume a role in Infinite Crisis, as well), I figured it would be nice to give a bit of a history for the comic character, Captain Comet.

Adam Blake, Captain Comet, made his first appearance in 1951 in Strange Adventures #9, written by John Broome, with art by Carmine Infantino.



Captain Comet was a mutant. He was basically the next step in human evolution (due to rays from a, you guessed it, comet). He had telepathy, increased intelligence, flight and super strength.

Comet starred in Strange Adventures for the next three years, with Broome handling the story, and eventually Murphy Anderson taking over on art chores.

The last Captain Comet story for decades appeared in Strange Adventures #44...



Comet did not appear again until the mid-70s, when Gerry Conway brought him back as the main foil in his series, The Secret Society of Super Villains. Comet was able to infiltrate the group because no one recognized him. As it turned out, he had not appeared for the past two decades because he was busy exploring outer space.



After this title, Comet went back to exploring outer space, and eventually ran into and became involved with the intergalactic protection agency, L.E.G.I.O.N.



He served with the L.E.G.I.O.N. until he was seemingly killed by a possessed Lady Quark. He recovered, though, and used his powers to speed up evolution on the planet where he was buried (apparently alive) to the point where they could build a spaceship for him to travel back to L.E.G.I.O.N.




At this point, he became the new leader of L.E.G.I.O.N., but apparently the wanderlust got to him again (and Vril Dox probably got tired of NOT being in charge of L.E.G.I.O.N.), so he went back to exploring outer space.

This brings us up to Rann/Thanagar!

Captain Comet - Really cool character.

Who Is It Game?

Same as last time, I give you hints, you tell me who it is, and also be sure to share which hint gave it away!!!

1. This Marvel character is not American.




2. This character was a renowned neurosurgeon.






3. This character is female.







4. This character was created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema








5. This character was a Defender.

Who is it?

Snark Free Theme Day for 10/7

Today's theme is "Let's Talk About Drugs," where a comic spend its time telling us how drugs are bad.

1. The first, and most famous instance, where Harry Osborn was popping pills to keep it all together. The famous "No Comic Code" issue!

2. Speedy the drug addict! This issue was pretty well-written, in the sense that it still holds up today.

3. Captain America - Drug Addict?!?!?! This was a story in the early 90s called Streets of Poison, where Cap realizes that he, too, is technically a drug addict (which is silly, if you ask me), so he decides to purge the Super Serum from his blood.

4. Born Again, where we see how Karen Page's drug addiction has led to her selling Matt Murdock's identity just for some drugs! Matt, nice guy that he is, helps her work through her problems.

5. Mary Jane's cigarette addiction. Nicotine counts, doesn't it? In any event, there's a big issue of Spider-Man where Peter gives Mary Jane this long speech about how smoking is bad. She realizes he is correct.

6. New Teen Titans did a classic story about Runaways that definitely touched on the theme of "Drugs are bad."

I must be missing some! Fill me in, folks!

Elliot S! Maggin Chat Sunday!

Elliot S! Maggin wrote a lot of great Superman stories, and this Sunday, he is having a chat at Comic Book Resources!

I hope you folks stop by!

Here is a link about the chat.

Cover Theme Game for 10/5

Okay, homages was getting hard to find (outside of obvious ones), so new game!

This one is "Name the Cover Theme!"

All three covers will have something in common, whether it be a character, a creator, a style, a manner of presentment...something distinct (which means that, yes, each cover may, like "Have a superhero on it!" or "Each cover has a price on it!"...but that doesn't count...it has to be something quite distinct about these specific covers).

Tell me what it is!

1.



2.



3.



Good luck!

Top Five Comic Books!

Today's Top Five is the top five books in comic books!

5. Webs

Webs was a book collecting all of Peter Parker's best Spider-Man photos. It made Peter a big to-do for awhile. Since it is KINDA unethical, I have it ranked lower than other books.

4. The Janus Contract

The Janus Contract was a novel that Clark Kent wrote, and was also a graphic novel that told the story of both the novel as well as Clark's exploits behind the scenes that inspired the novel.

3. Marvels

Marvels was a book of photographs put together by superhero photographer Phil Sheldon. The stories of Sheldon's career formed the basis for the classic look at the burgeoning Marvel universe that was the comic series, Marvels.

2. The Junior Woodchucks Guidebook

This is the book that Huey, Dewey and Louie use to consult whenever they are in a problem. The book almost mystically always has the right answer!

1. The Darkhold

The Darkhold was so badass that it even had its own comic book series in the early 90s!!! Not many inanimate objects can say THAT! It was written by Chton, and included the stuff that made VAMPIRES!!! Pretty tough stuff, no?

Those are my picks, anyone care to disagree?

Monday Challenge - Whose Chest Is Larger?

Red Monica



or

The Slug?

Anyone Remember?

Does anyone remember when the Dire Wraiths were a big thing in Marvel comics?

I mean, think about this for a moment - a ROM the Space Knight villain was not only appearing in other Marvel titles, but they played IMPORTANT roles in many Marvel titles, including Marvel's most popular title, Uncanny X-Men!

The Dire Wraiths were intergalactic bad guys who could kill people and absorb their appearance.

This ability was a major feature in an X-Men storyline involving Rogue and her split personality of Carol Danvers. Meanwhile, the Wraiths fought the Avengers, they fought the Hulk...they were all over the place!

Can you even imaigne, nowadays, like, a character from Yu-Gi-Oh or something like that not only becoming a PART of the Marvel Universe, but being accepted to the point of having storylines in NON Rom titles tying directly into their stories!!!

Who Is It Game?

Try to guess it in the fewest amount of hints that you can!

1. He had a long run illustrating Werewolf by Night.



2. He was an assistant to Will Eisner.




3. He drew the Transformers for Marvel.



4. He drew a variety of Valiant titles.




5. He had a long run on The Defenders.

Who is it?!

Share which hint you got it on, as well!!