WEDNESDAY WHIMSY

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello, welcome back. This week I am going to focus on books, comic books and the normal type. I don’t usually have a lot of time for reading, but recently, I have found myself reaching for a few books, and even finishing them! I know, how exciting. It is true, the majority of these books have been graphic novels, but still, they count, they definitely count. So without too much fuss, lets just get on with this blog shall we?

BATMAN THE BLACK MIRROR

This was the first time I had read a Batman story that didn’t involve Bruce Wayne, apart from the Knightfall saga. Dick Grayson is our Batman in this tale of serial murder, crime bosses, dead whales, villain auctions and sons gone bad. I would not want to spoil anything for you, it really is that good. At first I wasn’t sure if Batman would be as compelling without Bruce Wayne, but I needn’t have worried. Dick Grayson is a different kind of character, but no less compelling as the Dark Knight. His past as Robin, Nightwing and a police officer in Bludhaven all come in to play in some sublime story telling by Scott Snyder. In many ways this is the first comic since Batman: Year One that features the Gordon character in such a brilliant way. His story is just as compelling as Batman’s and sometimes even more so. This is one of the best Batman graphic novels I have ever read, and I really didn’t think I would be saying that about a Batman comic that didn’t have Bruce Wayne in it. I urge everyone with an interest in Batman to seek this out, it really is rather special.

OLD MAN LOGAN

In the world of the future, there are no heroes anymore. Most of them have died, and the few who are left aren’t in the hero business anymore. Logan AKA Wolverine, is older, has a family, and hasn’t popped his claws since the supervillains took over. He works a farm that is under the control of The Hulks, and he owes them a lot of rent money. When Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye comes to him with a proposition, Logan takes the seemingly easy job, so he can get the Hulks off his back. Basically a futuristic western, this has The Man With No Name flavour all over it. It is a fantastic tale, which I will not spoil here, that shows us the end of the Marvel heroes as we know them, and an adventure with Logan and Hawkeye. the first of which refuses to release his anger and claws, but you just know that at some point, someone is going to push him too far, he is Wolverine after all. I loved this book, and I would recommend it to anyone. As it doesn’t take place in comic continuity, you don’t need to know loads about the Marvel Universe but a basic knowledge will serve you well.

THE INFINITY GAUNTLET

As soon as I saw The Avengers (I refuse to call it Marvel’s Avengers Assemble), I knew I had to find out who that purple dude with a massive jaw line was. Well turns out he is Thanos, the Mad God, and this was the most recognisable Thanos book out there. Basic story is, after collecting all the Infinity Gems, and placing them in the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos tries to impress his lady love Death. The gauntlet and gems give him ultimate power over everything and everyone in the universe and beyond, a power he uses to try to get the attention of the afore-mentioned Death. Of course this causes many problems for the heroes of Earth and beyond, so it’s time for a huge super hero smack down to stop Thanos before he destroys everything. This was my first proper taste of intergalactic Marvelness, and I have to say, it was pretty amazing. I love a good hero team up, and when all of Earths mightiest heroes team up with the galaxies strongest, fun is sure to be had. I will admit to not knowing a few of the characters back stories, but as I have been reading some classic Marvel recently, I knew most of the characters featured. I think that sometimes, diving in to a graphic novel fresh, can be a bit daunting, but it pays off often, and leads you on to discover more amazing adventures featuring characters you may never have thought about before. The Infinity Gauntlet is well worth checking out, particularly if you have an interest in the possible future direction of Marvel Phase Two movies.

That’s just about it for this week, I’ll see you again next week for more Whimsy of a Wednesday variety.

All Geek To Me’s Geek Olympics: Final Round

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello Geek Sport’s fans, and welcome to another, slightly delayed, post covering the greatest Geek Character’s competing in a series of events, loosely based on Olympic sports. You can read the first article here, and the second here. So without further a do, here we go…

HAMMER THROW

Thor, The Hammer Bros. Timmy Mallet, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, M.C. Hammer.

Now this event has been seriously mis-booked by the Geek Olympics’ organisers, oh, that would be me, never mind then, on with the fun. The Hammer Throw is a simple enough event, pick up the hammer, and throw it as far as you can. Beloved 80’s TV Children’s entertainer Timmy Mallet steps up to the plate, struggles to pick up the hammer, twists around, and flings it wildly, behind him. He scores a mighty throw of -2m. Oh dear. Next up The Hammer Bros from Super Mario Bros step to the plate, pick up the hammer and proceed to throw it in a high arc, straight up, and straight down, but being turtle things, perhaps they don’t fully understand the rules. They score 4m, an improvement, but not much of one.

Next up, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, who despite his name, has never actually thrown a Hammer. He has put people in figure four leg locks though, and he proceeds to drag M.C. Hammer, proving that you can indeed ‘touch this’, in the middle of the stadium and tries to apply the submission move. Unfortunately for ‘The Hammer’, M.C. Hammer is too legit. Too legit to quit, and as he is wearing frankly ridiculous parachute pants, the figure four is ineffective, M.C. Hammer breaks free and runs off. Greg is shamed and arrested by Green Lantern Security. That leaves Thor. He has brought his own Hammer, which he throws, and it keep going and going and going. Unfortunately, it comes back to his hand. Thor scores 0m. Gold Medal goes to The Hammer Bros. with a mighty 4m.

RUNNING

Flash, Quicksilver, Sonic, Superman.

Everyone seems to love the 100m and stuff like that. Personally I can’t see it. 9.65 secs and it’s all over. So this race will be from the starting point in our Geek Olympic Stadium here in Cardiff, all the way around the world, and back to the stadium. The contestants line up, eagerly awaiting the starter pistol. BOOM! The shot is fired and everyone is off. 9.65 secs later Flash crosses the finish line. Oh. Gold Medal Flash.

ARCHERY

Katniss Everdean, Merida, Robin Hood, The Green Arrow, Hawkeye.

You all know the classic way archery contests are held, same deal here, everyone lines up, and its the person who hits the bullseye most wins. Simple really. Hawkeye goes first, he lines up an arrow, steadies himself and fires. The arrow hits the target, and explodes, destroying the next persons target too. The Green Arrow is pissed. He takes out his arrow, lines up and fires one straight at Hawkeye. Luckily its a boxing glove arrow, it knocks Hawkeye out cold, but with no target to hit, Arrow is shit out of luck.

Robin Hood is fully in flirting mode with both Katniss and Merida, which is frankly, well, a bit dodgy, are they even of age yet? Anyway, so entranced is he with both maidens, he fires wild and misses his target. The fact that he is a cartoon fox didn’t really help matters to be honest either. But there we are. It seems Gold is going to the fairer sex today. Katniss and Merida take turns in firing arrows, both hitting bullseye after bullseye. The deadlock is broken however, when Merida suggest they try to see who is the best an horse archery. She is. And she wins. Katniss is forced to go home empty handed, home to her weird Lady Gaga inspired Capitol City. Gold goes to Merida.

WRESTLING/BOXING/MMA/JUDO/KARATE BASICALLY FUCKING SOMEONE UP

Hulk, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Thing, Jason Statham, Bruce Lee, Rocky, Mr. T, Rowdy Roddy Pipper, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre The Giant, The Rock, Wolverine, Deadpool, Chewbacca, Hagrid, Legolas, Batman, Jon Matrix, Ivan Drago, Indiana Jones, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolfman, Bigfoot, Conan, Khal Drogo, A Predator, An Alien and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

This event is basically just a Royal Rumble Event to see who is the hardest Mofo in the universe. I’m not even going to attempt to try an describe the chaos that went down in this event. All super powers, all weapons are allowed, no rules apart from, when you get thrown over the ropes, your out, or if you die in the ring, your out. Simple right. All participants start in the, frankly, massive ring. This goes on for hours, and what initially seemed like a brilliant idea, has become a nightmare. Hours pass, and finally two contestants are left, Jason Statham and Batman. Clearly the two hardest people in the known universe, and the best two at beating the shit out of people.

There can only be one winner though. Both have never been beaten, but Batman is just slightly better, sorry Jason. Batman smashes his opponents face through the mat, and throws him over the ropes, simple, but effective. Gold Medal, and award for best person at fighting ever, Batman. Was there ever any doubt?

With that, our All Geek To Me’s Geek Olympics comes to an end. Thanks for reading. Catch you soon.

Wednesday Whimsy: My Latest Obsession

By @hmsbeefnuts

 

As a child, I was never into comics. Sure I knew who all the main guys were, from Captain America to Wonder Woman, I watched all the TV shows and cartoons, played with the toys, but I never really read comic books. As I grew a little older, I was introduced to Batman and Superman comics with Knightfall and The Death and Return of Superman, which I enjoyed, but I didn’t really have the ready cash to really get into comics in a big way. It wasn’t until after university that I really began to collect graphic novels, and my tastes were, shall we say, rather limited.

As a huge Batman fan, I delved into the most renowned adventures of the Caped Crusader, Year One, The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, loving them all I began to delve deeper, and right now, I have quite a large collection of Batman adventures, with a few stragglers here and there from Marvel or other properties. However, recently, things have changed, and my tastes have become far more eclectic. It started with a random visit to a budget book shop, where I found three Marvel Pocket Books. At first I dismissed them, but on closer inspection I realised that they were small page versions of the comic books, around half size, they reprint original runs of the most famous Marvel Characters. The shop had a Spider-Man and two Fantastic Four books, and the best thing was, they cost £1.99 each, make mine Marvel.

I devoured the first two Fantastic Four books which collected comic runs. It was interesting to read them in this way, as in normal graphic novels, the story is somewhat separated, but reading an extended run of the comics is very interesting. With the FF done, I reached for the Spider-Man one, The Night Captain Stacy Died, which was quite apt with the new movie coming out and everything. Out of comics, I turned to Amazon, and umm, well, lets just say, my credit card took another hit.

Searching on Amazon is very dangerous, they had around 20 more of these Pocket Books, including Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, I was in hog heaven. I now have a very extended run of original Amazing Spider-Man comics to delve into, and all for under £4.00 each. The paper quality is good in these books, the covers nice, and although smaller than regular comics, it isn’t a disadvantage that they are, certainly not when one considers the price. However, these things often start small, but have a way of expanding a little out of control.

£3.99 is not very much money to spend on 6 + issues of a comic series, but £3.99’s add up, and even then I wasn’t finished. I had wanted to find out who the mysterious villain at the end of The Avengers movie was, was I added The Infinity Gauntlet to my basket, then Civil War, Platinum Avengers, a Wolverine novel, and a few Batman ones, just to prove I had never forgotten my first true love. Things were getting sillier. The comic podcasts I listened to had mentioned a Wolverine G.N. (graphic novel) called Old Man Logan, everyone raved about it, it was added to my basket. By this time, and remember, this was a virtual basket, the thing could barely contain the comic awesomeness contained within, I clicked buy, and thought, I’ll worry about the consequences later.

Now obviously, I haven’t even looked at some of the things Mr. Amazon sent me, but I am working my way through them. Currently I’m reading Captain America, and really loving it. It seems an odd time for someone to get heavily into comics, at the age of 31, but it feels right. The atmosphere is crackling with comic energy, the film world is obsessed, and to be honest, so am I. Recent Comic Con news hasn’t helped matters, it has just added petrol to a fire that was already burning way out of control.

But I think sometimes it does one good to indulge in a new obsession. It feels good, and doesn’t feel like I have wasted money, at least not yet. We can all geek out about stuff from time to time, at least I hope you can, you are reading this on a website called All Geek To Me. At the moment, I’m into all things comic book, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

As I type this, we are 3 days away from The Dark Knight Rises, and I am very excited to see how Chris Nolan has rounded off his trilogy. I’m sure it will be great, but until I finally get to see it Friday morning, I shall have to sate my desires by plunging into more and more comics. These things won’t read themselves you know. Till next Wednesday, so long folks.

SUMMER KNIGHTS: BEST BATMAN GRAPHIC NOVELS: PART TWO

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello Bat fans and welcome to part two of my look at the greatest Batman stories ever told. Last time we looked at the beginnings of The Caped Crusader, this time, we shall look at his end, at least for a time, and his return after a few years in retirement. The Bat fun continues here at All Geek To Me, as we build up to The most exciting film of the Summer, The Dark Knight Rises.

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

This was truly a line in the sand for not only Batman, but comics as a whole. Frank Miller wrote a story set in the future, where Gotham has once more been dragged into a crime spree, with criminal gangs and worse, making things hard for the good people of Gotham City. Time then for Batman to come out of retirement, older, thicker around the middle, but still the hardest and most dangerous man in the city. Add a female Robin, shades of ‘the god-damn Batman’ and this dark comic master piece is an absolute must read. Along with Watchmen, this transformed the comics landscape. It was the prime reason that the dark Batman Movie was made by Tim Burton in 1989, and the better Nolan ones in more recent times. This is the Batman we all know and love. Don’t bother with The Dark Knight Strikes Back though, I wish I hadn’t.

KNIGHTFALL/KNIGHTS END

This is the first Batman Story I ever read, thanks to my best friend, and regular commenter, Greeny. He was into comics long before I was, and lent me the Knighfall Saga. Very much in a similar vein as The Death and Return of Superman, this is the story of the Bane, a new threat to Batman, who comes to Gotham to challenge Batman, and succeeds in a devious scheme. He tires Batman out, using almost the entire rogues gallery, before finally facing off against the Dark Knight himself, and breaking his back. Batman retires, a new Batman replaces him, a more violent Batman, not afraid to maim or kill. Bruce rehabilitates himself, and eventually comes back, but who will rule the night?. Kinghtfall is not really considered a classic story, in the same way that The Long Halloween, or Batman: Year One is, but will always have a special place on my shelf as my first graphic novel.

BATMAN/DRACULA

Another Elseworlds tale, this time, what would happen if The Dark Knight came into contact with The King of Vampires, Dracula himself? A dark Gothic tale that fits in with the Batman mythos perfectly. Blood Reign is a great read.

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN

Frank Miller is not the talent he used to be, I think we can all agree on that, however, whilst most people hated his new take on Batman and Robin, I quite liked it. It was different, and wasn’t classic Batman, but I did like the new take on a Dark Knight who enjoyed his job. The God-damned Batman isn’t for everyone, but I laughed all the way through, especially his way of keeping Hal Jordan out of his business. The art work helps a lot too, absolutely beautiful. The story will probably never be finished now, but the first part was an enjoyable, if different take on the Caped Crusader.

ARKHAM ASYLUM: A SERIOUS HOUSE ON SERIOUS EARTH

A dark and disturbed journey into the heart of madness, with art work to match. This is an interesting and demanding graphic novel, and I will admit, I didn’t much like it on my first read through, but I gave it another go, and over time, I have grown to appreciate it and like it. It is unlike the other books on this list, but is defiantly worth your time.

BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

An important turning point in Batman’s history, and a change in tone from the fluffier camper 60’s and 70’s Batman, to a more serious and darker Dark Knight of the 80’s. What starts as a bit of a ridiculous story, The Joker becoming important in the government of a Middle Eastern State, becomes deadly serious, with The Joker killing and important member of The Bat Family. One that was killed by fans vote. I’m trying my best not to spoil things here, just read it.

SUMMER KNIGHTS: MY FAVOURITE BATMAN GRAPHIC NOVELS: PART 1

By @hmsbeefnuts

I am kicking my Summer Knights series off today, and have decided to give you a run down of my personal favourite Bat based graphic novels. There are quite a few, so I shall not procrastinate here, except to say, Batman is my favourite super hero, and as such, I read more of his comics/graphic novels, than any other character.

BATMAN: YEAR ONE

Frank Miller tells the tale of the first year of Batman’s war on crime, and also Gordon’s first year in the GCPD. A gritty, dark, more realistic tale, this is the story of a man’s war for revenge on the criminal underworld that took his parents. The art work is stark and bold, but fits the tone perfectly. Any body looking to jump into the Batman mythos, would do well to look at this first, it is the perfect introduction to the character.

THE LONG HALLOWEEN

My personal favourite Bat story, this is set chronologically after Year One. Batman is now established, and his war on crime continues, with a serial killer on the loose who kills on holidays. The Holiday Killer is not The Dark Knights only problem, his continuing war on Gotham’s Mob families and super villians is also a large part of the story, and Harvey Dent is also becoming a problem. The Long Halloween has great artwork and is a great read, I urge you to check it out.

DARK VICTORY

Dark Victory picks up where The Long Halloween left off. The Holiday Killer has been put away, but Gotham’s problems aren’t so easily solved. This is also a Robin origin story, and is probably the best one I have read. Usually I’m not a fan of Robin, but Jeph Loeb manages to create a narrative that fits in very well with Year One and Long Halloween, and doesn’t make the character of Robin too ridiculous. Great art again, this book is well worth a read.

GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT

The first Else-world book I ever read, Gotham By Gaslight is set in Victorian era Gotham City. A city that has been visited by the most notorious serial killer of them all, Jack the Ripper. Batman, in a vintage awesome costume, must face the Ripper and protect the ladies of the night that populate Gotham. This really opened my eyes to what Batman could be when I first read it. The Batman mythos is so strong, he can be placed in different eras and situations, and still work, and still be awesome. The fact I’m kind of fascinated by the mystery of Jack the Ripper was the cherry on top of the Batman sundae.

HUSH

I was drawn to Hush by Jim Lee’s outstanding amazing art work. It’s been said time and time again, but Jim Lee is the best at what he does, I simply love his art work. Hush is a story about a character from Bruce Wayne’s past coming back to cause Bruce, and Batman problems. To be honest the story isn’t that great, it’s not bad, but there are better Bat stories out there. But when you turn each page and are faced with art work of this awesomeness, sometimes, the story doesn’t matter so much. Hush is a work of art.

THE KILLING JOKE

I’ve always been more of a fan of Frank Miller than Alan Moore, but it must be said, The Killing Joke is phenomenal. At it’s heart it is an origin story for the Joker, but is so much more. We get to see a glimpse at the complicated relationship between the greatest hero and villain in comic books, and a surprising last few panels. The Killing Joke is an important book in the Bat library, that I don’t want to spoil here, just check it out, you won’t be sorry.

So that’s it for part one, I will be concluding my look at the best Bat Graphic Novels later this week, I hope you will come back and check them out.

Wednesday Whimsy

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello everybody, welcome to Wednesday Whimsy with me, Hmsbeefnuts. Time once more for me to collect some random thoughts, news stories and other things of note that have been happening around All Geek To Me, and the Geek world as a whole.

Firstly, on Thursday night, 24^th May, All Geek To Me hit a bit of a milestone. We had our 10,000^th view. Geeky Gem and I are very proud and excited at this seemingly unbelievable number. When we started, we didn’t know if anyone but us would read our blog, so we are very grateful indeed for everyone who has ever stopped by and especially if you came back.

 

Lets start with some big news in the Geek World that has occurred in the last week. Firstly, in the realm of Video games, there is exciting news for travellers in the realm of Skyrim. Bethesda is soon to launch a new patch that fixes a few problems with the game, but most importantly adds mounted combat!! I for one am very excited by this news. Mounted Combat will not only make riding a horse worthwhile, it will also full fill a personal dream of mine that I have had for more than a few years, to ride into a valley, straight into battle. I thought it would be in a Zelda game, but Skyrim will more than make up for it. This is big exciting news for me.

 

Secondly, big news in the comics world. Marvel Comics will publish a story soon that features the Marvel Universes 1^st Gay Marriage. Well done Marvel for supporting this important issue. I couldn’t say that the character who is getting married is a major one, but that hardly matters. Northstar is the character in question, a character who has been ‘out’ for a while, but has decided to make an honest man of his boyfriend and tie the knot. Once again this is good news for superhero comics, as they are finally catching up with things indie comics have been doing for a long time. Also, top marks for it being two gay male characters and not the usual hot lesbian couple.

 

That is not the only gay comic news this month. It has been revealed that a major DC character will also be revealed to be gay. The character has been described as male, and iconic, and there has been much talk over who it could be. My vote would go to recent Justice League member Cyborg, although I have heard whispers about one of the Flash character’s also. In any case, this is also good news for comic books embracing modern times, well done DC.

 

Finally, the big movie news this week was the delaying of one of the big summer movie releases, GI Joe: Retaliation. The studio has officially delayed the blockbuster in order to add 3D. Well I wish they wouldn’t. However, speculation on numerous websites states that there were other reasons for the delay. A very busy summer schedule has to be the main reason, as well as the fact that GI Joe was coming out between some huge superhero franchises. The Avengers has managed to remain top of the box office for three weeks, defeating the American release of Battleship, another Hasbro property. Spider-man and The Dark Knight Rises are out very soon, and there was surely fear that GI Joe would be lost in the superhero slug fest. I am very disappointed by this delay, as I was looking forward to seeing Joe quite a bit, despite an awful first movie. The added Rock and Bruce Willis factor made this an opening weekend watch for me. Well I guess I have to wait till March now, oh well.

One last thing, how cool are these? I want them badly.

Until next time, this hmsbeefnuts signing off.

Avenging April: What All The Fuss Was About: Avengers Assessments

By @hmsbeefnuts

Thursday afternoon, April 26^th , I watched The Avengers, it was around 3 hours ago now that the film finished, and I’m still buzzing from the spectacle. Rest assured that The Avengers is very very good indeed. Everything that the previous 5 Marvel films promised, has been fulfilled by what is quite simply one of the most spectacular films that I have ever seen. Now I know I’m still buzzing from the film, a lot of what I type may be new film glaze, but I don’t think so. I will be seeing the film again on Saturday, this time in IMAX 3D, and I can’t wait, but we shall see if the aura of the Avengers will diminish the second time. I seriously doubt it.

I will not spoil plot points or secrets with you here, I think it’s only fair if you experience it all yourself, and there are plenty of reviews to read around the web anyway full of spoilers. Also, I’m not the kind of fan boy who wants to declare a winner of the summer, I’m not going to decry Amazing Spider-man, or The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers may be the most spectacular film this summer, especially for comic fans, but I’m sure The Dark Knight is going to be equally as great, and Amazing Spider-man, well, here’s hoping. What I will say is, if you have ever enjoyed a Marvel film, then go and see this on the big screen, it needs to be seen big, and loud, do not wait for Blu-ray, DVD, or TV.

 

As my oldest mate and I sat in the cinema before hand, I was slightly apprehensive. Could this film live up to my incredibly high expectations? I needn’t have worried, Avengers delivered, and delivered big. If I can interject here with a point. This is the kind of film that is best enjoyed with your friends, or loved ones. Go see it in a big group, go see it with your childhood friend, go see it with your kids or little brother and sister. There are few things I enjoy more than seeing a brilliant film with a mate, a girlfriend, my Mum, or Dad, Avengers is that kind of film. It is a visual expression of childhood glee, it is every game you played in the playground, arguing over who would be Thor, or The Hulk. I can’t believe that Marvel and Joss Whedon pulled it off, something that should have been very hard, almost impossible.

All the heroes get their moment to shine, even those with out powers. Whedon pulls off the group dynamic perfectly. These heroes aren’t friends, they argue, they fight, but when it comes to the crunch, they pull together and kick some major bad guy ass. I don’t know what my favourite bit was, there were so many. Hulk and Thor, Hulk and Loki, Cap and Agent Coulson, any time Tony Stark is on screen. It would have been easy to turn this into Ironman 3, or the Tony Stark show, but it is not that at all.

The Hulk could be the star, certainly, I felt that he had many of the greatest moments. The BEST Hulk in anything ever, there simply has to be a Hulk sequel with this Hulk, he was awesome. The CGI was incredible, and suitably epic. I’m finding it very hard to talk about things without spoiling stuff, so I will try to not go on for too long. I can’t wait to see where the Marvel films go next, now that The Avengers are established, I can’t wait to see an Ironman 3, Thor 2, Cap 2 and Hulk 2 (3?), and a sequel to The Avengers. Marvel have done something incredible with these films, a fan boys wet dream. Right now I would say that this is my favourite Marvel film, overtaking Captain America, but a second, third and fourth viewing will confirm this. As for now, all I can say is that The Avengers is worth your money, worth your time and worth your attention. DC should be taking notes from Marvel. I want to see a Justice League movie that is this good. I want to see Batman, Green Lantern and Superman working together as well as Ironman, Cap and Hulk. With Nolan’s take on Batman coming to an end, and a reboot for the Bat franchise probably in the works, now is the time to lay the foundations of a Justice League team up movie. I liked Green Lantern, I have high hopes for Man of Steel, lets hope DC can do as good a job as Marvel, even though they seemingly have a harder task, with DC heroes being slightly harder to translate.

Writing this has made me want to go and see it again. I can’t wait until Saturday. The Summer is shaping up to be epic. The Avengers is a hard act to follow, but I can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store.

Avenging April: 5 Badass Supervillians,That Aren’t Super Famous

By @hmsbeefnuts

Avenging April continues here at All Geek To Me, and the excitement is palpable. Not long now, not long. At this point, I am waist deep in comic books, superhero films, and Wikipedia articles about comic book characters I have never heard of before, and I’m loving it. Later this month I should have written an Avengers marathon piece, just have to find time to watch all the recent Marvel films, in order, and then write something amusing about the experience. It’s not easy you know, quite time consuming really. So you may have already read  out first Avenging April Article, 5 Super Stupid Supervillians, and I thought that a companion piece should be written to highlight some of the super badass villains that aren’t as famous as your Jokers, Lex Luthors, Green Goblins and Riddlers. The following super criminals are all some of my favourite characters that have come up against some of my favourite heroes. You may notice that this list is DC heavy, and that is because I am going through a bit of  DC period right now. Many of the great heroes have a vast Rogues Gallery, and it is only fair that these guys get their chance to shine, as they are some of the baddest ass villains ever.

Vandal Savage

Vandal Savage is just completely and utterly badass. A  Cro-Magnon man, a chance encounter with a mysterious meteorite granted him immortality, super strength and enhanced intellect. Throughout the ages Vandal Savage has been involved in numerous great historical events, and has tried to take over the world numerous times. He has fought all the great and the good superheroes, including Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman, as well as The Justice League, The Justice Society and The Titans. He is one of the most evil men alive, and is a great villain, and what a name!

Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy started life as Cyrus Gold, born sometime during the 1800’s. Living in Gotham City, he carried on an affair with a prostitute who fell pregnant. After a meeting in Slaughter Swamp, Cyrus was murdered by the hookers pimp and buried in the swamp. That was 1895, a bad year for Cyrus Gold. Due to an unknown process, the vegetation in the swamp zombified Cyrus body. He would resurrect and become known as Solomon Grundy. Grundy possesses superhuman strength, sometimes to the level of Superman himself, super stamina, energy absorption, the ability to redresser himself and also has a mystical invulnerability, making him impervious to almost everything. Having fought everyone of importance, I do prefer him as a Batman villain.

Black Mask

Black Mask is one of the coolest crime lords in Gotham City. Born Roman Sionis, Mask’s parents were wealthy and important, although they cared little for their son. He was given a position in the family Cosmetics business, falling in love with a ‘lowly’ secretary. His parents didn’t approve, and after a huge argument, Roman burnt his family estate down, with his parents inside. He inherited the business, but it failed, and he was bailed out by family friend Bruce Wayne. Not dealing with these turn of events in a positive manner, Roman tried to break into his Fathers crypt, but was struck by lightening, opening the crypt and smashing the Ebony sarcophagus. Roman took this as a sign, as well you might, and carved a mask out of a broken piece of his Fathers coffin. He then took on the mantel Black Mask. I love this guy, and sadly it doesn’t look like he will be in a Batman movie any time soon, a damn shame.

Star Sapphire

Basically Star Sapphire is a pink lantern, but bad, and confusingly her powers don’t come from will, but love. A formidable opponent for any hero, they have a special hatred for men. I’m gona be honest here, I have become slightly obsessed with Star Sapphire, and in particular, Star Sapphire cos-players. She is included in this list for no other reason than her outfit is quite simply amazingly sexy, yep, that’s this section done.

Omega Red

Our lone Marvelite on this list, but I have liked Omega Red for along time, ever since the X-Men cartoon in fact. Not really sure why, he just always looked really cool to me. As with seemingly most mutants, Omega Red has, superhuman strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, agility and durability, a regenerative healing factor (obviously) carbonadium retractable tentacles within each arm, he can secrete sickness and death causing pheromones, absorb life force, and is quite good at beating people up. I just liked the look of Omega Red, even from a young age, he seemed like a badass, on Wolverine levels.

Avenging April: 5 Super Stupid Supervillians

By @hmsbeefnuts

It’s April and here at All Geek To Me, we are VERY excited about a certain superhero film that drops at the end of the month. So, in celebration of the upcoming The Avengers, during a recent production meeting, Geeky Gem and I have decided that this month shall forever more be known as Avenging April. With us so far? Good. Now what does Avenging April actually mean? Well basically, we are trying to ride The Avengers bandwagon by writing a series of articles based on superheroes, to try to alleviate our growing excitement, and to make sure you all go and see what is sure to be in the top three biggest films this year. Now All Geek To Me’s staff don’t claim to know everything about superheroes or comic characters, but we know what we like, or don’t like, and thus, consider this fare warning…over the next month, superheroes will very much be taking centre stage, although there will be other articles for those who aren’t cape fanatics. So, without further ado, lets kick off Avenging April with a look at the 5 Super Stupid Supervillians…

Egghead

I don’t feel like this pick needs too much explanation. Just look at the picture. Vincent Price with a huge egg shaped bald head. Egghead was created especially for the 1960’s Batman TV show, and was suitably camp and rubbishy. I’m not down on the Batman TV show, I like it, but it is a work of campy genius. Egghead is one of the stupidest, and therefore best villains on the show. He is described thusly; ‘A super smart villain who’s brain is too big for his head. He has a soft spot in his cold heart for anything that has the word egg in it‘. I love that corner of The Bats Rogues Gallery that is populated by villains who are fixated on ridiculous things. He even had a Moll called Miss Bacon. Just look again at the picture Egghead is stupid, and incredibly awesome. How about Egghead and King Tut for a Batman reboot?

Granny Goodness

My God that name is stupid. Granny. Goodness. Ridiculous. What is even more stupid is that Granny Goodness is associated with Darkseid. She runs the training facility for his elite soldiers, using torture and brainwashing techniques in her warped childcare system, in order to train elite fanatical warriors, who will die for Darkseid. Her powers include superhuman strength, speed and durability. She is also adept at using Apokoliptian technology. She is a formidable opponent, but she is called Granny Goodness. God damn it.

Crazy Quilt

 

Our next three villains fall into the category of ‘not everything sounds sinister and scary’. Especially in this case, Quilts. Crazy Quilt was once Paul Dekker, an ex-painter who has turned master thief. Blinded during a botched robbery by a gun shot, he was taken to prison. Whilst inside, he volunteered for a medical procedure that would restore his vision. It worked, sort of. He can now only see blinding, disorienting colours. He obviously then went insane, and started to dress like a complete idiot, oh and calling himself Crazy Quilt, and he is now able to control peoples minds, with a mind-controlling helmet.

The Kangaroo

 

Dear God. Frank Oliver studied kangaroo’s in his native Australia, so hard he developed a jumping ability to rival the marsupials. Obviously, he decided the best way to exploit this new ability was to become a champion boxer, well you would wouldn’t you? After accidentally kicking an opponent in the face, and right into the hospital, Frank jumped ship to America to evade justice. Escaping from deportation, Frank decide a life of crime was for him. Having been defeated by Spider-man easily first time off, he escaped but had wounded pride. He then met Dr. Jonas Harrow, who offered to superhuman The Kangaroo up. An operation later, and The Kangaroo was now jet powered, able to leap 100ft. and be super strong. The story doesn’t exactly end well, but no spoilers. He hates Spider-man though, loads.

The Calculator

Look comic creators, not everything in the world should be turned into a cool superpower. However lame The Calculator seems, and he seems really stupid, he is actually quite a tough opponent. He started off by losing to every member of the Justice League. However, in reality he was assessing his opponents strengths and weaknesses with his calculator suit, which after pressing a special button, he could make sure they could never beat him again. He became immune from defeat by any hero he had analysed, and could only be defeated by a new hero each time, or by turning his powers against him. In fact The Calculator is quite cool, he just looks really stupid.