OG Secret Wars: Part 2

We continue our issue by issue throwback to the Original Secret Wars(1984).  In our first article we looked at the first issue and how Team Heroes and Team Villains wound up on Battleworldin this Contest of Champions set up by the Beyonder.  We examined each of the teams of good guys and bad guys and the issue of course ends on a splash page tease of the first battle.

You can find the link to the first article and the podcast associated with it listed here

OG Secret Wars Part 1

Secret Wars Podcast

Whereas issue 1 ended on the viewpoint of the villains on attack, issue 2 opens with the heroes under attack.  The opening page has everyone getting ready for what they knew was already coming.  Now if you listened to the podcast, you know that we felt the villains are quite undermanned.  Yes they have Galactus and Dr. Doom, but the rest of the villain squad is made up of some, lackluster evildoers so this battle is gonna go they way most would expect it.

Cap is our leader and he begins barking out orders from the start.  Our villains found some weaponry at Doombase that helps sort of even the score but, like a squash match in the WWE, you know eventually the star is gonna win out and hit this jobber with their finisher.

Cap recognizes immediately after this first wave of offense that their attack is unorganized.  And really that should not be a surprise.  There is not a leader in the bunch of Team Villains- with Dr. Doom having left before the battle even began.  I guess the leader would be Kang, but even that is a stretch.

Once Captain America figures out their attack and Team Heroes go on offense, the battle comes to a quick end.  Thor, who could beat all these dudes by his damn self, takes out most of the Wrecking Crew in one fell swoop and the Hulk finishes off the rest of them.  And then when the Enchantress tries to fight back against She Hulk, her beautiful face gets smashed.  Notice in the early panels tho how many Xmen are laying on the ground.  Marvel had very little respect for mutants then.  How the tide would change in about 5 years.

Meanwhile, as the battle rages on, Dr. Doom has gone back to find Galactus, who was knocked the fuck out, when he attempted to take on the Beyonder in issue 1.  Doom is present when Galactus silently rises.  Doom makes the decision to stake out on his own in this battle against the Beyonder, but knowing full well he will need the others on Team Villains to help his plan succeed.  He goes back and rejiggers Ultron to make him his bodyguard and now turns the Team Villain base into Doombase.  When the other members of Team Villain return, Doom informs them they are working for him now and those who attempt to resist, are whipped back into submission by an Ultron attack.

Team Hero after the battle retreat to their homebase.  Being the good guys that they are, they place the captured members of Team Villain into healing chambers as they set out to find living space and plot to what the next steps are.  Captain America and Mr. Fantastic are calling the shots- the only real dissenter verbally is Wolverine, who for some reason is not buying into Cap as a leader at all.

Meanwhile, the Magneto problem winds up making its way to Team Hero Base. Magneto, after being distrusted by most of Team Hero, left them all before the first battle.  Leaving his personal home base, Magneto goes to Team Hero base with a plan.  He manipulates the power core and draws all the heroes to him and as he slips out after their attack, he, for some reason, takes Wasp with him as his prisoner. In an attempt to save Wasp, Thing tries to attack, but reverts into human form and back into Ben Grimm.

The issue ends with the Galactus standing near the top of a mountain with Team Hero watching him and wondering what he is going to do next.

That concludes issue 2.  It moves at a quick pace from  start to finish and ends on a good cliffhanger.  I remember from back then the change of Thing back to Ben Grimm kinda freaking me out.  Plus, when Secret Wars ends, he gains control of his powers to switch back and forth from Ben to the Thing.  I've never liked the tortured Thing character as he is more interesting being able to switch back and forth.  Not changing makes him just a orange version of the Hulk.

Join us in a week for issue 3 review.  And if you can, join us on our Secret Wars Podcast tonight as we review issues 3 and 4.

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: Goosebumps

I'm in my mid-40's( damn that's hard to type) so my familiarity with Goosebumps is a bit strange. When the books were popular, I was way too old to be reading them.  However, I was dating a middle school English teacher for a time in the 90's and the Goosebumps tv show on Fox came on right after Xmen so many mornings I just watched it because I was too lazy to change the channel or nothing else was on. I read maybe 10 books and probably saw 75% of the tv episodes so I had a good idea of what R. L Stine was about.

When I heard they were doing the movie, Goosebumps, I was very meh about it.  One is starred Jack Black and if you have listened to any of our podcasts, you know he is near the top of the list of actors we dont fuck with. Two, I felt that the movie would get Disney-fied- even tho its not a Disney production.  I was thinking a movie like Haunted Mansion.  I was wrong.  So wrong.

Goosebumps: The Movie is very good.  The story and plot are well thought out.  The acting by the two teenage stars is top notch and even Jack Black puts in a decent performance as R. L Stine.  The story follows Zack as he and his mom move from New York City to a small town in Delaware.  Zack's dad died recently and everyone is looking for a fresh start.  The family moves next door to a house with fences all around, yet there is a girl named, Hannah inside the house who takes an interest in Zack and teenage flirting and shenanigans follow.

In looking to rescue Hannah from her crazed dad, Zack breaks into the house and opens up a manuscript written by R. L Stine and once the book is open, the characters of the book come to life. It has a real Jumanji feel to it, but not in a bad way.  The creatures, once released wreck havok all over town and of course attempt to kill our heroes. There is comedy, but some real moments of thrill during all the chase scenes in town.

Hannah's dad is actually R.L Stine and he explains that his books come to life when opened and now, Spanky, the terrifying ventriloquist dummy, is out and he opens all the books and releases all the creatures of the books onto this unsuspecting town.

The movie has thrills and chills for younger viewers and some nice comedy only for the adults. There is a twist at the end naturally, but none of it comes off as hokey or pandering.  The movie is extremely well done.

Is it worth a Redbox?  100% YES! In fact, I will probably add it to my personal DVD collection for my daughter as she now wants to go and read all the books.  Definitely worth your $1.50

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: The Perfect Guy

In our continuing series of watching Redbox movies for you and helping you decide "Is it worth a Redbox" we give you this weeks entry: The Perfect Guy.

The movie Stars Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, and Michael Ealy.  I actually wanted to like this movie.  I am a sucker for Fatal Attraction like movies and I watch more Lifetime movies than most straight men probably should.  The last Fatal Attraction movie with a predominantly Black cast was, Obsessed starring Beyonce and Idris Alba.  Now that movie is Gawd awful.  Bad acting, writing, directing- there is nothing redeeming about that movie.

The Perfect Guy in comparison to Obsessed is great- but that does not make it a great movie.  Sanaa Lathan stars as a career business woman who is engaged to Morris Chestnut, but for some reason, shit dont work out.  They break up and in the phase of "getting out there" she meets Michael Ealy's , character, Carter. They hit it off and the usual dating and mating rituals go according to form.  But suddenly, an incident happens at a gas station where Carter beats the brakes off some dude in a jealous rage and this scares Sanaa and she breaks it off with him.  He does not take no for an answer easily and stalks her and intimidates her until she gets the police involved.  There is the standard Fatal Attraction rip off with a cat instead of a bunny, the killing of a close friend,  but the movie fails to "go there" and actually make this movie intense enough to actually make you believe it.  These Fatal Attraction rip offs have to straddle a line between camp and intense drama and this one leans more towards drama but its not intense.  Not even a little bit. The acting performances aren't bad, but I think in the effort to keep the movie PG, much of the intensity and drama got left on the cutting room floor and the movie becomes tepid.

Of course, she winds up back with Morris Chestnut which sends Carter even more over the edge and not to spoil anything, there is a confrontation between the two.  The movie ends on some Girl Power stuff where Sanaa has to take the law into her own hands to save her own life. Bada Bing, Bada Boom. Movie over!

Kinda long and kinda boring.  This movie does nothing well or poorly.  Its just another movie.  Is it worth a Redbox? I would say NO, but if you are struggling to rent something and its there, you could rent alot worse movies.

The Producer

In Defense of LT Boomer

One of the reasons I did not mess too much with the Battlestar remake in the early 2000's was because it was a little too different from the original( for me).  I heard from Blerds whose opinions I trust/respect that it was actually very good, but I just never messed with it.  Its on Netflix and I probably  need to go back and watch it.  I did see that "Boomer" was now an Asian Female- Ok. Sure. Fine. Whatever.  But I did not stick with it enough to see if they had a black dude/lady on the show or what role he/she may have played.  All I remember was that Boomer was Asian, Starbuck was a woman, and the Cylons was hot chicks.

But in getting ready for our livetweet of BattleStar Galatica #BSG78 for @brothascomis, I have been watching the OG series on Netflix.  To show my age, I was 7 years old when the series originally premiered.  You have to remember that this was after Star Wars became a worldwide hit in 1977 and tv and movies were trying to capture some of that magic.  When Battlestar premiered, Big Hutch and I were there for it- live.  No VCR/DVR just 2 hours of the world premier movie and it blew us away. The Vipers, the Cylons, and I am not gonna front, I had it in major for Athena.  Adama, Col Tigh- hell and even Boxy and his annoying little self.

I was a kid, tho.  I did not get the Astrological signs and its overt religious themes.  I was about those Vipers and the Cylons was bad guys( and they scared the fuck outta me). The Viper pilots were cool as hell. I was all about the Viper Pilots.  Being a young child at the time, I was more of a Starbuck guy than an Apollo guy.  Starbuck was cooler and had some swagger.  Plus he was sorta with Athena
(before he was trying to get with Cassiopeia) and he was one of the best pilots in the fleet.

However, being Black, of course you had to notice Lt Boomer.  Now he does not get many lines in the first 2 episodes, but he is always there in the cut( like Franklin in Peanuts).  But upon rewatching it as adult, Boomer ain't nobody's punk. I mean nobody.   He is one of the best pilots in the fleet( an equal to both Apollo and Starbuck), he is intelligent, and has a moral code that is definitely missing from Starbuck.  He is essentially Black Apollo and the relationship between he and Col Tigh works hand in hand with Adama and Apollo.  And in pivotal episodes, like Fire in Space and  Gun on Ice Planet Zero, he is the hero of those episodes.  Watching it now, I'm like, "F*ck Starbuck, I'm Team Boomer"!

I have now made it the mission of @brothascomics to meet LT Boomer, AKA Herbert Jefferson, Jr. I am not sure if he goes to cons or does signings, but I am looking to find him, shake his hand, and thank him for a great Sci Fi character of color.

So lets give some props to Lt Boomer!

The Producer

Curtiss Cook Interview

@brothacomics had the chance to interview Curtiss Cook this past weekend.
Curtiss is an old friend of Female Perspective and Big Hutch and was gracious enough to give us an hour to talk about his humble beginnings as an actor, how the 90's was a struggle because of studio's hiring rappers to act, his youtube series, Black Man Acting, #oscarssowhite,  and he drops hints on a secret, Marvel Project that he cannot talk about, but every Blerd will be watching on Netflix
( #sweetchristmas)

Check it out on ITunes or Soundcloud

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brothascomics-podcast/id1020924521

https://soundcloud.com/brothas-hutchinson

Please like and/subscribe and follow @brothascomics on Facebook  and Twitter

https://twitter.com/brothascomics
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The Producer

Extraordinary Xmen #1: Review

Its post Secret War and the remaining X-Men are down and almost out.  The M-Pox and the Terrigen Mist have reduce the mutant population dramatically.  Storm, is the leader of the X-Men and along with Iceman are charged with reforming the X-Men and leading them in this new, mutant hating world.

The book opens with Storm having a conversation with someone and pondering loudly how he did it for so many years.  Iceman comes in with news about Majik and her latest rescue mission in India.

Majik is in India doing a rescue of a mutant in that country.  With all the mutant paranoia and hatred, many mutants have been hunted down and killed.  Storm has allowed Majik to seek, find, and rescue mutants and have them brought back to the school. The crowd in India is fierce and full of hatred and Majik needs to go full mutant to rescue the child.

Once back to the mansion, Storm and Iceman recognize that sending Majik out on these missions is too dangerous for her to do alone.  Storm makes the decision to reform the X-Men to try and save whatever mutants that are left and bring them back to X-Haven.

Now the team needs to recruit the team who are spread out all over the place.  The first recruit is Jean Grey.  Now this is the time displaced Jean Grey from the 60's who was brought back to this time stream along with the Original X-Men team.  Jean is now a college student and wants a normal life.  Jean knows her fate and is doing everything in her power to avoid it. Even after seeing what has happened to mutants after reading Storm's mind, she still declines the invitation to join the X-Men!

The next recruit is Colossus.  He is now back working the farm in his native Russia.  His sister, Majik heads out to recruit Peter who is perfectly fine living a simple life on the farm in Russia.  But he could never say no to his sister and they leave to go look for the next recruit, Nightcrawler.

Nightcrawler is working a solo mission looking to capture the Marauders.  In battle with Aries and the others, he is finally defeated and captured and taken away to be a test subject for their master.

As Jean declines the offer to rejoin the team, she informs Storm and Iceman that she has scanned the Earth for mutants in her freetime and she found a mutant who should not be here.  Storm and Iceman head out with the news and in the openness of Canada they find... Wolverine( Old Man Logan version)

That ends issue one.  As a blerd dad, I have been in and out of comics over the past few years.  I would dip my toes in the water from time to time the last  5 years and the X-books are no different. I would check them out and then leave them alone- mostly because there are so many books and its gotten so hard to keep up.  I am taking the starting point after Secret Wars to try this book.  I thought the first issue was solid.  It did a good job of keeping you informed of what has happened and what is to come. I have been a fan of Humberto Ramos' art over the years, even tho he can often be inconsistent.  I like the make up of the team and Storm as leader should always be a part of any X-Men story.

Check back in next week for issue #2 review.  The book is already on issue #5 so go check them out and drop comments after you read them!

The Producer

Original Secret Wars: Part 1

With the conclusion of the Hickman Secret Wars(2015), @brothascomics is gonna take a a look back at the original Secret Wars.  Developed primarily as a tool for Marvel to sell toys, the series winds up having significant impact on the Marvel Universe. It spawns an awful sequel in Secret War 2, but the influence of the original lives on as evident by the homage to the original by Hickman's Secret Wars

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will review issues 1-12 and host a podcast to discuss the series.  So grab a Jolt Cola and sit back and enjoy the recaps.

Prior to the start of the series, all the heroes are drawn to Central Park because of this large construct that has appeared in the park.  One by one, the heroes enter and are transported into space and wind up all together and confused as to how they wound up in space.

Representing the heroes the Avengers, the Xmen, the Fantastic Four( minus Sue Richards), Spider man, Hulk, and for a reason that will become apparent later, Magneto.  For some reason the heroes feel  the need to introduce themselves and Wasp, who is leader of the Avengers at the time, does so in the most arrogant way possible.  It must be noted that Iron Man is James Rhodes at this time and The Hulk is smart and under the control of Bruce Banner.

At the same time, the villains have been transported as well to a different construct.  Its implied that many of the villains were taken from their homes or prison and transported unlike the heroes who went in voluntarily.  At the same time, the heroes are kinda confused as to why Magneto is with them and not on the other construct.  The Xmen, Xavier in particular, are very protective of Magneto even tho he is not trying to be a hero.

While trying to figure all of this out, the power of the Beyonder is revealed.  He begins to destroy one galaxy to make another( Battleworld).  His power on full display shocks and awes everyone.

Once Battleworld is formed, finally the Beyonder speaks.  He speaks of this great battle and that if you slay your villains, you will get whatever you choose.

Galactus is the first to act.  Wanting to end his constant huger for planets, he charges out towards the source of the Beyonder's power.  Dr. Doom, who is curious as well as power hungry, follows shortly after as they fly towards the Beyonder.

Of course the Beyonder has God like powers and swats the both of them back to Battleworld like its nothing.  For Doom, this is his wake up call.  The power of the Beyonder is so great that even he does not think anyone should challenge him directly.  

Meanwhile, the heroes are looking to find a leader for this upcoming battle.   But first they need to decide what to do with Magneto.  No one besides the Xmen want him there and its become a tense situations between the heroes.  Eventually, Magneto feels attacked and decides to fight back and deuces the heroes to do his own thing.

After Magneto leaves, the heroes decide they must have a leader for this upcoming battle.  Many names are tossed around, but eventually they settle on Captain America to lead the team.

As Doom heads back to the villain base after his Beyonder smack down, he is formulating what to do next.  Doom recognizes the power and how very little he could do to challenge the Beyonder on his own. He plans to seek out Reed Richards to formulate some plan to stop the Beyonder.  of course his villain co horts want to challenge the heroes so they can win the prize the Beyonder is offering.  This is insulting to Doom and he attacks the villains and plans to fly to see Reed.  Kang, thinks that is a bitch ass move and shoots down Dooms ship when it leaves the base.

As the heroes move to check out the explosion that took down Doom's ship, the villains move in to attack and we end issue one on a cliffhanger before the first battle between hero and villains.

That ends issue #1.  As much as I love this series, its kind of a mess in parts and it definitely shows its age when you re-read it.  Villains and heroes a like are constantly invoking their own name and the idea of thought boxes all over the place is 20 80's and 90's comics.  I think a major point people miss when looking pack is how sorry the villains are, tho.  I mean the Wrecking Crew? Lizard?  Kang and Dr. Doom are solid and powerful enough to take on the heroes by themselves.  And of course Galactus can hold his own against anyone.  Meanwhile the heroes are stacked with all their most powerful heroes AND the Hulk.  Not a fair fight at all.

But solid effort. Looking forward to issue #2.

The Producer