I have good news and bad news on the Marvel cosmic front. The bad news first. Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova are going on hiatus. This is partially to do with the low sales they get and partially to do with the good news that is coming. The Thanos Imperitive will be taking over. A 6 month mini-series tying every cosmic character together into a web of insanity. The Cancer-verse, the universe on the other side of the rip in space, The Fault, is planning to take over the Marvel Universe and a rag tag band of cosmic heroes are the only ones to stop it. As you can see from the entirely beautiful picture below, of up-most importance seems to be, of course, Thanos. Silver Surfer seems to be coming back in a big way and the surprising third star seems to be Medusa, the queen of the Inhumans and one of my top ten redheaded females of Marvel. The current stars of their respective books, Nova and Starlord can be seen below with fan favorite Rocket Raccoon. It all seems to be exciting besides that sadness up front.
Oh my god. I’m having a nerdgasm. Some of my favorite ladies of Marvel are joining forces to combat a long thought dead hero turned villainess. She-Hulk, Hellcat, Emma Frost, Agent Brand, Valkyrie and Monica Rambeau vs. Frankie Raye AKA Nova, ex herald of Galactus. I cannot wait to see Hellcat and Valkyrie join forces. The most awesome thing of all is that this is a weekly series. 5 issues. 5 weeks. Pure awesome.
Comics were kind of dull this week and that’s a damned shame. Two upcoming events are causing me to become excited though. Firstly, Muppet King Arthur looks awesome, even it is only the cover thus far. JANICE is the Lady of the Lake and she looks as freakish as ever. And look! Ugly Deadly is the figurehead on the prow of Kermie’s boat.
Meanwhile, over in Marveldom, Thanos is coming back from the dead in a big way. I previously posted a cover from Guardians of the Galaxy with his return, but this cover takes the cake. A new storyline begins called the Thanos Imperitive and we have the on-shot opening salvo to drool over.
Just a final little deal for the awards. Ghost is character of the year, beating Dee, Tigra, Bret and Juliette in that order. Kylie’s USA tour wins for best piece of entertainment of the year, beating Little Boots, War of Kings, Mad Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Flight of the Conchords and Orphan. Good for those folks.
One more award. Best Comic Series O’ 2009. I have some new covers for a few of these fellows so pay attention stupids. Thanos is back and looking fucking evil on the cover of April’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Tigra is being an awesome bitch on the cover of Avengers: The Initiative. The whole damn team is about to get their asses shot up on the cover of X-Factor. But who will win?
It’s too hard to explain my reasoning behind my choices so here is an easy little deal. Avengers: The Initiative takes the bottom of the ladder of 5. Incredible Hercules/ Agents of Atlas is in at 4. X-Factor slips in at 3 and Fables pulls in at 2. The winner is Guardians of the Galaxy. The damn series is out of control. Deaths, Resurrections, Time Travel, Lesbian Scissoring, Talking Russians Dogs. What more could you ask for? Talking Lesbian Russian Dogs Scissoring while the time travel to their deaths before being resurrected.
Three more awards til the finale tally and we are now on the actual comics. Best Mini-Series of 2009. Delving right into it (you can look at my previous run through on your own assholes), Cinderela: From Fabletown with Love hasn’t progressed to the insane degree that it advertised but is still a quality character piece. It also suffers because it hasn’t finished yet. 5! Dark Reign: Young Avengers introduced some weird and awesome side characters, but I’m worried they will never be used again. 4! Hellcat: The Initiative, Agent of Your Mother, Death Bitch, or whatever long name it had was a quirky freakshow of activity, but lacked any serious that made the top two so perfect. 3!
Exiles meanwhile, doesn’t get the chance to fight for the number 1 spot due to the fact that it was originally designed an ongoing series. Great characterization, fun and complex story, but the forced shut down of the series made for a bit ( a lot ) of unfinished business. 2! War of Kings was a no-brainer. Everything Marvel Cosmic is pure gold and this is no exception. Overarching story-telling at it’s finest. Real ramifications for the Marvel Universe and a handful or incredible important, shocking deaths made this a must-read. Also, the picture below, previously put up, lands as my second favorite (behind the gay kiss) panel of the year. I don;t think a comic has made my heart palpitate besides this closing shot from the first issue. P.S. I will never reuse a picture again, I promise.
This is a list of completely incongruous fake individuals. A lesbian pimp taken from the cartoon Jem, two gay comic lovers, a forlorn ’60s gay and a voice modulated fake fashion stylist on a radio show. Timmy Trendy, Radio 1’s resident robo voiced prank caller, voiced by Becky of The Scott Mills show, while awesome, lands in 5th. 4th goes to Jiz, the Jem of the slut set. Both of these suffered from minimal exposure. 3rd goes to Rictor, one of the aforemention gay lovers in X-Factor. He like to do bi, but doesn’t receive the same humour treatment as Shatterstar. We end with two front and center gays. Sal and Shatterstar. Sal’s is just too damn depressing. He suffered from the minimalness as well, but his was more powerful than some of the previous ‘mos. That’s right, Shattybuns wins for being suddenly and generally awesome. He loves his gladiator films and making out with everyone. His (and Rictor’s) shock outing also ranks as my number 1 fictional event of the year, so suck it.
