The Uncanny X-Flus

In a world that hates and fears them, these mutant strains are doing there best to stop the brotherhood of white blood cells.  This group led by mad professor X started off as normal flu viruses but their mutations manifested at puberty.  The team consist of Cyclops, a one eyed foe that spreads sheep flu,  Univ. of Phoenix, who spread the bird flu, Iceman, who only spread a common cold (this weakens the brotherhood of white blood cells), Beast, who spreads any number of animal flus, and finally of Angel, who spreads the biblical plagues. 

Comming this summer, the Uncanny X-Flus get a new member.  Meet poor razorback who was cast out by society and now spreads an airborn swine flu.  Will he be the key that finally gives the X-Flus the edge over the Brotherhood of White Blood Cells?  Pick up issue #162 to find out. 

Alkaseltzer

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Astonishingly Good!

Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1

Joss Whedon

So, I finally got around to reading this one.  Let me preface this by saying that I enjoyed Firefly and Serenity.  I have seen a few episodes of Buffy, but never got into it.  I have seen an episode of Angel and was not impressed in the least. 

Astonishing X-Men is awesome.  I don't say this in a I worship everything that Whedon does way.  I say it in I love the characters of the X-Men and this book really shows off those characters well.  The astonishing team is made up of Cyclops, Emma (sleeping with Scott no less, Jean is in one of her dead phases), Beast, Logan, Kitty, and a suprising addition of a character that was previously dead (the comic actually makes fun of itself for this).  The dialogue is witty and full of flavor.  One example would be when the various X-Men are verifying someone is who they say he is:

Scott: How can we be sure it is him?

Emma:  I read his mind.

Beast:  I ran a DNA test.

Logan:  I smelled him.

Beast:  I did that too.

Needless to say, I will be looking for the rest of the series in TPB form and may even start picking it up on a monthly basis.

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Little DC Fans

I grew up reading Marvel comics.  The X books being my favorite.  Sure I picked up some other titles from other companies, but I was a Marvel man.  The other companies were inferior in their product (or so I believed).  Then I got married and stopped reading comics.  I still got my fix with the awesome Marvel movies though. 

My kindergardener is learning to read now and comics are naturally something that I am using to encourage a love of reading.  I read the Bone TPB to her and she even reviewed it.  Naturally to familiarize her with the characters I have shown her comic book cartoons.  This is where the divide starts.

What comic book cartoons are currently on the air?  Teen Titans is running on CN.  WB, or whatever it is called now, have Batman, Legion of Superheroes, and Krypto: The Superdog.  Not suprisingly (WB and DC are in cahoots), all of these shows are DC properties.  It is hard to find the older Marvel stuff from the 90's on TV.  We have an X-Men tape and some of the old Fantastic Four stuff, but much less than what is available for DC.

The logical next step would be movies.  The Marvel machine keeps churning out movies and DC is almost kind of stagnant there.  The X-Men movies are a little too adult for a 6 y/o though, and this is double for most other properties as well.  The Fantastic Four movie was horrible.  The only one she can see is Spiderman and even that has its scary parts. 

The result of all of this is that my daughters can name obscure DC characters and will miss iconic Marvel ones.  I now pick up copies of the Teen Titans Go! comic for Ashli to practice reading.  Marvel needs to get back in the cartooning game if it wants to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation of comic book fans. 

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A Little Disturbed

 

3

So I was reading the original X-Men comics.  The first two issues are a complete waste.  They are basically an introduction to mutants and the X-Men's mutant powers.  The writing is some of the worst I have ever seen and the characters personalities are all cliches or rip offs of other characters.  Issue #3 is where it all starts to change, but it is also the location of one of the most unsettling scenes in X-Men history.  Professor X, in a thought bubble, states that he is in love with Jean.  He also states that it he can not confess because of his role as leader of the X-Men, and, oh yeah, he is in a wheel chair.  So, it is okay for a headmaster in his 30-40s to pursue a relationship with a 15 year old girl just so long as he is not in a wheel chair or a leader of a superhuman team that the girl is part of. 

Tonight on Dateline we have our 1 billionth installment of "To Catch a Predator."  Some of these will suprise you.  For

Pc_xavier

instance, the headmaster of a school for gifted youngsters who is shy about his disability but wants to meet our 15 year old decoy.  And check out this excerpt from the chatroom:

ProfXXX:  I will show you my special powers if you show me yours.

 

And then comes the backlash.

On 20/20 tonight, we will talk to Jubilation Lee and Kitty Pride about their abuse.  "He made me dress up in a costume and called me Jubilee."

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VS

 

Vs

 

Marvel

Dc

So I picked up something at a game store on Saturday.  It is called VS, and it is a trading card game.  Some will be familiar with Magic:  The Gathering and most with Pokemon and Yugio.  This game allows you to team up comic book characters and pit them against others.  You can stick with team affiliations or not.  For example, you could have an X-Men deck and you could play a Brotherhood of evil mutants deck, or you could have an X-Men deck and play against a JLA deck.  You could also mix characters.  You could put Batman in a deck with magneto, or mix Spiderman into a superman deck. 

If you are in TN you should check out Next Level Games for more information or tournaments.  They also carry Magic, Pokemon, Yugio, and other card games as well as comics. 

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