Comic Homage Game for 8/31

ERIK LARSEN COVER HOMAGES!!

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Have fun guessing!

Really Cool Scenes - Batman with a match

This was the scene that really got Grant Morrison's JLA run going with a bang.



Batman is surrounded by a bunch of the Hyperclan, the villains who had made short work of the rest of the Justice League, and they were recently crowing about how weak Batman was, and how he could not do anything to stop them.

Well, in JLA #3, Batman made his first appearance as Grant Morrison's "Batgod," as Batman does something the rest of the League couldn't do - take out the Hyperclan.

And it all came down to a match.

A match and a ring of gasoline.

For Batman had figured out their weakness - they were Martians.

Such a cool scene, showing off his detective skills AND his coolness.

Monday Challenge - Who Would You Rather Babysit Your Children? Karnak or Gorgon?

Ah...the return of the old shticks!!

Today's challenge is a question of who would you prefer to let babysit your children between these two Inhumans...

Karnak...



or Gorgon



Who would you choose?

Monday Musings, The Fifth

So I am theoretically supposed to be super busy studying for finals right now. But I’m of the opinion that comics take precedence over exams. Hence, this week’s Musing. I still haven’t been to the comic shop, so I still have no new books to talk about. Sad smiley. So, what then? Nothing in particular, but more a concept. And that concept is Spoilers. Yes, with a capital S.

Why spoilers? Well, I recently had another encounter with one. I’ve been lucky enough to have only had one or two really cool things ruined to me by someone being careless in an interview, or bringing something up randomly in a messageboard thread. The only one that really stands out was the return of Colossus in Astonishing X-Men.

The thing that I was mad about was because it was spoiled in something that wasn’t even really connected to the comic. Yeah, I was reading about comics, but it was a news story about something that definitely wasn’t Joss Whedon or Astonishing X-Men. Right there in the article they had a line about “Colossus’ return in Wednesday’s Astonishing.” Anger. Hate. Dark Side.

Now, if it had been a couple weeks after the issue had come out, I would be more understanding. But it was a matter of days. At the time, I was getting my comics mailed to me. So I would typically get them the Monday after the Wednesday they came out. But that week, I was actually going home for something, so I could pick them up on Saturday. But this article that I read was on Friday. Maybe even Thursday. That’s way too early to reveal something huge like that, in such a haphazard manner.

So what was the most recent spoiler? Well, for those of you who haven’t read the Ultimate Spider-Man Annual, I would suggest skipping to the end of this paragraph, because it deals with that issue. I was reading the Ultimate articles that Newsarama was running in honor of the fifth anniversary of the launch, and they had a two-par interview with Brian Michael Bendis. And in one of his answers, Bendis says the following: “Right after that arc, that’s when Kitty Pryde, Peter’s new girlfriend for those who didn’t pick up the Annual, comes into the book as a supporting player.” Now, granted, the issue came out two Wednesdays ago, but still. No little spoiler warning? While I am slightly disappointed, I’m not as mad as I was over the Colossus thing.

Now, I say that I was upset over the Colossus bit being spoiled, and I was. But it was a fleeting anger, truthfully. Knowing the outcome didn’t ruin the fact that Whedon still told a hell of a story. Knowing that Kitty and Pete are gonna be getting their dink on doesn’t mean I won’t still be able to enjoy the sure to be hilarious, embarrassed teen dialogue that Bendis will use to get them there. And that’s basically my point to this long, rambling anecdotal story. Spoilers suck, but they’re not a reason to totally flip out and kill someone. Enjoy the story for its merits. Everyone knows the Titanic was gonna sink, and that was still a great movie.

That last sentence is a complete lie.

Whatever happened to...?

Whatever happened to Kristy Watson? She was Mary Jane's teenage cousin. She went to stay with the Parkers when her parents left for Europe. There, she fell in love with Peter,and developed bulimia (which she may have had before). Eventually she overcame her bulimia with hospital care and meetings and the Parkers were able to keep her around for "a few months" while her parents stayed in Paris, and she went to work as a live-in baby sitter for little Normie Osborn. And to the best of my knowledge, this was the last anyone ever saw of her.



Now, I understand that her main purpose was the bulimia storyline. She was introduced to act as a type of public service announcement, bulimia=bad. And once her story was over they decided to send her off into the sunset with a "happy" ending. But she was still a character that was around for a little while, and then just disappeared.

So, what exactly did happen to her? Did her parents finally come home and take her back, even though they didn't even care that she nearly died? Did Norman kill her because he was not going to let members of Spider-Man's family babysit his grandson? (Maybe Norman made it look like she started purging again.) Or is she still there, watching little Normie, between panels when his mother isn't watching him? What happened to her?

Top Five Final Issues

To celebrate the last day of Top Five Week (which has already been extended one week extra!), I give you the Top Five Final Issues!! To count, the issues have to be designed to literally be last issues (so the issue before a relaunch doesn't count, but the issues before Heroes Reborn DO, as those issues were, at the time, treated as "last issues") of ongoing series.

5. Sandman #75



This is ranked low because it was not really a standalone issue, but it was still a very strong issue from Neil Gaiman, as Gaiman tells a great Shakespeare story.

4. Captain America #454



This was the last issue of the classic Mark Waid/Ron Garney run. They tried recreating the magic after Heroes Reborn, but could not match it.

Still, this was a fine issue, really capturing the grandeur of Waid's Cap.

3. Justice League Task Force #37



In this twisted issue, the Leaguer Triumph, who was erased from history BEFORE, is erased from history AGAIN....and we find out that it did not matter. Nothing he did mattered.

Such a twisted ending to a strong series by Christopher Priest.

2. Preacher #66



An almost perfect ending to this acclaimed series.

The John Ford tribute towards the end is just brilliant.

In fact, it WOULD be #1 except for one thing...

1. Suicide Squad #66



..and that one thing is that I think you have to take SOME credit off for being a finite series starring original characters, while John Ostrander's cancellation was NOT planned, and he had to give most of the characters back to DC in one piece.

So the fact that Ostrander wrote such a strong issue is a nice testimony to his skills.

I especially liked the ending, which Ostrander originally was going to have be Deadshot killing Count Vertigo, but instead, has the much more original, "You still want to do this?" "No."

And that's it.

Quite clever.

And the letter column is a lot of fun.

Two #66s in the top two spots...weird, eh?

Those are my picks! Feel free to share yours, and I hope you enjoyed Top Five Week!

Top Five Presents to give Sean Whitmore on his Birthday!

Which happens to be today, don't ya know!

5. Season 1 of Paranoid Agent on DVD.

4. A "My mother got pregnant by Magneto, and all I got was stupid green hair" T-Shirt. So he has something to impress Lorna Dane with.

3. Some of Thor's magic arrows from Chuck Austen's Avengers run. You know, just in case Captain Britain ever gives him some guff.

2. A return of Byrne's Mxyzptlk. You know, the one where each time he showed up, you had to do a different thing to make him leave each time, not just make him say his name backwards.

I know Sean was a fan of that version.

1. A Luke Cage action figure!!!

As you may, or may not know (but you SHOULD know), Sean does these hilarious comic book parodies with action figures. One of his jokes is that he has a Bishop figure playing all the black character roles. So now I will make things easier for him by giving him a Luke Cage figure!

Happy Birthday, Sean!!

Top Five "&" Comics!

This is the top five comics where two heroes shared billing as a duo (not like Tales of Suspense, where two heroes just shared the book, space-wise)!

5. The Atom and Hawkman

This title was the very first (that I know of) that thought, "Hey, these two heroes can't sell on their OWN, but what if they TEAMED UP?"

So starting with #39, The Atom became The Atom and Hawkman!



However, the move did not help much, as the title only lasted another year and a half.

4. Daredevil and Black Widow

This was probably the simplest of the pairings - as the heroes just started dating!



What is funny is that this is the first of TWO appearances of a Gene Colan issue on this list!

3. Cable and Deadpool

This pairing gets extra points for the seamingly randomness to the pairing!!



2. Power Man and Iron Fist

This pairing was very similar to the Atom and Hawkman's pairing, as the book used to be just Power Man's, but with #50, it turned to Power Man AND Iron Fist!



Unlike Atom and Hawkman, though, this pairing lasted a good deal longer, over 70 issues!!

However, while this pairing is often thought of as the epitome of superhero pairings, I think there is one that tops it!

1. Captain America and Falcon

With Captain America #134 (the other issue drawn by Gene Colan on this list), Captain America and the Falcon became partners...for almost the next NINETY ISSUES!!



And as you can imagine, it is hard to make permanent changes to a major character like Captain America, but they were able to make the Falcon almost stick!

In addition, the two ALSO paired in an ALL-NEW ongoing years later for 14 issues!



That says "tops" to me!!

Anyone disagree?

Anyone I left out that I should not have?

Top Five Rapid Growth Characters!

Top Five Characters Who, After Birth, Rapidly Aged, One Way or the Other

5. Gwen Stacy's kids

Gwen Stacy had two children with Norman Osborn.

These kids had a disease that made them age rapidly, and by the time they decided to take revenge upon Spider-Man and Peter Parker, they were basically Peter's age!!!

4. Garridan Rannz

Garridan was teleported from the womb of his mother, Imra Ranzz (Saturn Girl of the Legion of Superheroes) by Darkseid, as revenge against the Legion for their interference with the Great Darkness Saga.

Darkseid then turned Garridan into Validus, one of the evil members of the Fearsome Five.

Eventually, he was restored to his rightful age and appearance.

3. Franklin Richards

While battling against the evil foe, Hyperstorm, Franklin Richards' grandfather, Nathaniel Richards, knowing that Franklin would be easy prey for Hyperstorm (who, it was later revealed, was the son of Franklin...from the future!), took Franklin away, trained him for years and then returned him to the same spot in time as his future self, Psi-Lord (Franklin at about age 18). Psi-Lord stayed in the Marvel universe for a time, even forming Fantastic Force, but eventually, Hyperstorm returned, and, in the battle, made the switch AGAIN - returning young Franklin to the spot.

2. Impulse/Kid Flash

Bart Allen was born with a hyperaccelerated metabolism, causing him to age much too quickly. To compensate for this, scientists placed him in a VR world, where they kept his mind thinking that he was aging normally. Bart's grandmother, Iris, thought that this was no way for a boy to live, so she kidnapped him and brought him to the 20th century, where her nephew, Wally West, fixed Bart so that Bart would age normally from then on.

1. Cable

Cyclops' son, Nathan Christopher Summers, was in trouble. A big bad guy named Apocalypse had infected the toddler with a techno-organic virus that was certain to kill him. From out of nowhere, a woman named Askani from the future arrived. She said that the only way for Nathan to live was to be sent to the future, where the virus could be treated. Cyclops agreed.

Nathan grew up in that world, raised by two people that he came to know as Slym and Redd (who were, in fact, Cyclops and Jean Grey transported to the future).

Eventually, Nathan returned to the 20th century to battle Apocalypse, but by this point in time, he was a much older man, who had had a wife and a child of his own.

Any notable ones that you think that I missed?

Top Five X-Men Cover Homages

Here they are, the top five covers that homage X-Men covers of the past!

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4.



3.



2.



1.



Feel free to take guesses as to what covers these books are homaging!

Top Five Characters Created During the 1993 Marvel Annuals

In 1993 DC had their Bloodlines titles which created a new character in them. Marvel also used their 1993 annuals in order to introduce a new character in each one But while DC's were all connected by a story, Marvel's were individual stories.

5.Nocturne



Wait...you mean this isn't the character from Exiles? Nope, she's just some girl transformed by one of Zemo's creatures into a blond woman with wings. Like a bat. Because she's really a bat inside, see? I don't either. But she does at least have a cool name.

4.Annex



Annex lost a leg, and used computer technology to create a new one. This process also allowed him to increase his strength and create any weaon he requires from thin air. Annex gets on the list because he had a miniseries. So, he obviously deserves to be on the list. I mean, how may of the other people on the list got minis? One?

3.X-Cutioner



X-Cutioner is a man. Just a man. With a man's courage. But with weapons from all of the X-Men's villains he hunts mutants. He appeared here and there as an X-Men villain for a while, before apparently giving up the role somewhere during the Gambit series, so that a new X-Cutioner could be established. But he had a pretty cool look to him, an interesting character as a former federal agent. Plus, he survived as a villain for a while.

2. X-Treme



X-Treme is a part Shi-ar part human who can make anyone's blood boil when their blood is exposed to the air. He did have a few appearances, but not many for a long while. Instead, the main thing about X-Treme was that for the longest while he was believed to be the third Summers brother. Of course, he might still be a brother, but not on the Summer's side of the family. This rampant speculation has made X-Treme the second biggest character created from the annuals. Almost every X-Men fan knows his name! How much bigger can you get?

1. Legacy!



Yes, the son of Captain Marvel was introduced in the Silver Surfer annual. From this humble beginning he eventually got to be in Avengers Forever, have three Captain Marvel series, and is now a star of New Thunderbolts. The dude is a big star now and is popular. Hands down, the future Captain Marvel/Photon is the winner of best character created during the annuals. And for staying power he's tops.

Top Five Heroes Created During Bloodlines

In 1993 DC had a running theme through their annuals about space vampire dragon like creatures who fed on people with this scution mouth thing and in every annual it turned one person into a superpowered new hero character. The characters really weren't going to be the next big thing like they were advertised as, but some were still cool. There was one character though...

5. Myriad!



She gets the coolness of being drawn by David Lapham. And back in 1993. That's cool! She was also a character introduced in the regular comic, who had been killed by Lex Luthor and was brought back to life because one of the monsters sucked her dry. She then gained the power of adopting the personality of whoever she touched. Yes, she was DC's answer to Rogue, except she became that person and didn't get any powers or anything. But she was actually introduced before the comic, she just didn't become the "hero" until this annual, since she was dead. But still, Lapham!

4. Razorsharp( and Channel)



Not only do you get one character here, but two in one place who both get changed. They are part of the Cyba-Rats and while Channel can inhabit televisions, Razorsharp can turn her arms into blades. Yes, she's DC's Warblade. But she's a female hacker, so she rules! She also got to appear in Guy Gardner Warrior, so she rocks! And she was in Bloodpack and an issue of Catwoman. But Guy Gardner appearances rule all!

3. Loose Cannon!



Loose Cannon turned into a big hulking like creature. Yes, Dc's answer to the Hulk. But he could change colors like a mood ring. But the big twist was that when he wasn't super he was a parapalegic! And, while he had no appearance in Guy Gardner, he did have his own four issue series, so he rules over the others.

2. Sparx!



Sparx rocked. First, unlike the other characters, she was actually looking for the parasites so she could get bitten and turned super. So her, and her wolf changing uncle went looking for them and she got bit and when they tried to resurrect her she became Sparx, made out of electricity/lightening/whatever.

She also actually appeared in comics after the annual, and was even Bloodpack, and was a star of Superboy and the Ravers. But the coolest thing about her was she was in an issue of Guy Gardner!

1. Hitman



Need we say anymore? Dude got a series written by Garth Ennis that lasted 60 issues (whoops), has a lot of those issues collected in trade, and is still popular and talked about today. No one can beat him. It's frickin' Hitman.

Can yo uthink of someone better for numbers 2-5?

Top Five Weirdest Inter-Species Comic Relationships!

Top Five weirdest romantic relationships between people of different species!!

Honorable mention to the most popular example of this type of thing - Clark Kent and Lois Lane!

Clark is a Kryptonian, while Lois is a human.

The reason they are not higher on the list is because, well, Clark looks totally human!

Kelmo Caesar from Top Ten WOULD be on the list, but I can't remember the name of the woman he ended up with.

5. A tie between Yera and Colossal Boy in Legion of Superheroes and Johnny Storm and Lyja in Fantastic Four.

Both romances followed the same basic path.

The hero falls for a woman he THINKS is someone he knows (Colossal Boy - Shrinking Violet, Human Torch - Alicia Masters), but they both turn out to be shape-shifting aliens (Durlan and Skrull, respectively).

Fantastic Four gets extra credit for actually trying to make a love triangle out of it!



4. Mikaal (the alien Starman) and Leander



Mikaal had a tough time, as he was basically a moron for his first few appearances.

But eventually, he gained his sentience back, and, towards the end of the series, he started dating Leander.

3. Dream (of the Endless) and Thessaly



This romance was done mostly off panel, as we see Dream freak out about it before we learn WHO he is freaking out about.

Still, it is quite the pairing - a witch and a member of the Endless!

2. Abby and Swamp Thing

She is a human, he is a collection of swamp plants!



They have sex through a sharing of a fruit!!

Tripppppy!

1. Vision and the Scarlet Witch

She is a human, he is an android!



He impregnated her through MAGIC SPERM!!!

That has to be the winner, clearly!

Did I miss any other inter-species relationships of note?

Monday Musings, The Fourth

Ok, so topics for this week are somewhat limited. Due to it being the end of the term, and going to visit a friend before he goes to England, I wasn’t able to pick up my comics for this week. So it would seem as if I have nothing to talk about. Nothing current anyway. So I shall delve into something I saw while at my friend’s place. Now, don’t be frightened folks, but this week’s Musing is going to be about…. Anime!

Now, I’ve never really had anything against anime. Some of the stuff I’ve seen has been pretty sweet. But there’s also a lot of really freaking weird stuff. And it is the weird stuff that has a tendency to be put in the spotlight, so anime has somewhat of a tarnished reputation. However, there is some anime that is pretty much universally agreed upon to be awesome. One such anime is Cowboy Bebop.

I just watched Cowboy Bebop: The Movie for the first time last Friday. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It features a crew of bounty hunters who are out to make a few woolongs [Ed. Woolongs are money!] in the world. Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ed. Spike is the main character I guess. He’s the cool guy. Acts on impulse and instinct. Jet used to be a cop. Faye is wicked hot. Ed is a hilarious girl who everyone thinks is a boy. It’s a pretty good cast.

The story behind the movie is that someone has decided to unleash a plague of nanobot machines that resemble lymphocytes. The crew of the Bebop decides that this would be a bad thing, and set out to stop him. Some great fight scenes, a good bit of comedy, and some pretty suspenseful moments all add up to a rather decent film.

The artwork is pretty slick. While it has hints of traditional anime over-exaggeration of features and such, especially with Ed, overall it has a much more realistic feel. The way the characters move actually looks like the way people move. Great coloring as well. The mood is always set up just right.

One of the coolest things about Cowboy Bebop is the fusion of music and action. The soundtrack plays quite heavily into the movie, setting the speed and pace for many of the scenes. There is even just little hints to it, like Faye tapping her hand against the dashboard while driving. It all combines together to make a really fun conglomeration.

Cowboy Bebop is really sweet. Even for you anime haters out there, give the movie a shot. You may not totally love it, but I can guarantee that you will not hate it either. I’m currently acquiring the anime series, and may give an update after I have watched that.

Finally, a bit of trivia, the movie was initially called Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, after the Bob Dylan song, but had to be changed to just The Movie due to copyright stuff. Also, the character of Vincent, according to IMDb, is based off of Dylan himself! This makes Cowboy Bebop: The Movie a must-see for Cronin.

Top Five Marvel Superhero "Head" Nicknames!

Oddly enough, superheroes in the Marvel Universe tend to give each other nicknames on TOP of their actual superhero names, and particularly odd is that often the nicknames involve calling the hero in question ____head. This is the top five Marvel superhero "head" nicknames!

5. "Buckethead" - This is the nickname of Nova, The Human Rocket.

That is because, for a costume, he wore a helmet that looked like a bucket.



Marvel heroes aren't the most creative with nicknames...hehe.

4. "Hornhead" - This is the nickname of Daredevil.

That is because, for a costume, he has a mask with horns on top.



Marvel heroes aren't the most creative with nicknames...hehe.

3. "Winghead" - This is the nickname of Captain America.

That is because, for a costume, he has a mask with wings over his ears.



Marvel heroes aren't the most creative with nicknames...hehe.

2. "Webhead" - This is the nickname of Spider-Man.

That is because, for a costume, he has a mask with webs on it.



Marvel heroes aren't the most creative with nicknames...hehe.

1. "Shellhead" - This is the nickname of Iron Man.

That is because, for a costume, he has a mask that...hey!

A non-obvious nickname!

This does not look like a shell, does it?



So yay, Marvel heroes CAN be creative with nicknames!

That's why he is #1.

Any other "head" nicknames out there?

Top 5 "Hollywood Nailed It" Scenes

With apologies to Ronald, I'm swiping his comic book movie theme. That's what I do here, I lurk and I steal.

Some comic movies are good, some are not; but that's beside the point. Making a whole movie adaptation good is tough to do, anyway. This is about those scenes...those great scenes...that just perfectly encapsulate the character. A comic movie can be 90% garbage (I'll refrain from naming the ones I'm thinking of, but they are many and great in number) and still contain that one perfect scene. Here are my top five.

(I had to exclude several good comic movies, such as Hellboy and the Crow, because I'm unfamiliar with the source material. And in the case of Sin City, everything's lifted straight from the comics anyway)

5. Reed and Ben (Fantastic Four)



The newly-dubbed Fantastic Four have just saved a bunch of lives on the Brooklyn Bridge (lives which they initially put in danger, but that's neither here nor there). Among the cheering onlookers, Ben Grimm sees his wife looking at him, horrified at his new appearance. She removes her wedding ring, lays it on the pavement, and leaves. Ben tries desperately to pick the ring up, but his rocky fingers are too big to close around the tiny ring. As Ben grows more frustrated, Reed Richards picks the ring up and drops it into his friend's palm.

Reed: "I swear to you...I will do everything in my power until there is not a breath left in me. You are going to be Ben again."

Among the relationships in the Fantastic Four -- the love between Reed and Sue, the sibling angst between Sue and Johnny, the friendly rivalry between Johnny and Ben -- the friendship between Reed and Ben is arguably the most important. Ben, the heart of the team, is in a constant state of heartbreak because of his condition. Reed, the brains of the team, is wracked with neverending guilt over his greatest mistake. But despite this, their friendship only grows stronger, and their flaws push both men to better themselves.

4. Batman Begins



After their shared experiences saving the city, Batman and Lieutenant Gordon have entered into a tenuous partnership. They're not yet the friends they will become, but there is mutual trust and respect between them. Just before Gordon sends Batman off on a new case, he stops him to say:

Gordon: "I never said thank you."

Batman: "And you'll never have to."

Batman is not driven solely by revenge. There is also a great desire in him to protect, to build, and to better the lives of those around him. His Bruce Wayne is a concerned citizen, not just a mask. As Jeph Loeb would say, he believes in Gotham City. It's not simply his protectorate...it's his home.

3. Professor Xavier (X-Men)



After Magneto's defeat and imprisonment, Charles Xavier visits his old friend in jail for a game of chess and some light philosophical debate. A classy thing to do, all things considered.

Never missing an opportunity to needle Xavier, Magneto asks if he ever worries about the future. If he ever dreams about radical humans coming for his children in the night.

Magneto: "What do you do, when you wake up to that?"

Xavier: "I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school...looking for trouble."

That right there reminds everyone that Xavier, besides being a kind old teacher, is a total badass. He is a gentleman and a scholar; he hopes for peace and he strives for unity; but anyone comes after his children, and he will fry their brain like an egg.

2. Constantine



Father Hennessy hears the voices of the dead and damned...quite against his will. It got so bad that he developed a drinking problem, and took to wearing a medallion that kept the voices out of his head. Unfortunately, John Constantine decides he needs those voices. With a huckster's smile, he takes the protective medallion off of Hennessy and slips it into his pocket.

Constantine: "C'mon, you don't need its protection. It'll be like back in the day."

It's a scene fans of Hellblazer have seen many times before...John sending a friend to his death with a smile on his lips. It's not that he doesn't care about his friend, or even like he's gambling with his life. It's just that John Constantine needs something, and for that moment, that's the only thing in the world that matters.

1. Superman



After saving California and the fair Miss Lois Lane from destruction, Superman scoops up Lex Luthor and drops him off in jail. The prison warden commends Superman for his service to the world.

Warden: "This country is safe again, Superman, thanks to you."

Superman gives the warden that "aw, shucks" smile, sort of salutes him, and slowly flies away.

Superman: "No, sir. Don't thank me, Warden. We're all part of the same team. Good night."

What's so great here is you honestly believe what Superman is saying. In his mind, there is absolutely no difference between what he does, and what the warden of a prison does. They're all good guys. And when the most powerful being on the planet considers regular ol' humans his equal, that's pretty cool.

Top Five Hawkeye Moments

Top Five character-defining moments by everyone's favorite purple-garbed archer!!

5. Hawkeye at the UN - Hawkeye hating authority

In the otherwise forgettable crossover, Blood Ties, the United Nations demanded that the Avengers not get involved in a situation in Genosha. The UN even sent SHIELD to confine the Avengers to their headquarters. A few Avengers escaped, leaving the remaining members to face the wrath of the UN.

Hawkeye took control here (much to the dismay of Black Widow, who did not appreciate his aggresive stance), and made some nice speechifying to the United Nations in what, to me, was the best example of Hawkeye's problems with authority.

And the bit at the end as he walked off all proud of himself?

Niiice.

4. Hawkeye and Hercules hit back - Hawkeye's recklessness

There are plenty of examples of Hawkeye being reckless, but this was my favorite example, as Hawkeye finds out that Black Widow is being held captive, and even though he KNOWS that it is a trap, he still thinks that he has to go save her, along with Hercules in tow.

3. Hawkeye versus Crossfire - Hawkeye's stubborn determination

The villain Crossfire is making Hawkeye and Mockingbird (through mind control) fight each other to the death, and it is getting VICIOUS, but Hawkeye uses one of the heads of his sonic arrows to go off in his OWN EAR, thereby making himself deaf, and immune to the sonic mind control.

Hawkeye eventually recovered a little of his hearing, and with hearing aids, he could have normal hearing, but the willingness (heck, the almost instant decision TO go for it) to make himself deaf to beat the bad guy is testimony to his stubborn determination.

2. Hawkeye versus Deathbird - Hawkeye's roguishness

In this Avengers issue by David Michelinie and John Byrne, Hawkeye (booted off the Avengers because of bureaucracy) has ended up as head of security for Cross Enterprises.

He single-handedly defeats Deathbird, who, as you may recall, is generally speaking out of his weight class.

After the fight, as she is headed out all trussed up, Hawkeye leans over, and gives her a big smooch - infuriating her to no end!

1. Hawkeye versus the Grandmaster - Hawkeye the old carny

The carny aspect of Hawkeye's life is a big part, including the costume that he wears, and that carny feel was quite evident in Avengers Annual #16, in which the Avengers (combined teams) faced a Legion of the Unliving, and were picked off one by one until only Captain America and Hawkeye remained against the Grandmaster, fighting for the life of the universe.

Grandmaster was about to destroy them both and continue with his plan to destroy the universe, but Hawkeye, thinking quickly, offered to BET him the universe!!

Hawkeye would take two arrows - one with a head on it, one without.

He would then have the Grandmaster pick which one had the head on it.

Grandmaster chooses - WRONGLY!

He would have whelched, of course, but the distraction at losing was all that it took for Death to free herself and stop the Grandmaster.

Afterwards, Captain America talked about how lucky they were. Hawkeye laughed at the thought, for he had cheated!! Grandmaster HAD picked the right one, but Hawkeye broke the head off the arrow sneakily before showing it to him!!

Later, when the Avengers and West Coast Avengers continued their interrupted softball game, Cap told his teammates - "Watch out for Hawkeye...he cheats."

My pick for most defining Hawkeye moment!

How about you folks? For a character with such a rich history, I am sure that there are some disagreements out there! Let me know!

Top Five Keith Giffen Fun Runs!

Today's Top Five is in keeping with today's normal shtick, "Fun Runs," in that I am listing the Top Five Fun Runs by Keith Giffen, plotter extraordinare!

The fifth spot was a tough one, I was really torn between the choice I went with and L.E.G.I.O.N.

I think I didn't go with L.E.G.I.O.N. only because it seemed a little too much of Alan Grant's baby. Still, L.E.G.I.O.N. under Giffen was a fine, fine comic (and still good withOUT Giffen).

5. Freak Force



This was a really fun series by Giffen, with art by Vic Bridges and a script by Erik Larsen.

They were a team of superheroes who weren't, well, very good at being superheroes.

Giffen was quite familiar with this formula!

4. The Heckler



Giffen and the Bierbaums had a ton of fun with this series, about a superhero whose powers were basically that of a cartoon character (like a Loony Tunes character).

They went all out goofiness (as opposed to satire or anything like that).

A lot of fun.

3. Legion of Superheroes



This may be the best SERIES of the five, but it was not all that "fun," so I have it ranked a little lower than one might expect for such a good series by Kieth Giffen and the Bierbaums.

2. Justice League International



Come on, this series popularized "Bwah Ha Ha Ha!"

It HAS to be fun!

1. Ambush Bug



In a slight upset (not THAT slight, hehe), Ambush Bug takes the top spot in my estimation.

Ambush Bug was an excellent series, and since it did not last as long, Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming did not get the chance to get "stale."

In addition, Giffen's art really sparkled on this series. Even the 1992 Nothing Special, Giffen pulled out all the stops.

Good stuff.

Think I'm off on the rankings?