With 2019 coming to an end, I found myself thinking back on the past 12 months. For me, it was a pretty good year. But for many others...this year was a tough one for many reasons. As suck, since it's the last day of 2019, I thought I'd help show that 2019 wasn't completely without hope and joy...and some things to have a laugh about. Here's some positives of the year, courtesy of the Good News Network!
- In Vancouver, Canada, the world's first commercial electric airplane completed a successful flight. The ePlane, a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver, made a 15-minute flight on the Fraser River. Imagine that in the future, electric planes could be carrying people across the oceans in the future.
- In Georgetown Medical University, researchers there have discovered the brain's "off switch" for epilepsy seizures. This discovery could revolutionize treatment by making it possible to treat the particular neurons that misfire when seizures hit. This is pretty awesome, and I hope it ends up helping out a lot of people who need this.
- After serving six years as a Green Beret in Iraq and Afghanistan, Nate Boyer became the oldest rookie to play for the NFL at the age of 30. What's more amazing about this is that before he tried out for the University of Texas's football team, he never played football. He taught himself how to play via YouTube. He now plays for the Seattle Seahawks. Just goes to show that age is no impediment to being awesome.
- Ricky Butler is a Star Wars fan. He's been one since he first saw A New Hope in 1977. He's also a semi-retired actor who enjoyed building things and working with electronics. To celebrate The Rise of Skywalker, he built a working replica of R2-D2. The replica is able to move around, light up, and make noises like the actual droid. That's pretty cool.
- Desertification has become a major problem for Egypt, with 96% of the country becoming desert. Scientists there are determined to fight this problem, using recycled sewer water to create a forest. The Serapium Forest, located 10 miles west of the Suez Canal, contains a variety of trees like eucalyptus, teak, and mahogany trees. They're fed by recycled wastewater, which still is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. Trees get fed real good from that. Scientists there have estimated that potentially 1.6 million acres of desert in the country could be made into arable forest land. Global warming and climate change have been big issues in recent years, so seeing this is a nice ray of hope.
- Engineers at the University of Illinois have developed a method to make lithium-ion batteries easily recyclable. Lithium-ion batteries are notorious for electrical shorts that can cause explosions and fires. This discovery could potentially lead to the creation of rechargeable batteries that don't lose charge after multiple uses and recharging, not to mention easier to recycle. Safer, too.
- When it comes to heavy metal, many of the most famous groups often hailed from the United States or the United Kingdom. However, Indonesia has put out their own heavy metal band. Meet Voice of Baceprot. Comprised of three Muslim schoolgirls (Firdda Kurnia, Eusi Siti Aisyah, and Widi Rahmawati), they were inspired to create a band and make music after first hearing System of a Down in middle school. Despite protests from more conservative Indonesians, the girls have become very popular, playing in the biggest stages. Rock on, girls. They're showing that heavy metal is for everyone.
- Aleph Farms, an Israeli food company, announced in October that they managed to produce lab-grown meat in space. This innovation could help redefine the way that meat is produced, reducing land waste, water waste, and pollution. I honestly want to try a hot dog made from this meat.
- This video. Taken at the Shamarra Alpaca Farm in New Zealand, the farm is home to about 160 alpacas. It's a tourist trap for people who are fans of the fuzzy critters. It's very nice watching alpacas graze....
- In Oregon, a man name Rick Herrmann had been taking up the saxophone, and he's developed himself an unusual fanbase: His cows. Two videos of him playing for his cows were put up on social media by his daughter, and the videos have gotten over 12 million views. It's nice having your skills appreciated, even if the appreciators are bovine.
So, yeah. 2019 wasn't all bad. There were some things to take joy in. Hopefully, 2020 will be a good year for everyone reading this.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Pokemon Sword/Shield Overview Trailer, My Thoughts
The newest games in the mainline Pokémon series, Sword and Shield, have finally arrived. The game has undergone its fair share of controversies, mainly in the revelation that the game did not include all pre-existing Pokémon. This infuriated the Pokémon fanbase, as it was felt that it went against the basic catchphrase of the franchise: "Gotta catch 'em all!" Me personally, I wasn't that bothered. There's nearly 900, yes nine hundred species of Pokémon. It's getting real hard to keep track. Also, what would be the point of introducing new Pokémon if people are just going to go hunt down their favorites? Give the new ones a try! You might find some new favorites here.
Despite this, the game has gotten a lot of praise for the new features, streamlined Pokémon encounters, and the designs of the new Pokémon. Nintendo released an overview trailer for the games, so let's take a look at it!
I am so impressed with how Galar looks. And I love that you can see Pokémon wandering around in the overworld. It's about time we saw that here.
I've been thinking about getting these games, and I've been leaning towards getting Scorbunny as my starter. It leapt out at me when it was first announced...metaphorically, of course. But I do want to get all three. It's a bit of a tradition with me and Pokémon games.
Leon, the Champion of the game looks like he jumped out of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Considering how popular JoJo is in Japan, I'm not surprised Game Freak would homage it in some way.
Bagpipes...
This reminds me of the English villages from Miss Marple.
I think it's funny that that Budew is just casually chilling on the desk.
About time you can catch wild Eeveelutions.
Heh. I like Yamper. It's not surprising that in a Pokémon region based on the UK, there's a Corgi-like Pokémon.
Cramorant has seen some things.
Duraludon is awesome. Enough said.
I wonder if Alcremie could be considered a cousin to Vanillite. I mean, Alcremie is living cream, and Vanillite is essentially living ice cream. Living dairy products and all that.
I did a blog entry giving my thoughts on Sirfetch'd.
I've kind of like the idea of Pokémon having regional variants. I'm glad they kept that going. Galar's Ponyta looks like it was made of cotton candy. I'm not making fun, its mane makes me think of cotton candy. And I think the Galarian Zigazgoon line is awesome. Galarian Weezing is just hilarious.
I love the World Cup atmosphere of these Gym battles. It really gives the idea that these are a very big deal. I can imagine the Gym Leaders are big-time celebrities, like famous athletes. They probably have their faces on boxes of Galarian Wheaties. Or, more appropriately, Weetabix.
I know some people have their critiques of the Wild Area, but I look at it like this. This is a world that emphasizes humans and Pokémon living in harmony. It makes sense that people would want to avoid messing with Pokémon's natural habitats as much as possible. Hence, large areas like nature preserves where Pokémon can live peacefully.
I'm kind of...meh on the whole Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing thing. On one hand, it's kind of cool seeing some of the Pokémon's transformed states, but knowing my luck, I'll end up barely using it.
Ohhhh, dear. As if regular-size Gyarados weren't scary enough. I can imagine all those trainers looking at each other and thinking the same thing.
I get the feeling these Gigantamax battles are the only way to catch certain Pokémon in these games.
Customization here looks deeper than in previous games. Nice.
Sending Pokémon on errands, huh? I hope there's some nice bonuses for this.
I like the Pokémon camp feature. Nice way to build bonds with your Pokémon. And I heard there were a ton of potential curry recipes.
The trading card feature is neat.
Well, there's not really anything new this trailer reveals. Everything in this trailer, even the Gym Leaders showcased, all were revealed in previous trailers. That's really my only complaint. It's a good trailer for showing the basics of these new Pokémon games. I think I'll pick them up myself sometime...
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Despite this, the game has gotten a lot of praise for the new features, streamlined Pokémon encounters, and the designs of the new Pokémon. Nintendo released an overview trailer for the games, so let's take a look at it!
I am so impressed with how Galar looks. And I love that you can see Pokémon wandering around in the overworld. It's about time we saw that here.
I've been thinking about getting these games, and I've been leaning towards getting Scorbunny as my starter. It leapt out at me when it was first announced...metaphorically, of course. But I do want to get all three. It's a bit of a tradition with me and Pokémon games.
Leon, the Champion of the game looks like he jumped out of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Considering how popular JoJo is in Japan, I'm not surprised Game Freak would homage it in some way.
Bagpipes...
This reminds me of the English villages from Miss Marple.
I think it's funny that that Budew is just casually chilling on the desk.
About time you can catch wild Eeveelutions.
Heh. I like Yamper. It's not surprising that in a Pokémon region based on the UK, there's a Corgi-like Pokémon.
Cramorant has seen some things.
Duraludon is awesome. Enough said.
I wonder if Alcremie could be considered a cousin to Vanillite. I mean, Alcremie is living cream, and Vanillite is essentially living ice cream. Living dairy products and all that.
I did a blog entry giving my thoughts on Sirfetch'd.
I've kind of like the idea of Pokémon having regional variants. I'm glad they kept that going. Galar's Ponyta looks like it was made of cotton candy. I'm not making fun, its mane makes me think of cotton candy. And I think the Galarian Zigazgoon line is awesome. Galarian Weezing is just hilarious.
I love the World Cup atmosphere of these Gym battles. It really gives the idea that these are a very big deal. I can imagine the Gym Leaders are big-time celebrities, like famous athletes. They probably have their faces on boxes of Galarian Wheaties. Or, more appropriately, Weetabix.
I know some people have their critiques of the Wild Area, but I look at it like this. This is a world that emphasizes humans and Pokémon living in harmony. It makes sense that people would want to avoid messing with Pokémon's natural habitats as much as possible. Hence, large areas like nature preserves where Pokémon can live peacefully.
I'm kind of...meh on the whole Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing thing. On one hand, it's kind of cool seeing some of the Pokémon's transformed states, but knowing my luck, I'll end up barely using it.
Ohhhh, dear. As if regular-size Gyarados weren't scary enough. I can imagine all those trainers looking at each other and thinking the same thing.
I get the feeling these Gigantamax battles are the only way to catch certain Pokémon in these games.
Customization here looks deeper than in previous games. Nice.
Sending Pokémon on errands, huh? I hope there's some nice bonuses for this.
I like the Pokémon camp feature. Nice way to build bonds with your Pokémon. And I heard there were a ton of potential curry recipes.
The trading card feature is neat.
Well, there's not really anything new this trailer reveals. Everything in this trailer, even the Gym Leaders showcased, all were revealed in previous trailers. That's really my only complaint. It's a good trailer for showing the basics of these new Pokémon games. I think I'll pick them up myself sometime...
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958)
This just might be the oldest comic I have looked at on this blog so far. My personal favorite era of comics is the Bronze Age, generally considered the era of comics that went from around 1970 to 1984-86. However, many of comics' most popular characters started out in the previous Golden and Silver Ages of Comics. Among them are the Legion of Super-Heroes.
DC's resident defenders of the future have visited this blog before, in my reviews of Legion of Super-Heroes #290, Action Comics #858, Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1, and Action Comics #859. I guess you could say I am a bit fond of this group. So, I figured that at some point, I had to look at their first appearance.
Adventure Comics was actually the second comic book series DC had ever published. The first issue was published in December 1935 as New Comics. With its twelfth issue in January 1937, it got renamed to New Adventure Comics. Issue #32 (November 1938) saw the word "New" be dropped from the title, and would remain under that name for the rest of its existence.
The original incarnation of Adventure Comics would last for nearly fifty years, the final issue (#503) being published in 1983. In 2009, the title would be revived. The new Adventure Comics started out with new numbering, but would eventually take up the numbering of the previous incarnation of the title. This incarnation of the series would end with issue #529 (October 2011) because of the reboot of the DC Universe that would be known as the New 52. It originally started out as a humor title, but eventually evolved into telling adventure stories, and then superheroes.
Adventure Comics introduced a lot of characters that would become mainstays of the DC Universe. In issue #12, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster introduced a prototype of Jor-El (Superman's father) as a science fiction detective. Justice Society members Sandman, Hourman, and Starman would debut in issues #40, #48, and #61. Characters like Green Arrow, Superboy, and Aquaman would consider the series their home for periods of time.
In fact, this issue has stories focusing on Green Arrow and Aquaman as well. I won't be looking at them here because...I do not have them. You see, the scans for this comes from the 2018 trade paperback The Silver Age: Legion of Super-Heroes Volume One. It's a collection of the Legion's early adventures, and while it does have the Legion story (naturally), it did not include the Green Arrow or Aquaman stories. It's understandable, as they're not the focus of the trade. Hopefully, they'll do an Adventure Comics collection that does keep everything. So, with that, let's look at Adventure Comics #247!
The cover is a Curt Swan and Stan Kaye piece, and it's become rather iconic. It's been homaged and parodied many times over the years. You have a shocked Superboy staring at an America's Got Talent-style judges' bench. Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy voting "No". Cosmic Boy's dialogue is hilarious, as he says Superboy's powers are "too ordinary". Yeah, I get that Superboy's "Flying Brick" powerset is one of the archetypical superhero power sets, but he can do things you, Garth, and Imra can't do, Rokk. Heck, he doesn't need to touch you. He can just fly into space and heat laser your face from orbit.
"The Legion of Super-Heroes!"
Writer: Otto Binder
Penciler: Al Plastino
Inker: Al Plastino
Colorist: Unknown
Letterer: Unknown
Editor: Mort Weisinger
Executive Editor: Whitney Ellsworth
The story begins in Smallville, Kansas. A young Clark Kent, aka Superboy, is walking down the street. He's enjoying the beautiful sunny day in the idyllic little piece of Midwest America. A redheaded teenager greets him warmly with a "Hello there, Superboy!" Clark waves it off as a joke. When he gets home, the suspicious lad changes into Superboy and goes on patrol. As he flies, he noticed that the boy he met was new in town, and he somehow knew his secret identity. He'll have to investigate that.
As he flies, he meets another boy, this one with black hair. He greets him as Clark. A blonde girl asks him to give her regards to his parents, the Kents. Superboy is shocked. Was his secret identity leaked out?! How? Well, the three explains that to them, he's ancient history.
Meet Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn, Imra "Saturn Girl" Ardeen, and Garth "Lightning Lad" Ranzz. Or "Lightning Boy" in this case. They're a trio of superpowered superhero teens from a thousand years in the future. And yeah, those costumes did not last very long. They wanted to meet Superboy and make him a special member of their club. Yeah, it's clearly not established that Superboy was their big inspiration yet.
They bring the future Metropolis Marvel to a spherical device known as a Time Bubble. The Bubble allows them to ride the timestream to wherever point in history they pleased. As such, Superboy gets to see the Smallville of 2958. Smallville has undergone a lot of changes. The ice cream parlor now has 9500 flavors, for instance. And the old Kent home has become a shrine.
In a school, a teacher educates his students about the Boy of Steel. He uses a robot duplicate of the young hero to demonstrate his heat vision by melting a block of steel (The comic says X-Ray vision, but I think that's a mistake). Cosmic Boy introduces the teacher to the real Superboy, who melts the block of steel himself.
The three Legionnaires take Superboy to their clubhouse, which looks like an upside-down rocket that was planted into the ground. There are already several Legionnaires in attendance.
Hey look, there's Brainiac 5 in the corner! To prove his worthiness to the club, Superboy must compete against three Legionnaires. Superboy thinks it will be easy, considering his wide array of powers, and each of the Legion generally only has one. The Legion's trouble-detecting TV picks up some trouble at sea. A dredge ship is having trouble finding a priceless statue that sank under the waves.
Superboy and Saturn Girl will see which one of them can dredge it up. Superboy thinks this'll be easy. With his speed and strength, he'll have that statue out before she arrives on her jetpack (The Legion didn't have their flight rings yet). However, some trouble slows the Kryptonian down. The Superboy robot from the teacher's earlier demonstration has run amok.
The Boy of Steel is able to get it to the school's science professor, who is able to shut down the robot so it can be repaired. With that problem solved, Superboy can head out to get that statue. Under the ocean, Saturn Girl uses her power of telepathy to do her best Aquaman impression and command a sea creature to retrieve the statue. Legion 1, Superboy 0.
Superboy returns to Legion HQ, offering no excuse for losing as he feels that telling the Legion about the runaway robot would be seen as a weak excuse. Dude, that is a valid excuse! You had to stop the robot!
Anyway, the Legion's little TV trouble-finder picks up another disaster: A rocket-liner has crashed into a forest. The crew and passengers are okay, but the burning rocket threatens to completely immolate the forest. Superboy and Cosmic Boy are going to handle this one...that is, if that ancient satellite didn't threaten to crash down on Earth.
He finds that it's an ancient Project Vanguard satellite...which the Boy of Steel dumps in a volcano. Dude, that thing was a relic of the early Space Race! Museums would have killed to have that thing! Anyway, Cosmic Boy uses his magnetic powers to make a flock of iron meteors come down in a lake. The large rocks of metal caused the lake to overflow into the forest, dousing the fire. Legion 2, Superboy 0.
Superboy has one last chance to win a contest with the Legion. He and Lightning Boy have to save a passenger ship heading to Mars. The ship's fuel tank sprung a leak, and they'll be stuck in space if they don't get alerted to it. Why not just call them? Well, space static. Yup, that's the excuse. However, Superboy seems to have developed a case of super-bad luck as a strange animal chose now to escape from the zoo.
Superboy can't spare the time to find the alien bird, as it's invisible. So, he has an idea. The young Smallville Sensation grabs a piece of iceberg, cooling the air around it. The bird's feathers start to frost, which allows Superboy to see the bird. Meanwhile, Lightning Boy has formed a message to the ship with electrical power.
You know, I don't think Lightning Lad has ever used his powers like this since. I mean, this potentially indicates that he can form constructs out of lightning like Green Lanterns can with the energy from their rings. That's pretty cool. Anyway, that's Legion 3, Superboy 0. Superboy still refuses to explain why he gets delayed. If I were him, I would get suspicious. I mean, having to deal with an emergency during one of these contests is fine, but all three?! Something funny is going on here...
Anyway, this means Superboy failed the tests, so Legion membership is not for him. Superboy takes it with a smile, as he believes the emergencies he had to deal with were excuses.
However, Saturn Girl has a surprise for him. You see, the contests were an initiation. The three Legionnaires used their powers to cause the disasters that kept Superboy from winning his contests. Saturn Girl used her telepathy to command the robot to go wild, Cosmic Boy used his magnetic powers to pull the satellite out of orbit, and Lightning Boy used his electrokinetic powers to create a hole in the dome keeping the invisible bird in the zoo.
More on this later. Cosmic Boy compliments Superboy for being a good sport, when another alarm goes off. There's a city in the South Pole, heated by a cosmic lamp on a tower...that is collapsing. Superboy takes care of it. First, he goes into space and gets a magnetic meteor. The meteor's magnetic field helps keep the tower stable so repair crews can straighten it. He then gets some salt and "seeds" the clouds with it, causing flashes of lightning that will help keep the city's dwellers warm until the lamp is repaired.
Wait...couldn't Superboy just straighten the lamp's tower itself? Well, he could, but he wanted to play a little joke on the Legion back. He saved South Pole City be imitating their powers...although I don't see how he could have duplicated Saturn Girl's, as Superboy is not a telepath. Impressed, the Legion gives him their highest honor: The Super-Hero Number One Award. The story ends with Superboy returning home to his time, showing off his award to his dad.
This story...was really not that good. I'm sorry. Yeah, I know it's the Legion's first appearance, and it's an important comic, but it's still not that great. The Legion do come off as rather jerkish to me. I feel like they hazed Superboy. I don't think that's what the creatives here intended, but execution-wise, it does come off like that.
There's plenty of what TV Tropes would call Early Installment Weirdness with this story, what with the three Legion founders' costumes, Garth Ranzz going by Lightning Boy instead of Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy's magnetic powers coming from his eyes. Not to mention the Legion using jetpacks to fly instead of their more iconic Flight Rings. The story feels like a hastily-slapped together first draft. I did want to praise the clever use of powers...but, yeah. It does feel contrived. The art is fine, I do think it does seem a bit stiff. But that's the Silver Age for you.
This was a rough start for the Legion, but readers at the time wanted to see more of these teenagers from the future. The Legion would go on to better-told adventures over the years. If you want to read this yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback The Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume One. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time, where in celebration of the arrival of 2020, we take a look at an adventure of a unique incarnation of the Armored Avenger...
DC's resident defenders of the future have visited this blog before, in my reviews of Legion of Super-Heroes #290, Action Comics #858, Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1, and Action Comics #859. I guess you could say I am a bit fond of this group. So, I figured that at some point, I had to look at their first appearance.
Adventure Comics was actually the second comic book series DC had ever published. The first issue was published in December 1935 as New Comics. With its twelfth issue in January 1937, it got renamed to New Adventure Comics. Issue #32 (November 1938) saw the word "New" be dropped from the title, and would remain under that name for the rest of its existence.
The original incarnation of Adventure Comics would last for nearly fifty years, the final issue (#503) being published in 1983. In 2009, the title would be revived. The new Adventure Comics started out with new numbering, but would eventually take up the numbering of the previous incarnation of the title. This incarnation of the series would end with issue #529 (October 2011) because of the reboot of the DC Universe that would be known as the New 52. It originally started out as a humor title, but eventually evolved into telling adventure stories, and then superheroes.
Adventure Comics introduced a lot of characters that would become mainstays of the DC Universe. In issue #12, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster introduced a prototype of Jor-El (Superman's father) as a science fiction detective. Justice Society members Sandman, Hourman, and Starman would debut in issues #40, #48, and #61. Characters like Green Arrow, Superboy, and Aquaman would consider the series their home for periods of time.
In fact, this issue has stories focusing on Green Arrow and Aquaman as well. I won't be looking at them here because...I do not have them. You see, the scans for this comes from the 2018 trade paperback The Silver Age: Legion of Super-Heroes Volume One. It's a collection of the Legion's early adventures, and while it does have the Legion story (naturally), it did not include the Green Arrow or Aquaman stories. It's understandable, as they're not the focus of the trade. Hopefully, they'll do an Adventure Comics collection that does keep everything. So, with that, let's look at Adventure Comics #247!
The cover is a Curt Swan and Stan Kaye piece, and it's become rather iconic. It's been homaged and parodied many times over the years. You have a shocked Superboy staring at an America's Got Talent-style judges' bench. Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy voting "No". Cosmic Boy's dialogue is hilarious, as he says Superboy's powers are "too ordinary". Yeah, I get that Superboy's "Flying Brick" powerset is one of the archetypical superhero power sets, but he can do things you, Garth, and Imra can't do, Rokk. Heck, he doesn't need to touch you. He can just fly into space and heat laser your face from orbit.
"The Legion of Super-Heroes!"
Writer: Otto Binder
Penciler: Al Plastino
Inker: Al Plastino
Colorist: Unknown
Letterer: Unknown
Editor: Mort Weisinger
Executive Editor: Whitney Ellsworth
The story begins in Smallville, Kansas. A young Clark Kent, aka Superboy, is walking down the street. He's enjoying the beautiful sunny day in the idyllic little piece of Midwest America. A redheaded teenager greets him warmly with a "Hello there, Superboy!" Clark waves it off as a joke. When he gets home, the suspicious lad changes into Superboy and goes on patrol. As he flies, he noticed that the boy he met was new in town, and he somehow knew his secret identity. He'll have to investigate that.
As he flies, he meets another boy, this one with black hair. He greets him as Clark. A blonde girl asks him to give her regards to his parents, the Kents. Superboy is shocked. Was his secret identity leaked out?! How? Well, the three explains that to them, he's ancient history.
Meet Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn, Imra "Saturn Girl" Ardeen, and Garth "Lightning Lad" Ranzz. Or "Lightning Boy" in this case. They're a trio of superpowered superhero teens from a thousand years in the future. And yeah, those costumes did not last very long. They wanted to meet Superboy and make him a special member of their club. Yeah, it's clearly not established that Superboy was their big inspiration yet.
They bring the future Metropolis Marvel to a spherical device known as a Time Bubble. The Bubble allows them to ride the timestream to wherever point in history they pleased. As such, Superboy gets to see the Smallville of 2958. Smallville has undergone a lot of changes. The ice cream parlor now has 9500 flavors, for instance. And the old Kent home has become a shrine.
In a school, a teacher educates his students about the Boy of Steel. He uses a robot duplicate of the young hero to demonstrate his heat vision by melting a block of steel (The comic says X-Ray vision, but I think that's a mistake). Cosmic Boy introduces the teacher to the real Superboy, who melts the block of steel himself.
The three Legionnaires take Superboy to their clubhouse, which looks like an upside-down rocket that was planted into the ground. There are already several Legionnaires in attendance.
Hey look, there's Brainiac 5 in the corner! To prove his worthiness to the club, Superboy must compete against three Legionnaires. Superboy thinks it will be easy, considering his wide array of powers, and each of the Legion generally only has one. The Legion's trouble-detecting TV picks up some trouble at sea. A dredge ship is having trouble finding a priceless statue that sank under the waves.
Superboy and Saturn Girl will see which one of them can dredge it up. Superboy thinks this'll be easy. With his speed and strength, he'll have that statue out before she arrives on her jetpack (The Legion didn't have their flight rings yet). However, some trouble slows the Kryptonian down. The Superboy robot from the teacher's earlier demonstration has run amok.
The Boy of Steel is able to get it to the school's science professor, who is able to shut down the robot so it can be repaired. With that problem solved, Superboy can head out to get that statue. Under the ocean, Saturn Girl uses her power of telepathy to do her best Aquaman impression and command a sea creature to retrieve the statue. Legion 1, Superboy 0.
Superboy returns to Legion HQ, offering no excuse for losing as he feels that telling the Legion about the runaway robot would be seen as a weak excuse. Dude, that is a valid excuse! You had to stop the robot!
Anyway, the Legion's little TV trouble-finder picks up another disaster: A rocket-liner has crashed into a forest. The crew and passengers are okay, but the burning rocket threatens to completely immolate the forest. Superboy and Cosmic Boy are going to handle this one...that is, if that ancient satellite didn't threaten to crash down on Earth.
He finds that it's an ancient Project Vanguard satellite...which the Boy of Steel dumps in a volcano. Dude, that thing was a relic of the early Space Race! Museums would have killed to have that thing! Anyway, Cosmic Boy uses his magnetic powers to make a flock of iron meteors come down in a lake. The large rocks of metal caused the lake to overflow into the forest, dousing the fire. Legion 2, Superboy 0.
Superboy has one last chance to win a contest with the Legion. He and Lightning Boy have to save a passenger ship heading to Mars. The ship's fuel tank sprung a leak, and they'll be stuck in space if they don't get alerted to it. Why not just call them? Well, space static. Yup, that's the excuse. However, Superboy seems to have developed a case of super-bad luck as a strange animal chose now to escape from the zoo.
Superboy can't spare the time to find the alien bird, as it's invisible. So, he has an idea. The young Smallville Sensation grabs a piece of iceberg, cooling the air around it. The bird's feathers start to frost, which allows Superboy to see the bird. Meanwhile, Lightning Boy has formed a message to the ship with electrical power.
You know, I don't think Lightning Lad has ever used his powers like this since. I mean, this potentially indicates that he can form constructs out of lightning like Green Lanterns can with the energy from their rings. That's pretty cool. Anyway, that's Legion 3, Superboy 0. Superboy still refuses to explain why he gets delayed. If I were him, I would get suspicious. I mean, having to deal with an emergency during one of these contests is fine, but all three?! Something funny is going on here...
Anyway, this means Superboy failed the tests, so Legion membership is not for him. Superboy takes it with a smile, as he believes the emergencies he had to deal with were excuses.
 |
| "I am so going to beat the snot out of these clowns..." |
More on this later. Cosmic Boy compliments Superboy for being a good sport, when another alarm goes off. There's a city in the South Pole, heated by a cosmic lamp on a tower...that is collapsing. Superboy takes care of it. First, he goes into space and gets a magnetic meteor. The meteor's magnetic field helps keep the tower stable so repair crews can straighten it. He then gets some salt and "seeds" the clouds with it, causing flashes of lightning that will help keep the city's dwellers warm until the lamp is repaired.
Wait...couldn't Superboy just straighten the lamp's tower itself? Well, he could, but he wanted to play a little joke on the Legion back. He saved South Pole City be imitating their powers...although I don't see how he could have duplicated Saturn Girl's, as Superboy is not a telepath. Impressed, the Legion gives him their highest honor: The Super-Hero Number One Award. The story ends with Superboy returning home to his time, showing off his award to his dad.
 |
| "I just potentially mucked up the timeline to show you this, Dad! I'm so proud!" |
There's plenty of what TV Tropes would call Early Installment Weirdness with this story, what with the three Legion founders' costumes, Garth Ranzz going by Lightning Boy instead of Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy's magnetic powers coming from his eyes. Not to mention the Legion using jetpacks to fly instead of their more iconic Flight Rings. The story feels like a hastily-slapped together first draft. I did want to praise the clever use of powers...but, yeah. It does feel contrived. The art is fine, I do think it does seem a bit stiff. But that's the Silver Age for you.
This was a rough start for the Legion, but readers at the time wanted to see more of these teenagers from the future. The Legion would go on to better-told adventures over the years. If you want to read this yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback The Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume One. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time, where in celebration of the arrival of 2020, we take a look at an adventure of a unique incarnation of the Armored Avenger...
Friday, December 27, 2019
NWA Powerrr Episode 9, My Thoughts
It's that time again! That time to look at an episode of NWA Powerrr! This is it! The final episode of the season! And the last stop before NWA goes...Into The Fire, their first PPV event! They should name more of their PPVs after Dokken songs and albums. "Back for the Attack" and "Hell to Pay" would be great PPV names. Anyway, I do want to say that I will be spoiling this show here, so plese watch the episode first. And with that, let's feel the Powerrr!
I still think Kamille is trying to get James Storm to get a Nintendo Switch. He should! There's some awesome games on it! Even Doom! I think James Storm would like Doom.
I want one of those NWA World Title pins.
Match #1: NWA National Champion Colt Cabana vs. Ricky Starks (Non-Title Match)
I really think that National title needs a redesign. It looks more like a parody of a title belt than an actual title belt.
I like Ricky Starks.
Heh heh, Aron Stevens is really entertaining. But he is aware that it's up to the NWA Championship Committee to decide who gets title shots, right? At least, I think that's how it works. Besides, this is a non-title match! He's not defending the belt here, man! Come on, Aron!
You want a title shot so badly, Aron? Colt's giving you the chance to win one, pal!
Colt's right, we all know Aron needs his Question Mark.
Aww, Question Mark looks so sad. He just wanted to show off his kara-TAYYYYYY!
Ugh, those tights.
HEY REF, DQ HIM! MAKE HIM AT LEAST DITCH THE SCARF!
Yeah, he doesn't have a bum knee.
Ricky Starks should not have kept his eyes off the Question Mark.
Winner: Aron Stevens
Looks like Stevens is getting that tile shot, but he still proved he needed the Question Mark to win.
That multiple referee thing is something unique. I don't remember seeing anything like it before.
So, Jimmy Storm is feeling like NWA wants to screw him over, huh? You'd think he'd be doing this interview from a hidden bunker, not from what clearly looks like his kitchen.
I think the Question Mark is looking for students to teach kara-TAAAAY to. Where do I sign up?
"Hey Muta, you want this shiny belt, here?"
Melina's got some gold fever, baby! Whooo!
Hey, Mel! Why you so afraid! Allisyn Kay wants to fight you! Come on!
And of course, Mel needs her Lethal Latinas to help her out!
Well, considering that the Rock 'n' Roll Express are likely in their 60s if not 70s by now, it makes sense that they would be all about the old school.
"James Storm is a very naughty boy."
- Nick Aldis, 2019
Ah, so Tim Storm will be the ref of Aldis's choice. Makes sense he'd choose him.
Match #2 - NWA Tag Team Champions the Wild Cards vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Tag Title Match)
Huh. Funny to think that there was only two matches on this show.
The fans are going nuts for the old legends!
I imagine they had to slow things down a bit due to the Express' age.
Morton gets the win with a schoolboy!
Winner: Rock 'n' Roll Express (New NWA Tag Team Champions)
The Rock 'n' Roll Express are nine time NWA Tag Team Champions!
Stop ruining things, Cornette! Get off my screen! I know they're your friends, but you are annoying! You and your pink jacket! Stop ruining pink jackets!
I would so have given Ricky and Robert 100 bucks each if they double dropkicked Cornette.
Thank you for being annoying, Jim! You're gone! Goodbye...and good riddance.
Does this mean the Rock 'n' Roll Express are the oldest NWA Tag Team Champions?
And Stu Barrett (formerly known as Wade Barrett) is joining the NWA announce team? Awesome!
This was a rather breezy episode. It went by very quick. I was surprised there was only a couple of matches on the show, but this was the go-home to Into the Fire, so I can understand the priority was in getting all the storylines set up for the PPV. The show's been pretty good so far, so here's hoping the PPV lives up to the hype.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
I still think Kamille is trying to get James Storm to get a Nintendo Switch. He should! There's some awesome games on it! Even Doom! I think James Storm would like Doom.
I want one of those NWA World Title pins.
Match #1: NWA National Champion Colt Cabana vs. Ricky Starks (Non-Title Match)
I really think that National title needs a redesign. It looks more like a parody of a title belt than an actual title belt.
I like Ricky Starks.
Heh heh, Aron Stevens is really entertaining. But he is aware that it's up to the NWA Championship Committee to decide who gets title shots, right? At least, I think that's how it works. Besides, this is a non-title match! He's not defending the belt here, man! Come on, Aron!
You want a title shot so badly, Aron? Colt's giving you the chance to win one, pal!
Colt's right, we all know Aron needs his Question Mark.
Aww, Question Mark looks so sad. He just wanted to show off his kara-TAYYYYYY!
Ugh, those tights.
HEY REF, DQ HIM! MAKE HIM AT LEAST DITCH THE SCARF!
Yeah, he doesn't have a bum knee.
Ricky Starks should not have kept his eyes off the Question Mark.
Winner: Aron Stevens
Looks like Stevens is getting that tile shot, but he still proved he needed the Question Mark to win.
That multiple referee thing is something unique. I don't remember seeing anything like it before.
So, Jimmy Storm is feeling like NWA wants to screw him over, huh? You'd think he'd be doing this interview from a hidden bunker, not from what clearly looks like his kitchen.
I think the Question Mark is looking for students to teach kara-TAAAAY to. Where do I sign up?
"Hey Muta, you want this shiny belt, here?"
Melina's got some gold fever, baby! Whooo!
Hey, Mel! Why you so afraid! Allisyn Kay wants to fight you! Come on!
And of course, Mel needs her Lethal Latinas to help her out!
Well, considering that the Rock 'n' Roll Express are likely in their 60s if not 70s by now, it makes sense that they would be all about the old school.
"James Storm is a very naughty boy."
- Nick Aldis, 2019
Ah, so Tim Storm will be the ref of Aldis's choice. Makes sense he'd choose him.
Match #2 - NWA Tag Team Champions the Wild Cards vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Tag Title Match)
Huh. Funny to think that there was only two matches on this show.
The fans are going nuts for the old legends!
I imagine they had to slow things down a bit due to the Express' age.
Morton gets the win with a schoolboy!
Winner: Rock 'n' Roll Express (New NWA Tag Team Champions)
The Rock 'n' Roll Express are nine time NWA Tag Team Champions!
Stop ruining things, Cornette! Get off my screen! I know they're your friends, but you are annoying! You and your pink jacket! Stop ruining pink jackets!
I would so have given Ricky and Robert 100 bucks each if they double dropkicked Cornette.
Thank you for being annoying, Jim! You're gone! Goodbye...and good riddance.
Does this mean the Rock 'n' Roll Express are the oldest NWA Tag Team Champions?
And Stu Barrett (formerly known as Wade Barrett) is joining the NWA announce team? Awesome!
This was a rather breezy episode. It went by very quick. I was surprised there was only a couple of matches on the show, but this was the go-home to Into the Fire, so I can understand the priority was in getting all the storylines set up for the PPV. The show's been pretty good so far, so here's hoping the PPV lives up to the hype.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Text Play: Pokemon Zeta #4
Hello, and welcome back to the Vesryn region! This is entry number four in my Text Play of Pokémon Zeta!
Before we begin, I want to remind you all that I will be spoiling this game. I would recommend playing this through yourself before reading this. If you want to download the game, you can do so here. Alright, let's go!
I've been doing some grinding, getting my new special Pokémon team ready to take on Gideon. So far, it hasn't been so bad. I've been able to grind up my Starly pretty quick, and I got to do the same with my Ponyta. The game is pretty generous with the experience points. At least, in my experience, ha ha!
Yeah, I'm sorry. That was a bad pun. I'll stop now. The Onega Gym, befitting a Grass-type expert, looks like a forest.
It also is filled with teleporters. I'm getting flashbacks of Sabrina in Pokémon Red/Blue.
Yeah, I've said this before, and I will say it again. I hated Sabrina in the first two Pokémon games. Psychic-types in those games were overpowered, and there wasn't much to counter them back then. It was no fun. Speaking of Psychic Pokémon, I have ran into a bit of a complication when grinding on Route 303: I tend to run into Abra quite a bit. Abra is annoying. Alakazam is worth it if you get an Abra, in my experience though. I wonder how I can evolve one in this game, as I can't exactly trade.
I'm getting off track here. Gideon's gym, like Sabrina's, uses teleporters to create a maze. You have to keep jumping in the teleporters to find your way through the gym. Unfortunately, there are no trainers to battle in this Gym. Just Gideon himself. It's kind of a shame, really. I like battling Trainers in a Gym. They're a great way to get in some extra experience for your Pokémon before fighting the Gym Leader. My guess is, it's because Gideon has the stereotypical Hollywood ego. Gotta have all the spotlight to himself.
Oh, yes! I just remembered something! Remember that house we found the Rotom in? Well, that house has another surprise. One of the potted plants contains an Ancient Tome.
The Ancient Tome. One of a series of old books that can eventually be used to summon a powerful Pokémon. Every town in this game that has a Gym or something called a Sigil Hall has one. Which means I have to go back to Superior City. It's not that big a deal, as I can literally walk there and back. In Superior City, the first Ancient Tome can be found in the IV Changer's house. Remember him from the second entry in this Text Play? Well, the Ancient Tome can be found in...a potted plant in his house.
I think whoever hid those things has a thing for potted plants. Did the IV Charger know this was in his house? I doubt he'd appreciate someone busting into his house just to hide some really old book. Also, I think now is a good time to talk about an issue I had here. I did suffer some confusion as to exactly how many Ancient Tomes I owned. The game's item menu didn't indicate how many I owned. I honestly thought I missed the one in Superior Town, but it turned out I did get it, so...yeah. I would have liked some indication of that. Ah, well. Back to the grind.
Gideon's Pokémon are Grass-type, and they're all about level 16-17. As such, I wanted to grind my Pokémon to be a little bit stronger, level-wise. An EXP Share would be very helpful right now. Hopefully, I can get one at some point in this game. Anyway, after some grinding, it's time to hit the Gym! But wait! Didn't I say there was a teleporter maze? Yes, there is! How do we get through it? Luckily, the solution is simple:
1. Take the teleporter on the left at the entrance.
2. Take the teleporter on the right and down.
3. Take the teleporter on the left and down.
4. Take the teleporter on the right (NOT THE ONE STRAIGHT DOWN).
And there you are! Gideon awaits with his Nuzleaf. Gideon remarks another kid from Zarivar was also here, yelling about "teenage things". Freakin' Jake... Let's do this!
1st Pokémon: Chikorita (Lv. 16) - Defeated by Staravia. Gideon used a Potion.
2nd Pokémon: Leafeon (Lv. 16) - Defeated by Staravia. Gideon used a Potion.
3rd Pokémon: Nuzleaf (Lv. 17) - Defeated by Staravia. One Wing Attack, critical hit.
Huh. I spend all that time training all these Pokémon to battle Gideon...and it turns out all I needed was Staravia to get a near-clean sweep. Wow. But then again, that tends to be what happens with battles like this in my case. After the battle, Gideon remarks that Erika wouldn't like this...That's interesting. For those not in the know, Erika was one of the Gym Leaders in the original Red and Blue Pokémon games. Like Gideon, she's a Grass-type specialist. Maybe when Gideon switched careers to become a Gym Leader, Erika was a mentor to him.
With Gideon defeated, I got the Nature Badge, as well as TM86 (Grass Knot). There's an additional benefit: I can now also enter the cave in town. It's the opening to the Shadow Path. The Shadow Path is a dark cave area, and Flash would ideally be used, but I'd just say go find a map instead. Flash is stupid. When you're in this path, I recommend capturing a Karrablast and Shelmet here. You're going to need them. When I put my regular Pokémon team back together again, I decided it was time to make an adjustment. I added Gible to my team.
If there's anything that my time playing Pokémon Mega Adventure taught me (besides how to hate Mt. Snarlet with a passion), is that the Gible line are some beastly Pokémon. I'll have to do a bit of grinding to catch her up to the others on my team, but that's okay. Also, look at Gible! Isn't it cute? It's an adorable little shark-dragon-dinosaur monster.
I did wonder whether I should hit the Safari Zone here as long as I'm in town. After all, it's the only thing left in town to do around here. I cleared the Museum of Team Olympus, and I beat Gideon. You know what? What the heck. Let's go on Safari!
The Onega Town Safari Zone is not very large, which makes sense. Keep in mind, this game has seven Safari Zones. Presumably, every major town or city in this game has one. As such, one can assume that each of the individual Zones are small places, presumably with their own unique Pokémon wandering around there. Clever way to add more to the game.
The first Pokémon I encountered in the Zone was Girafarig. And naturally, I failed to catch it. I would encounter several of these giraffe-esque Pokémon, but always fail to catch them. I never have any luck in the Safari Zones when it comes to catching the rarer Pokémon. All the Pokémon I encountered in the Zone, and all I could catch was one Venonat. One Venonat. ONE. VENONAT.
Even funnier...I did it again, because I am a stupid person. Did a little better the second time, caught a Rhyhorn and an Exeggcute. Encountered a Scyther a few times, but couldn't catch it. It's like it was the very same Scyther taunting me. God, I hate Safari Zones. Might as well just head out through the Shadow Path. I can always return to this Safari Zone at a later time. When you go part way through, you meet up with this...familiar green ponytail.
Is...is that N from Black and White? What is he doing here? Was he looking for something to do after the events of those games? In fact, what point in time is he at here? Is he between Black/White and Black 2/White 2 here? He wants himself a piece of Team Olympus, as he claims they're hurting Pokémon. That...makes sense, considering N's character. I can see him being angry these guys are trying to capture legendary Pokémon. He angrily pushes me aside, and wants me to give Team Olympus a message: He's coming for them, and he's going to make them pay for what they've done. Get in line, Saladhead. They attacked my hometown!
The Shadow Path is not too bad to traverse through if you have a map. Once you get through the path, you've arrived in the middle of Fianga City.
Like Superior City, Onega Town, and Zarivar Town before it, Fianga City is named after a lake. Lake Fianga is located in Africa, particularly in the countries of Chad and Cameroon. It's formed by the seasonal flooding of the Logone River. Who says you don't learn some cool stuff from video games? You want to see something neat? Also, I love the little detail of the Pidgeot flying overhead occasionally with a pair of Pidgeotto flanking it. It helps make the world feel a little more full, if that makes sense. Nearby the entrance, there is this nice blonde woman who gives me a Moon Stone.
What's a Moon Stone? Well, some Pokémon require certain stones to evolve into a stronger form. Moon Stones are one of these evolution-inducing stones. There are various other stones, introduced in various generations. Gen I introduced the Fire, Water, Leaf, Thunder, and Moon Stones. Gen II introduced the Sun Stone, Gen IV added the Shiny, Dusk, and Dawn Stones. Gen VII would add the Ice Stone to the batch.
Fianga City is regarded as a progressive city, a city of science. Mainly because it's home to the Pokéhadron Collider, a place where scientists do a lot of research on Pokémon. It seems these incredible creatures are a never-ending source of scientific discovery. It's also the home of the Wireless Depot, where you can supposedly battle and trade online with people all over the world.
The Depot is also where you can find the Name Rater and Move Deleter. Basically, if you want to adjust your Pokémon's name or moveset, they can be done here. Funny enough, the Move Deleter claims he's licensed. Yeah, sure. The Depot also has everything you could need, like a Pokémon Center and a small shop. There's a reason these are all here, despite there also being separate Pokémon Centers and Poké Marts in town. That's because this building has the Simulation Beta lobby on the second floor.
Here, you can engage in simulated battles with virtual trainers. You can add more trainers by collecting Trainer IDs. How do you get these IDs? Well, by interacting with characters in the game. There's an old rule when it comes to JRPGs: Talk to everyone. What I love is that this game actually gives the player a reason to do so, besides just hearing some dialogue that might do a little world-building. The more people you talk to, the more virtual Trainers you can unlock and battle. That's pretty cool. According to a lady with a Porygon2 in the main lobby, there are 10 challenges. They naturally start easy, but get more difficult. If you win all 10, you get a rare item. I wonder what that item could be. Maybe it's how you get the Master Ball in this game? Who knows?
Next to the Depot is a house with two people inside.
That's very nice of that kid to say. That made my day. I believe I have talked about this before, but I really like the non-playable character dialogue in this game.
If you need another whuppin' pal, let me know. We'll exchange Pokégear numbers. Anyway, there's also a Bellsprout in the house. This is great. Remember, Bellsprout was one of the starter Pokémon in this game. I got Magby and Horsea already, and here's a chance to complete the set. Well, there's a Bellsprout here because I chose a Magby. If I had chosen a Horsea, there would have been a Magby there. If I had chosen a Bellsprout, there would have been a Horsea.
I love that this game makes it possible to obtain all three starters. Bellsprout was easy to catch. I have all three starters on my team now! Yay!
I am very happy with this. I love having all the starters. Gotta Catch 'Em All, and all that. I'll have to train the little guy up to match his new teammates, but that's not a big deal. I named him Nepenthes, after the genus of carnivorous plants. The Bellsprout line is inspired by pitcher plants, which are part of that genus. Pretty clever, huh? The Shadow Path has been a good place to grind up Bellsprout and Gible. The path has some Rock-type Pokémon there, and Bellsprout is a Grass/Poison dual-type. Rock is weak against Grass. It was a bit more difficult than I expected to grind Nepenthes up, despite the type advantage it had over several Pokémon native to the Shadow Path. Still, I was able to grind up Nepenthes and Moguera the Gible pretty well. Moguera's Dragon Rage was very useful there.
Besides the grinding, I wanted to check out some of the sights here. One of the houses contains a man known as the Cut Master.
Yeah, he has dedicated his life to mastering the Pokémon technique known as Cut.
I can imagine that in the Pokémon world, there are eccentrics like this. There's a kid in the house who claims he's going to beat all eight Gyms, take on the League, then hit the Sigil Halls. There are five of them, one is inaccessible. I'm presuming you have to beat the other four to access the fifth. I'm getting nervous about these Halls. I'm hoping it doesn't end up like Mega Adventure.
What are the Sigil Halls? Well, the kid is happy to tell you. They're unique to the Vesryn region. The Halls are located in the landmass in the far east of the region known as...the Vesryn Spear. There are four Halls operating: The Hall of Victors, The Hall of Heroes, The Hall of Champions, and the Hall of Masters. The Halls can be entered by defeating the Elite Four. Each of the Four has their own Hall.
Wait, wasn't there a fifth? Well, yes. It's not really a Hall, per se. They say it's become the home of a powerful Pokémon trainer, one who has meditated there for years. Literally years. I originally thought this guy is this game's version of the Champion, but it turns out that you already can battle a Champion. So I'm guessing he's like fighting Red in Gold and Silver, a bit of post-game content.
Anyway the Cut Master himself gives out copies of the Hidden Machine known as Cut. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any more Cut HMs today. The last one he had was taken by some kid who kept bragging about having "swag". DARN YOU JAAAAAAAAAAKE!
The visit to his house wasn't a complete loss. You see, his family has some Bonsly to spare. The Cut Master got a bunch of Bonsly, as they're his favorite Pokémon...not realizing that Bonsly cannot use Cut.
Some "Cut Master" he is. You'd think that with his obsession with this technique, he'd learn which Pokémon can and cannot use it. So now I have a Bonsly. Yay. I know have nearly 70 filled entries in my Pokédex.
Ther are some other interesting things about this place. Evidently, the father of the Blackfist City Gym lives here. There's also an opportunity to get a Smeargle here, but I'll have to get an extra Clefairy to trade for it.
The funny part is, if you say no, the artist here throws a fit and starts ranting about his art not needing your validation. Yeah, whatever, Mr. Famous Artist. But speaking of trading, Fianga also has opportunities for trading Shelmet and Karrablast. Back in the third entry of this Text Play, I pointed out the unique relationship between these two Pokémon. And once I traded them, I got Escavalier and Accelgor.
The Pokehadron Collider is the main sight in this city, and it's a good thing we're in town. You see, Team Olympus has taken over the Collider. Considering what my past encounter with them was like, I think it can be assumed it has something to do with a Legendary Pokémon. Which is confirmed by a Team Olympus grunt standing right in the front of the main door.
Yeah, you can tell these guys will take anyone for grunts, ha ha. Well, considering there's another Team Olympus infestation, guess we'll have to clear them out. And since that dumb grunt was so kind to tell us how we can sneak into the Pokehadron Collider, we can go inside. Another grunt in the city states that they're going to use the Collider to summon a powerful Pokémon. Yeah, just as I figured. Near the Collider is a man just hanging out in the back.
He's got an extra Pokémon egg that he needs to get rid of, and he's hoping I'll take it off his hands. He seems shady, but I'll take it anyway. Who knows? It could turn out to hatch into an awesome Pokémon. So how do you hatch a Pokémon egg? Easy. Put it in your team, and just start walking around. Eventually, the egg hatches.
Huh. Well, that makes sense. Togepi tends to be...not easy to find in the wild. And I think here is where we're going to stop for now. Next time, we're going to sneak into the Pokéhadron Collider and kick some Team Olympus butt. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get ready for that! Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Route 303)
- Spearow
- Staravia (evolved from Starly)
- Pidgeotto (evolved from Pidgey)
(Onega Town Safari Zone)
- Girafarig (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Venonat
- Rhyhorn
- Cottonee (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Pinsir (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Exeggcute
- Aipom (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Heracross (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Kangaskhan (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Tauros (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Chansey (Encountered, couldn't catch)
(Shadow Path)
- Dwebble
- Karrablast
- Pawniard
- Diglett
- Shelmet
- Weepinbell (evolved from Bellsprout)
(Fianga City)
- Bellsprout
- Accelgor (evolved from traded Shelmet)
- Escavalier (evolved from traded Karrablast)
- Togepi (75th Pokémon)
(Route 306)
- Poliwag (70th Pokémon!)
- Minun
- Aipom
- Plusle
- Pikachu
Before we begin, I want to remind you all that I will be spoiling this game. I would recommend playing this through yourself before reading this. If you want to download the game, you can do so here. Alright, let's go!
I've been doing some grinding, getting my new special Pokémon team ready to take on Gideon. So far, it hasn't been so bad. I've been able to grind up my Starly pretty quick, and I got to do the same with my Ponyta. The game is pretty generous with the experience points. At least, in my experience, ha ha!
Yeah, I'm sorry. That was a bad pun. I'll stop now. The Onega Gym, befitting a Grass-type expert, looks like a forest.
It also is filled with teleporters. I'm getting flashbacks of Sabrina in Pokémon Red/Blue.
Yeah, I've said this before, and I will say it again. I hated Sabrina in the first two Pokémon games. Psychic-types in those games were overpowered, and there wasn't much to counter them back then. It was no fun. Speaking of Psychic Pokémon, I have ran into a bit of a complication when grinding on Route 303: I tend to run into Abra quite a bit. Abra is annoying. Alakazam is worth it if you get an Abra, in my experience though. I wonder how I can evolve one in this game, as I can't exactly trade.
I'm getting off track here. Gideon's gym, like Sabrina's, uses teleporters to create a maze. You have to keep jumping in the teleporters to find your way through the gym. Unfortunately, there are no trainers to battle in this Gym. Just Gideon himself. It's kind of a shame, really. I like battling Trainers in a Gym. They're a great way to get in some extra experience for your Pokémon before fighting the Gym Leader. My guess is, it's because Gideon has the stereotypical Hollywood ego. Gotta have all the spotlight to himself.
Oh, yes! I just remembered something! Remember that house we found the Rotom in? Well, that house has another surprise. One of the potted plants contains an Ancient Tome.
The Ancient Tome. One of a series of old books that can eventually be used to summon a powerful Pokémon. Every town in this game that has a Gym or something called a Sigil Hall has one. Which means I have to go back to Superior City. It's not that big a deal, as I can literally walk there and back. In Superior City, the first Ancient Tome can be found in the IV Changer's house. Remember him from the second entry in this Text Play? Well, the Ancient Tome can be found in...a potted plant in his house.
I think whoever hid those things has a thing for potted plants. Did the IV Charger know this was in his house? I doubt he'd appreciate someone busting into his house just to hide some really old book. Also, I think now is a good time to talk about an issue I had here. I did suffer some confusion as to exactly how many Ancient Tomes I owned. The game's item menu didn't indicate how many I owned. I honestly thought I missed the one in Superior Town, but it turned out I did get it, so...yeah. I would have liked some indication of that. Ah, well. Back to the grind.
Gideon's Pokémon are Grass-type, and they're all about level 16-17. As such, I wanted to grind my Pokémon to be a little bit stronger, level-wise. An EXP Share would be very helpful right now. Hopefully, I can get one at some point in this game. Anyway, after some grinding, it's time to hit the Gym! But wait! Didn't I say there was a teleporter maze? Yes, there is! How do we get through it? Luckily, the solution is simple:
1. Take the teleporter on the left at the entrance.
2. Take the teleporter on the right and down.
3. Take the teleporter on the left and down.
4. Take the teleporter on the right (NOT THE ONE STRAIGHT DOWN).
And there you are! Gideon awaits with his Nuzleaf. Gideon remarks another kid from Zarivar was also here, yelling about "teenage things". Freakin' Jake... Let's do this!
1st Pokémon: Chikorita (Lv. 16) - Defeated by Staravia. Gideon used a Potion.
2nd Pokémon: Leafeon (Lv. 16) - Defeated by Staravia. Gideon used a Potion.
3rd Pokémon: Nuzleaf (Lv. 17) - Defeated by Staravia. One Wing Attack, critical hit.
Huh. I spend all that time training all these Pokémon to battle Gideon...and it turns out all I needed was Staravia to get a near-clean sweep. Wow. But then again, that tends to be what happens with battles like this in my case. After the battle, Gideon remarks that Erika wouldn't like this...That's interesting. For those not in the know, Erika was one of the Gym Leaders in the original Red and Blue Pokémon games. Like Gideon, she's a Grass-type specialist. Maybe when Gideon switched careers to become a Gym Leader, Erika was a mentor to him.
With Gideon defeated, I got the Nature Badge, as well as TM86 (Grass Knot). There's an additional benefit: I can now also enter the cave in town. It's the opening to the Shadow Path. The Shadow Path is a dark cave area, and Flash would ideally be used, but I'd just say go find a map instead. Flash is stupid. When you're in this path, I recommend capturing a Karrablast and Shelmet here. You're going to need them. When I put my regular Pokémon team back together again, I decided it was time to make an adjustment. I added Gible to my team.
If there's anything that my time playing Pokémon Mega Adventure taught me (besides how to hate Mt. Snarlet with a passion), is that the Gible line are some beastly Pokémon. I'll have to do a bit of grinding to catch her up to the others on my team, but that's okay. Also, look at Gible! Isn't it cute? It's an adorable little shark-dragon-dinosaur monster.
I did wonder whether I should hit the Safari Zone here as long as I'm in town. After all, it's the only thing left in town to do around here. I cleared the Museum of Team Olympus, and I beat Gideon. You know what? What the heck. Let's go on Safari!
The Onega Town Safari Zone is not very large, which makes sense. Keep in mind, this game has seven Safari Zones. Presumably, every major town or city in this game has one. As such, one can assume that each of the individual Zones are small places, presumably with their own unique Pokémon wandering around there. Clever way to add more to the game.
The first Pokémon I encountered in the Zone was Girafarig. And naturally, I failed to catch it. I would encounter several of these giraffe-esque Pokémon, but always fail to catch them. I never have any luck in the Safari Zones when it comes to catching the rarer Pokémon. All the Pokémon I encountered in the Zone, and all I could catch was one Venonat. One Venonat. ONE. VENONAT.
Even funnier...I did it again, because I am a stupid person. Did a little better the second time, caught a Rhyhorn and an Exeggcute. Encountered a Scyther a few times, but couldn't catch it. It's like it was the very same Scyther taunting me. God, I hate Safari Zones. Might as well just head out through the Shadow Path. I can always return to this Safari Zone at a later time. When you go part way through, you meet up with this...familiar green ponytail.
Is...is that N from Black and White? What is he doing here? Was he looking for something to do after the events of those games? In fact, what point in time is he at here? Is he between Black/White and Black 2/White 2 here? He wants himself a piece of Team Olympus, as he claims they're hurting Pokémon. That...makes sense, considering N's character. I can see him being angry these guys are trying to capture legendary Pokémon. He angrily pushes me aside, and wants me to give Team Olympus a message: He's coming for them, and he's going to make them pay for what they've done. Get in line, Saladhead. They attacked my hometown!
The Shadow Path is not too bad to traverse through if you have a map. Once you get through the path, you've arrived in the middle of Fianga City.
Like Superior City, Onega Town, and Zarivar Town before it, Fianga City is named after a lake. Lake Fianga is located in Africa, particularly in the countries of Chad and Cameroon. It's formed by the seasonal flooding of the Logone River. Who says you don't learn some cool stuff from video games? You want to see something neat? Also, I love the little detail of the Pidgeot flying overhead occasionally with a pair of Pidgeotto flanking it. It helps make the world feel a little more full, if that makes sense. Nearby the entrance, there is this nice blonde woman who gives me a Moon Stone.
What's a Moon Stone? Well, some Pokémon require certain stones to evolve into a stronger form. Moon Stones are one of these evolution-inducing stones. There are various other stones, introduced in various generations. Gen I introduced the Fire, Water, Leaf, Thunder, and Moon Stones. Gen II introduced the Sun Stone, Gen IV added the Shiny, Dusk, and Dawn Stones. Gen VII would add the Ice Stone to the batch.
Fianga City is regarded as a progressive city, a city of science. Mainly because it's home to the Pokéhadron Collider, a place where scientists do a lot of research on Pokémon. It seems these incredible creatures are a never-ending source of scientific discovery. It's also the home of the Wireless Depot, where you can supposedly battle and trade online with people all over the world.
The Depot is also where you can find the Name Rater and Move Deleter. Basically, if you want to adjust your Pokémon's name or moveset, they can be done here. Funny enough, the Move Deleter claims he's licensed. Yeah, sure. The Depot also has everything you could need, like a Pokémon Center and a small shop. There's a reason these are all here, despite there also being separate Pokémon Centers and Poké Marts in town. That's because this building has the Simulation Beta lobby on the second floor.
Here, you can engage in simulated battles with virtual trainers. You can add more trainers by collecting Trainer IDs. How do you get these IDs? Well, by interacting with characters in the game. There's an old rule when it comes to JRPGs: Talk to everyone. What I love is that this game actually gives the player a reason to do so, besides just hearing some dialogue that might do a little world-building. The more people you talk to, the more virtual Trainers you can unlock and battle. That's pretty cool. According to a lady with a Porygon2 in the main lobby, there are 10 challenges. They naturally start easy, but get more difficult. If you win all 10, you get a rare item. I wonder what that item could be. Maybe it's how you get the Master Ball in this game? Who knows?
Next to the Depot is a house with two people inside.
That's very nice of that kid to say. That made my day. I believe I have talked about this before, but I really like the non-playable character dialogue in this game.
If you need another whuppin' pal, let me know. We'll exchange Pokégear numbers. Anyway, there's also a Bellsprout in the house. This is great. Remember, Bellsprout was one of the starter Pokémon in this game. I got Magby and Horsea already, and here's a chance to complete the set. Well, there's a Bellsprout here because I chose a Magby. If I had chosen a Horsea, there would have been a Magby there. If I had chosen a Bellsprout, there would have been a Horsea.
I love that this game makes it possible to obtain all three starters. Bellsprout was easy to catch. I have all three starters on my team now! Yay!
I am very happy with this. I love having all the starters. Gotta Catch 'Em All, and all that. I'll have to train the little guy up to match his new teammates, but that's not a big deal. I named him Nepenthes, after the genus of carnivorous plants. The Bellsprout line is inspired by pitcher plants, which are part of that genus. Pretty clever, huh? The Shadow Path has been a good place to grind up Bellsprout and Gible. The path has some Rock-type Pokémon there, and Bellsprout is a Grass/Poison dual-type. Rock is weak against Grass. It was a bit more difficult than I expected to grind Nepenthes up, despite the type advantage it had over several Pokémon native to the Shadow Path. Still, I was able to grind up Nepenthes and Moguera the Gible pretty well. Moguera's Dragon Rage was very useful there.
Besides the grinding, I wanted to check out some of the sights here. One of the houses contains a man known as the Cut Master.
Yeah, he has dedicated his life to mastering the Pokémon technique known as Cut.
I can imagine that in the Pokémon world, there are eccentrics like this. There's a kid in the house who claims he's going to beat all eight Gyms, take on the League, then hit the Sigil Halls. There are five of them, one is inaccessible. I'm presuming you have to beat the other four to access the fifth. I'm getting nervous about these Halls. I'm hoping it doesn't end up like Mega Adventure.
What are the Sigil Halls? Well, the kid is happy to tell you. They're unique to the Vesryn region. The Halls are located in the landmass in the far east of the region known as...the Vesryn Spear. There are four Halls operating: The Hall of Victors, The Hall of Heroes, The Hall of Champions, and the Hall of Masters. The Halls can be entered by defeating the Elite Four. Each of the Four has their own Hall.
Wait, wasn't there a fifth? Well, yes. It's not really a Hall, per se. They say it's become the home of a powerful Pokémon trainer, one who has meditated there for years. Literally years. I originally thought this guy is this game's version of the Champion, but it turns out that you already can battle a Champion. So I'm guessing he's like fighting Red in Gold and Silver, a bit of post-game content.
Anyway the Cut Master himself gives out copies of the Hidden Machine known as Cut. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any more Cut HMs today. The last one he had was taken by some kid who kept bragging about having "swag". DARN YOU JAAAAAAAAAAKE!
The visit to his house wasn't a complete loss. You see, his family has some Bonsly to spare. The Cut Master got a bunch of Bonsly, as they're his favorite Pokémon...not realizing that Bonsly cannot use Cut.
Some "Cut Master" he is. You'd think that with his obsession with this technique, he'd learn which Pokémon can and cannot use it. So now I have a Bonsly. Yay. I know have nearly 70 filled entries in my Pokédex.
Ther are some other interesting things about this place. Evidently, the father of the Blackfist City Gym lives here. There's also an opportunity to get a Smeargle here, but I'll have to get an extra Clefairy to trade for it.
The funny part is, if you say no, the artist here throws a fit and starts ranting about his art not needing your validation. Yeah, whatever, Mr. Famous Artist. But speaking of trading, Fianga also has opportunities for trading Shelmet and Karrablast. Back in the third entry of this Text Play, I pointed out the unique relationship between these two Pokémon. And once I traded them, I got Escavalier and Accelgor.
The Pokehadron Collider is the main sight in this city, and it's a good thing we're in town. You see, Team Olympus has taken over the Collider. Considering what my past encounter with them was like, I think it can be assumed it has something to do with a Legendary Pokémon. Which is confirmed by a Team Olympus grunt standing right in the front of the main door.
Yeah, you can tell these guys will take anyone for grunts, ha ha. Well, considering there's another Team Olympus infestation, guess we'll have to clear them out. And since that dumb grunt was so kind to tell us how we can sneak into the Pokehadron Collider, we can go inside. Another grunt in the city states that they're going to use the Collider to summon a powerful Pokémon. Yeah, just as I figured. Near the Collider is a man just hanging out in the back.
He's got an extra Pokémon egg that he needs to get rid of, and he's hoping I'll take it off his hands. He seems shady, but I'll take it anyway. Who knows? It could turn out to hatch into an awesome Pokémon. So how do you hatch a Pokémon egg? Easy. Put it in your team, and just start walking around. Eventually, the egg hatches.
Huh. Well, that makes sense. Togepi tends to be...not easy to find in the wild. And I think here is where we're going to stop for now. Next time, we're going to sneak into the Pokéhadron Collider and kick some Team Olympus butt. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get ready for that! Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Route 303)
- Spearow
- Staravia (evolved from Starly)
- Pidgeotto (evolved from Pidgey)
(Onega Town Safari Zone)
- Girafarig (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Venonat
- Rhyhorn
- Cottonee (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Pinsir (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Exeggcute
- Aipom (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Heracross (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Kangaskhan (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Tauros (Encountered, couldn't catch)
- Chansey (Encountered, couldn't catch)
(Shadow Path)
- Dwebble
- Karrablast
- Pawniard
- Diglett
- Shelmet
- Weepinbell (evolved from Bellsprout)
(Fianga City)
- Bellsprout
- Accelgor (evolved from traded Shelmet)
- Escavalier (evolved from traded Karrablast)
- Togepi (75th Pokémon)
(Route 306)
- Poliwag (70th Pokémon!)
- Minun
- Aipom
- Plusle
- Pikachu
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there today!
I hope you all have a wonderful day today! I hope you all got to receive some wonderful presents, and spend some time with family. But I know not everyone is so lucky. If you're feeling a bit alone on this day, I just want you to know something: You are loved, and you do matter. You aren't alone.
I hope you all have a wonderful day today! I hope you all got to receive some wonderful presents, and spend some time with family. But I know not everyone is so lucky. If you're feeling a bit alone on this day, I just want you to know something: You are loved, and you do matter. You aren't alone.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer, My Thoughts
Back in June of 2017, I gave a review of Wonder Woman's cinematic debut. I found it to be rather enjoyable, and I was pretty happy to hear that, but I was confused about something: Why set it in 1984? Don't get me wrong, I love the 80s, but it caught me out of left field. Why set it in the 80s? I personally would have liked to have seen Diana in World War II. See her form the Justice Society, that kind of thing. Ah, well. Let's look at this trailer!
This shot is totally not ominous.
From what I understand, Kristen Wiig here is portraying the Barbara Ann Minerva incarnation of Cheetah. It does make sense, she is likely the most famous incarnation of the villainous cat-woman. And I get the impression from this scene that this is a nod to her first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths meeting with Wonder Woman, pretending to befriend her to get her magic lasso.
I did see a photo of some merch showing Wiig in her Cheetah costume, and it's got me thinking that maybe this Cheetah will be a costumed criminal like the Priscilla Rich or Deborah Domaine incarnations were. Also, does anyone get reminded of Selina Kyle from Batman Returns?
Must be the blonde hair and the glasses. I would not be surprised if it's an homage.
In case you're wondering, the song is "Blue Monday" by British band New Order. The song was originally released in 1983, so it would still be pretty new at the time.
Count on the Amazing Amazon to make an entrance.
I like that Wonder Woman's put away the sword and shield. It ain't wartime, she doesn't need them. And her suit appears to be brighter, too.
Seeing that plane must be a bit triggering for Diana. Her first love did die on an airplane 70 years earlier...
Yeah, there's gotta be a twist to Steve Trevor's supposed return from the grave.
What is Maxwell Lord doing with a gold Lego crystal? And where can I get one of those?
"Screw your bullets, I'm Wonder Woman!"
If Steve is awed by fireworks, just wait until he discovers microwaves. And Transformers! Those will blow his mind! But in all seriousness, it's a great way to reverse the dynamic Steve and Diana had in the last movie. Now Steve is the one in a wild new world.
She just whipped a dude with a lasso. William Moulton Marston, wherever he is, is smiling.
Lots of action stuff, typical for a trailer like this.
Oh, she's got the Kingdom Come armor. Neat.
Well, this looks like it will be a fun movie. I enjoyed the first Wonder Woman film, so I think Wonder Woman 1984 looks to be a fun ride. Still confused as to why its set in the 80s, though.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! if you liked it, spread it around! See you around!
This shot is totally not ominous.
From what I understand, Kristen Wiig here is portraying the Barbara Ann Minerva incarnation of Cheetah. It does make sense, she is likely the most famous incarnation of the villainous cat-woman. And I get the impression from this scene that this is a nod to her first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths meeting with Wonder Woman, pretending to befriend her to get her magic lasso.
I did see a photo of some merch showing Wiig in her Cheetah costume, and it's got me thinking that maybe this Cheetah will be a costumed criminal like the Priscilla Rich or Deborah Domaine incarnations were. Also, does anyone get reminded of Selina Kyle from Batman Returns?
Must be the blonde hair and the glasses. I would not be surprised if it's an homage.
In case you're wondering, the song is "Blue Monday" by British band New Order. The song was originally released in 1983, so it would still be pretty new at the time.
Count on the Amazing Amazon to make an entrance.
I like that Wonder Woman's put away the sword and shield. It ain't wartime, she doesn't need them. And her suit appears to be brighter, too.
Seeing that plane must be a bit triggering for Diana. Her first love did die on an airplane 70 years earlier...
Yeah, there's gotta be a twist to Steve Trevor's supposed return from the grave.
What is Maxwell Lord doing with a gold Lego crystal? And where can I get one of those?
"Screw your bullets, I'm Wonder Woman!"
If Steve is awed by fireworks, just wait until he discovers microwaves. And Transformers! Those will blow his mind! But in all seriousness, it's a great way to reverse the dynamic Steve and Diana had in the last movie. Now Steve is the one in a wild new world.
She just whipped a dude with a lasso. William Moulton Marston, wherever he is, is smiling.
Lots of action stuff, typical for a trailer like this.
Oh, she's got the Kingdom Come armor. Neat.
Well, this looks like it will be a fun movie. I enjoyed the first Wonder Woman film, so I think Wonder Woman 1984 looks to be a fun ride. Still confused as to why its set in the 80s, though.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! if you liked it, spread it around! See you around!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Happy Hanukkah!
I would like to wish all my Jewish blog readers a very Happy Hanukkah today!
What is Hanukkah? Also known as the Festival of Lights, the festival celebrates the rededication of Jersualem's Second Temple at the time of the Maccabean Revolt.
The holiday is observed for eight days and nights at a certain point from late November to late December due to differences between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars. The festival is observed by lighting the candles in a candelabra known as a menorah. The menorah has eight candles, with a additional candle in the center called a shamash (meaning "attendant" in Hebrew). On every one of these eight nights, the shamash candle is used to light each of the other eight candles. These candles are a celebration of the Hanukkah miracle.
The holiday is also observed by eating foods cooked in oil like latkes, as well as dairy. There's also special songs for the occasion like the Ma'oz Tzur, and the Hallel prayer is recited. It's also customary for Jewish children to play with a spinning top-like toy known as the dreidel.
Hanukkah is celebrated all over the world, from the United States to India. I would also invite you all to read my review of The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 (February 2012), which has a nice little story for the occasion that features a lesser-known DC hero.
Hope your Hanukkah is a wonderful one!
What is Hanukkah? Also known as the Festival of Lights, the festival celebrates the rededication of Jersualem's Second Temple at the time of the Maccabean Revolt.
The holiday is observed for eight days and nights at a certain point from late November to late December due to differences between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars. The festival is observed by lighting the candles in a candelabra known as a menorah. The menorah has eight candles, with a additional candle in the center called a shamash (meaning "attendant" in Hebrew). On every one of these eight nights, the shamash candle is used to light each of the other eight candles. These candles are a celebration of the Hanukkah miracle.
The holiday is also observed by eating foods cooked in oil like latkes, as well as dairy. There's also special songs for the occasion like the Ma'oz Tzur, and the Hallel prayer is recited. It's also customary for Jewish children to play with a spinning top-like toy known as the dreidel.
Hanukkah is celebrated all over the world, from the United States to India. I would also invite you all to read my review of The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 (February 2012), which has a nice little story for the occasion that features a lesser-known DC hero.
Hope your Hanukkah is a wonderful one!
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #12 (April 1985)
The Secret Wars finally reach their end! Over the past year, we've made a monthly visit to the mysterious patchwork planet known as Battleworld. It was there where a being known as the Beyonder transported some of Marvel's finest heroes and vilest villains to fight it out for anything they desire. We saw the characters go through triumph and tragedy, and we saw a tyrant grab power he was not intended to have...with horrific results. So, let's say goodbye to Battleworld, as the Secret Wars come to an end. Let's take a look at Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #12!
The cover is pretty cool! A Mike Zeck piece, it depicts the unmasked (and rather handsome) Dr. Doom standing triumphant over the bodies of the heroes. The way it's colored makes Doom pop out, which is a nice detail. It basically says it all: Doom is triumphant, and Doom is supreme. It's a fantastic cover.
"...Nothing to Fear!"
Writer: Jim Shooter
Penciler: Mike Zeck
Inker: John Beatty
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with what looks like the destroyed Doombase...and Captain America's Mighty Shield looking like a cosmic being mistook it for a cookie.
The former homebase for Dr. Doom's forces and later the heroes is nothing more than a smoldering wreck. A ruin, brought to this state by an unknown party. The cloud of smoke that has erupted from the crater of death is so great, the natives of Zsaji's village are able to see it. Zsaji herself fears the worst.
In Doom's big golden crystal, it's revealed Doom himself was naturally the one responsible for this. Yup, Doom will still be Doom, even with the power and omniescence of a god. Klaw asks him if he's sure they're dead. Doom is certain of this. After all, he reduced them to corpses with a blast of cosmic power. Not even the Incredible Hulk could have survived that...could they?
The scene shifts again. Floating through space millions of miles away is the domed suburb of Denver, this piece of Battleworld brought to this state by the awesome power of the Molecule Man. With nothing to do, the villains staying in Volcana's old apartment just lay around. However, one has found a way to occupy herself. The Enchantress fills up a bathtub with water and uses a spell to summon a being known as an elemental.
She wants some answers about this Beyonder guy, which the elemental provides. The Beyonder was a native to another realm. He was essentially the god of that realm. He was everything in it, and everything in it was him. However, something happened. Some event caused him to learn of Earth, and realms beyond him. For the first time in his existence, the Beyonder...grew curious. He would observe the Earth and its myriad of beings for years. However, the human concept of desire confounded the being. As such, he took beings who had great desire, like Enchantress herself, to study desire.
This point is basically to recap the miniseries so far. It does also allow the Enchantress to learn that Doom managed to get the power of the Beyonder. Remember, the villains didn't see that happen. Enchatress demands that the elemental use its rapport with water to tell her what's going on right now on Battleworld. The elemental points out she doesn't have that kind of power. Enraged, the Enchantress decides to help fix that.
Yeah, Amora's a jerk. Thanks to the power infusion, the Asgardian sorceress sees images of Doom killing the heroes, and making plans to invade Mephisto's realm to rescue his mother. She also learns that the Beyonder is alive. Weakened, but alive...and he's waiting to act against Doom. This leaves Amora shaken. After all, what would the Beyonder do to get his power back?
In Volcana's living room, the Wrecking Crew are having trouble with an angry Lizard, who just wants to go back to his swamp. Volcana stops the fight and tries to comfort the Lizard, assuring him that they'll be home on Earth soon. Doctor Octopus is much more cynical. After all, they have no idea where in space they are, or if the Earth still exists. For all they know, they'll spend the rest of their lives drifting in space. The Molecule Man appears and gets into an argument with the arrogant ex-scientist. Unknown to them, someone catches Volcana in a trance and commands her to come to them...well, except the Lizard. He notices she's walking away...
She heads to a nearby park...and the Enchantress. Remember back in issue 7 when Volcana made a deal with the Asgardian blonde? Well, the time has come to pay up.
Page 301, Panel 2
Enchantress sees the Beyonder as a threat, and needs to get to Asgard to warn them. Yeah, in the 80s, The Enchantress's character was evolving into being more of an "enlightened self-interest" type. She'll help the heroes against greater threats, but mainly because those threats will harm her as well. Amora's power is great, but it still has limits. She needs a bit of a boost, so she's going to draw on the lifeforce of Volcana to get it. Yeah, Volcana will die, but she's only a mortal. No great loss as far as Amora is concerned.
Doctor Octopus notices that in the sky, there are stars. But, that's impossible! The Beyonder destroyed the stars! How can there be stars if the Beyonder destroyed the stars? The Molecule Man explains that he can do anything now. He rebuilt the stars. He's also learning how to make spacewarps. With a bit of practice, they can get home. Doc Ock doesn't believe his own eyes and attacks Owen Reese in a rage. He feels like he's being made the fool, and nobody makes a fool of Doctor Octopus! Well, the Molecule Man does. Easily.
Heh heh. That's what you get for messing with a reality warper, Doc. However, Owen Reese has little time to enjoy seeing the arrogant ex-scientist get his. Volcana's in danger! He and the Lizard come to her rescue. Amora tries to flee to Battleworld, but the Lizard is caught in her teleportation spell, allowing him to attack her. He slashes her face, and she kills him.
Back to the Tower of Doom! Doom is relaxing on a chair, and Klaw approaches him, his eyes and mouth releasing an ominus glow. Doom shoots to his feet, realizing he nearly fell asleep. Remember, Doom can't afford anything that may let his control over his new power slip, including falling asleep. Sounds like that's what you get when you take power that you're not meant to have, huh Doomsie?
Klaw decides to use his powers to create sound constructs to amuse Doom. He regales the Latverian madman with a tale. A tale of a healer named Zsaji. She sees the destruction of the Doombase, and flies over to investigate on a dragon. It's there the alien woman sees the corpses of the heroes. Pushing her healing powers to the limit, she is able to restore them...somewhat to life. They're not quite dead, but they aren't exactly in fighting shape. The healer then finds the corpse of Colossus. Using the last of her power, she manages to restore him to life. However, this overtaxes her body, and drained her lifeforce. This leaves Colossus to find her dead in his arms.
The metal-skinned powerhouse is grief-stricken, but knows what he must do. He takes the body of Mr. Fantastic and puts it in a healing chamber. Doom just stares in horror as Klaw continues his story. With Richards restored to perfect health, he quickly grabs his comrades and puts them in healing chambers. Klaw suggests that Doom subconsciously caused this to happen. After all, he's practically a god now. Reality is modelling clay to him, malleable to his desires. What if there was a part of Doom that couldn't truly kill off the heroes?
Doom waves it off as madness. He did kill them! Yes, it was rather dramatic, but they couldn't have survived that blast. They couldn't have! Klaw points out that all he had to do was literally wave a hand, and they would have been dust. Doom refuses to let his mind be clouded by doubt. However, a certain event shakes the Latverian tyrant up.
Mjolnir's smashing entrance forces Doom to unleash the power, but it runs amok. Because of his mental state, he has trouble reigning in the power he has. Klaw suggests an idea, "Hey Doom, why not let me kill them? All I need is just some of your power." Doom agrees and gives the walking Wall of Sound a small fraction of his power, enough to make ten thousand stars go nova. Outside, we got a Charge of the Superhero Brigade.
Cap warns the heroes to be ready for anything, considering the power Doom has in his hands. The heroes then see a big ugly monster. And it's not the Hulk before he's had his morning coffee. Klaw marvels over his ability to create actual creatures instead of mere sound constructs. He gets the idea to send an army of such monsters after the heroes. But they'll need a commander. Eh, Ultron will do. And it leads to an epic double-page spread of the heroes battling the monsters.
Nothing wrong with heroes fighting monsters. Ben Grimm finds himself changing back into his human form while fighting one, and She-Hulk makes the save. He then realizes somehow he can control it. Hulk engages Ultron, who manages to break his leg with an energy blast. Iron Man, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine try to fight the mad mechanoid, but he blasts them away. During the fracas, the Wasp was able to get inside Ultron and smash up his insides.
Cap tries to get to Doom himself. Klaw blocks his way, crowing that he's too powerful for the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. Cap's dropkick disagrees. The First Avenger races into Doom's tower. Klaw gets up and walks into the tower. It's all going to plan...
Cap makes his way to Doom's chamber, who is just chilling with some wine like the villain he is.
Doom isn't worried about the Star-Spangled Avenger. He may be one of the most respected men in the Marvel Universe, but he is still merely a man. A super-soldier. Doom is a god. He has nothing to fear from a super-soldier with a shield that looks like someone mistook it for a cookie (Cap's shield has a chunk out of it). Cap points out something. If Doom really thinks that the heroes are nothing to be afraid of...why did he try to kill them? After all, they couldn't touch him. They were no threat. They knew this. Maybe...Doom was afraid.
This infuriates the man. Cap charges Doom, as Klaw watches. The Master of Sound's eyes and mouth glow, remarking how perfect this is. Doom blasts the Sentinel of Liberty, and reduces him to dust. But much to his shock, Captain America reappears in a flash of light, and continues his charge. Doom blasts him again. Cap comes back. It's like a bizarre cosmic form of Whack-A-Mole. He hits Cap, and he keeps popping back up. Doom freaks out, causing his power to run amok.
The First Avenger realizes that Doom is losing touch with reality, and needs an anchor. He pleads for Doom to let Cap help him. He offers his hand to the Latverian, but Klaw has it handled...or should I say, the Beyonder has it handled. Yeah, turns out he's Not Quite Dead. He still excited as a little sliver of energy that had been floating around, waiting to reclaim his power. And now is that exact moment. Doom is in mental torment, his will and control are at its weakest.
Klaw, Doom, and the repowered Beyonder vanish in a flash of light.
And with that, it's seemingly over. The other heroes defeated Klaw's monster army. Now comes the downtime. Colossus goes to bury and grieve over Zsaji. Spider-Man goes to enjoy some snacks. The heroes go to get their costumes fixed. Here, we touch on Storm and Xavier's conflict over the X-Men's leadership. Xavier concedes leadership to Storm, but will be doing more field work now that he can walk again. Spider-Man notices that the other heroes are using a different machine than the one that he got his costume from, and he asks if their costumes respond to mental commands like his does. They say it doesn't. Peter Parker finds it strange, but waves it off. Ahhh, plot-induced stupidity. Gotta love it.
Back in the medical lab, Reed Richards has fashioned a cast and crutch for the Hulk, as the gamma radiation in his body would short out the healing machines in the lab. Hulk's just going to have to let his natural healing factor fix him up. The Hulk hobbles by Hawkeye, in a foul mood. Yup, the Incredible Hulk is growing more savage...
Later, the heroes find Doctor Curt Connors, the Lizard's human identity wandering in. He woke up lying in a crater a few miles from Doombase, confused as to how he got there. He also claimed that his Lizard side is gone. Yeah, he'll be back. Nightcrawler then notices something else: Lockheed the Dragon is missing. Yeah, he hasn't been seen in a while, wonder what he got up to?
Aw look, he found a friend. Reed comes in, saying that his lab work has been going well. Yeah, tell that to Hulk, Reed. He believes that there's fallout from the battle against Doom. He discovered the planet has been charged with the residual energy left over, and it's causing a slight bit of "wish-fulfillment phenomenon." Captain America wants to test this. He gathered the shards of his broken shield. He puts them on a table, closes his eyes...
And that is that. His shield is whole again. It's time for the heroes to go home. Reed was able to figure out the construct that brought them all back to Battleworld in the first place. Colossus wants to stay behind, but Xavier convinces him that it a better way to honor Zsaji would be to embrace his life and come home. She-Hulk decides to go back with the rest of the Fantastic Four, taking Ben Grimm's place. Ben wants to stay behind on Battleworld, as he can seemingly change back to his human form there...and he wants to do a bit of self-discovery. Reed leaves him the device that he created to operate the construct that can bring the heroes home. The story ends with Ben sitting on a rock, thinking about a quote attributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself."
This comic, like the mini-series as a whole, was alright. I felt there were plenty of things this mini-series could have done better. I wasn't a fan of the X-Men's portrayal here, I did feel the romance between Colossus and Zsaji did need more room to breathe (they could have excised her whole thing with her and the Human Torch). Also, the new characters. Volcana and Titania did get some focus (I would have liked to have seen Titania dealing with the humiliation she endured from Spider-Man more here, even though it was explored in other books later on). However, we got to meet a new Spider-Woman...and we didn't really learn much of anything about her. A shame.
One thing I did find odd was the Beyonder's wanting to study desire. But is that not desire? The Beyonder did desire something. He was capable of desire. So, why did he want to study it? Maybe it was the he didn't understand this feeling he had. That would have made more sense.
So, what did I like about this? Well, on paper, I love the scope of this story. We got many of Marvel's biggest heroes all fighting for the fate of the universe. That is just awesome right there. Plenty of action, and some nice character moments here and there. It was a big story, and it was really neat showing Doom struggling with the power of the Beyonder. He may be a powerful man in mind, but he was still a man. As much as he'd never admit it, even he has limits.
Secret Wars did have effects on the Marvel Universe, both major and minor. Some of those effects still are felt today:
- Most famously, it would be revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984) that that black costume that Spider-Man obtained in Battleworld was a living creature. A symbiote that tries to bond with him. The symbiote would eventually bond with Eddie Brock, creating Venom.
- In Uncanny X-Men #181 (May 1984), Lockheed's dragon friend becomes a giant monster, forcing the X-Men to kill it.
- In 2015, the miniseries Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars was released. This revealed that the mercenary Deadpool was among the characters transported to Battleworld. It revealed that the Wasp used the "wish-granting" abilities of Battleworld to make everyone forget he was there in the first place. It also showed that Deadpool used those same properties to restore Zsaji to life and send her and her people somewhere they could live happily and not be harmed ever again.
- Incredible Hulk #296 (June 1984) sees Hulk ditch his leg cast and slowly revert to the savage Hulk of old.
- In Iron Man #183 (June 1984), Iron Man dumps the modifications to his suit. Those dumped components would eventually evolve into a monster that menaced Project: Pegasus in Quasar #8 (March 1990).
- Ben Grimm's adventures in Battleworld would be chronicled in Thing #11 (May 1984) - #22 (April 1985). Thing #22 would also reveal that all of his adventures in Battleworld were influenced by his subconscious mind, and he would lose the ability to shift between his human and Thing forms. He would rejoin the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #296 (November 1986).
- In Captain America #21-22 (September-October 1999), it was discovered that Cap's shield was not reformed as perfectly as believed. There was a small molecular flaw in the shield that grew over time as the shield took various blows. This created a "vibranium cancer" that threatened to destroy the world's supply of the sonic-absorbing metal (and blow up the planet), but Cap managed to prevent it and save his shield in the process.
- She-Hulk would be a member of the FF up until around the events of Fantastic Four #301 (April 1987). She was not shown officially departing the group, having last been seen as an FF member beforehand in Silver Surfer #1 (July 1987). She would remain a friend and ally of the imaginauts ever since.
- Doctor Doom would reappear in Fantastic Four #288 (March 1986), a tie-in to Secret Wars II.
Secret Wars is...a flawed miniseries. But it is not terrible. It has an exciting story, and it's epic in scope. It was one of the first "event" comics, and as such, I think it is an important read for historical purposes. I personally enjoyed the miniseries despite its flaws. It's the comic equivalent of a "popcorn blockbuster movie". You just sit back and enjoy. Crisis on Infinite Earths may have been the better "event", but Secret Wars paved the way for it. As such, it does deserve respect for that alone.
If you want to read this for yourself, I would recommend tracking down the 2005 trade paperback Secret Wars. It has a nice foreword from Tom Brevoort, and also provides some material that explains the set-up for the Secret Wars in various Marvel titles at the time. And it also had an epilogue that talked about some of the effects of the miniseries on various characters.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, as we look at the beginnings of the Legion of Super-Heroes...
The cover is pretty cool! A Mike Zeck piece, it depicts the unmasked (and rather handsome) Dr. Doom standing triumphant over the bodies of the heroes. The way it's colored makes Doom pop out, which is a nice detail. It basically says it all: Doom is triumphant, and Doom is supreme. It's a fantastic cover.
"...Nothing to Fear!"
Writer: Jim Shooter
Penciler: Mike Zeck
Inker: John Beatty
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with what looks like the destroyed Doombase...and Captain America's Mighty Shield looking like a cosmic being mistook it for a cookie.
The former homebase for Dr. Doom's forces and later the heroes is nothing more than a smoldering wreck. A ruin, brought to this state by an unknown party. The cloud of smoke that has erupted from the crater of death is so great, the natives of Zsaji's village are able to see it. Zsaji herself fears the worst.
In Doom's big golden crystal, it's revealed Doom himself was naturally the one responsible for this. Yup, Doom will still be Doom, even with the power and omniescence of a god. Klaw asks him if he's sure they're dead. Doom is certain of this. After all, he reduced them to corpses with a blast of cosmic power. Not even the Incredible Hulk could have survived that...could they?
The scene shifts again. Floating through space millions of miles away is the domed suburb of Denver, this piece of Battleworld brought to this state by the awesome power of the Molecule Man. With nothing to do, the villains staying in Volcana's old apartment just lay around. However, one has found a way to occupy herself. The Enchantress fills up a bathtub with water and uses a spell to summon a being known as an elemental.
She wants some answers about this Beyonder guy, which the elemental provides. The Beyonder was a native to another realm. He was essentially the god of that realm. He was everything in it, and everything in it was him. However, something happened. Some event caused him to learn of Earth, and realms beyond him. For the first time in his existence, the Beyonder...grew curious. He would observe the Earth and its myriad of beings for years. However, the human concept of desire confounded the being. As such, he took beings who had great desire, like Enchantress herself, to study desire.
This point is basically to recap the miniseries so far. It does also allow the Enchantress to learn that Doom managed to get the power of the Beyonder. Remember, the villains didn't see that happen. Enchatress demands that the elemental use its rapport with water to tell her what's going on right now on Battleworld. The elemental points out she doesn't have that kind of power. Enraged, the Enchantress decides to help fix that.
 |
| And Amora wonders why Thor isn't into her... |
In Volcana's living room, the Wrecking Crew are having trouble with an angry Lizard, who just wants to go back to his swamp. Volcana stops the fight and tries to comfort the Lizard, assuring him that they'll be home on Earth soon. Doctor Octopus is much more cynical. After all, they have no idea where in space they are, or if the Earth still exists. For all they know, they'll spend the rest of their lives drifting in space. The Molecule Man appears and gets into an argument with the arrogant ex-scientist. Unknown to them, someone catches Volcana in a trance and commands her to come to them...well, except the Lizard. He notices she's walking away...
She heads to a nearby park...and the Enchantress. Remember back in issue 7 when Volcana made a deal with the Asgardian blonde? Well, the time has come to pay up.
Page 301, Panel 2
Enchantress sees the Beyonder as a threat, and needs to get to Asgard to warn them. Yeah, in the 80s, The Enchantress's character was evolving into being more of an "enlightened self-interest" type. She'll help the heroes against greater threats, but mainly because those threats will harm her as well. Amora's power is great, but it still has limits. She needs a bit of a boost, so she's going to draw on the lifeforce of Volcana to get it. Yeah, Volcana will die, but she's only a mortal. No great loss as far as Amora is concerned.
Doctor Octopus notices that in the sky, there are stars. But, that's impossible! The Beyonder destroyed the stars! How can there be stars if the Beyonder destroyed the stars? The Molecule Man explains that he can do anything now. He rebuilt the stars. He's also learning how to make spacewarps. With a bit of practice, they can get home. Doc Ock doesn't believe his own eyes and attacks Owen Reese in a rage. He feels like he's being made the fool, and nobody makes a fool of Doctor Octopus! Well, the Molecule Man does. Easily.
Heh heh. That's what you get for messing with a reality warper, Doc. However, Owen Reese has little time to enjoy seeing the arrogant ex-scientist get his. Volcana's in danger! He and the Lizard come to her rescue. Amora tries to flee to Battleworld, but the Lizard is caught in her teleportation spell, allowing him to attack her. He slashes her face, and she kills him.
Back to the Tower of Doom! Doom is relaxing on a chair, and Klaw approaches him, his eyes and mouth releasing an ominus glow. Doom shoots to his feet, realizing he nearly fell asleep. Remember, Doom can't afford anything that may let his control over his new power slip, including falling asleep. Sounds like that's what you get when you take power that you're not meant to have, huh Doomsie?
Klaw decides to use his powers to create sound constructs to amuse Doom. He regales the Latverian madman with a tale. A tale of a healer named Zsaji. She sees the destruction of the Doombase, and flies over to investigate on a dragon. It's there the alien woman sees the corpses of the heroes. Pushing her healing powers to the limit, she is able to restore them...somewhat to life. They're not quite dead, but they aren't exactly in fighting shape. The healer then finds the corpse of Colossus. Using the last of her power, she manages to restore him to life. However, this overtaxes her body, and drained her lifeforce. This leaves Colossus to find her dead in his arms.
The metal-skinned powerhouse is grief-stricken, but knows what he must do. He takes the body of Mr. Fantastic and puts it in a healing chamber. Doom just stares in horror as Klaw continues his story. With Richards restored to perfect health, he quickly grabs his comrades and puts them in healing chambers. Klaw suggests that Doom subconsciously caused this to happen. After all, he's practically a god now. Reality is modelling clay to him, malleable to his desires. What if there was a part of Doom that couldn't truly kill off the heroes?
Doom waves it off as madness. He did kill them! Yes, it was rather dramatic, but they couldn't have survived that blast. They couldn't have! Klaw points out that all he had to do was literally wave a hand, and they would have been dust. Doom refuses to let his mind be clouded by doubt. However, a certain event shakes the Latverian tyrant up.
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| Asgard Deli! You order, we crush! |
Cap warns the heroes to be ready for anything, considering the power Doom has in his hands. The heroes then see a big ugly monster. And it's not the Hulk before he's had his morning coffee. Klaw marvels over his ability to create actual creatures instead of mere sound constructs. He gets the idea to send an army of such monsters after the heroes. But they'll need a commander. Eh, Ultron will do. And it leads to an epic double-page spread of the heroes battling the monsters.
 |
| Obtained from Google, because the scanning app on my iPad will not scan this. |
Cap tries to get to Doom himself. Klaw blocks his way, crowing that he's too powerful for the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. Cap's dropkick disagrees. The First Avenger races into Doom's tower. Klaw gets up and walks into the tower. It's all going to plan...
Cap makes his way to Doom's chamber, who is just chilling with some wine like the villain he is.
 |
| "Ah, hello Captain. Doom was about to enjoy some television. Every channel in the universe!" |
This infuriates the man. Cap charges Doom, as Klaw watches. The Master of Sound's eyes and mouth glow, remarking how perfect this is. Doom blasts the Sentinel of Liberty, and reduces him to dust. But much to his shock, Captain America reappears in a flash of light, and continues his charge. Doom blasts him again. Cap comes back. It's like a bizarre cosmic form of Whack-A-Mole. He hits Cap, and he keeps popping back up. Doom freaks out, causing his power to run amok.
The First Avenger realizes that Doom is losing touch with reality, and needs an anchor. He pleads for Doom to let Cap help him. He offers his hand to the Latverian, but Klaw has it handled...or should I say, the Beyonder has it handled. Yeah, turns out he's Not Quite Dead. He still excited as a little sliver of energy that had been floating around, waiting to reclaim his power. And now is that exact moment. Doom is in mental torment, his will and control are at its weakest.
 |
| "SURPRISE, MOTHERTRUCKER!" |
And with that, it's seemingly over. The other heroes defeated Klaw's monster army. Now comes the downtime. Colossus goes to bury and grieve over Zsaji. Spider-Man goes to enjoy some snacks. The heroes go to get their costumes fixed. Here, we touch on Storm and Xavier's conflict over the X-Men's leadership. Xavier concedes leadership to Storm, but will be doing more field work now that he can walk again. Spider-Man notices that the other heroes are using a different machine than the one that he got his costume from, and he asks if their costumes respond to mental commands like his does. They say it doesn't. Peter Parker finds it strange, but waves it off. Ahhh, plot-induced stupidity. Gotta love it.
Back in the medical lab, Reed Richards has fashioned a cast and crutch for the Hulk, as the gamma radiation in his body would short out the healing machines in the lab. Hulk's just going to have to let his natural healing factor fix him up. The Hulk hobbles by Hawkeye, in a foul mood. Yup, the Incredible Hulk is growing more savage...
Later, the heroes find Doctor Curt Connors, the Lizard's human identity wandering in. He woke up lying in a crater a few miles from Doombase, confused as to how he got there. He also claimed that his Lizard side is gone. Yeah, he'll be back. Nightcrawler then notices something else: Lockheed the Dragon is missing. Yeah, he hasn't been seen in a while, wonder what he got up to?
Aw look, he found a friend. Reed comes in, saying that his lab work has been going well. Yeah, tell that to Hulk, Reed. He believes that there's fallout from the battle against Doom. He discovered the planet has been charged with the residual energy left over, and it's causing a slight bit of "wish-fulfillment phenomenon." Captain America wants to test this. He gathered the shards of his broken shield. He puts them on a table, closes his eyes...
And that is that. His shield is whole again. It's time for the heroes to go home. Reed was able to figure out the construct that brought them all back to Battleworld in the first place. Colossus wants to stay behind, but Xavier convinces him that it a better way to honor Zsaji would be to embrace his life and come home. She-Hulk decides to go back with the rest of the Fantastic Four, taking Ben Grimm's place. Ben wants to stay behind on Battleworld, as he can seemingly change back to his human form there...and he wants to do a bit of self-discovery. Reed leaves him the device that he created to operate the construct that can bring the heroes home. The story ends with Ben sitting on a rock, thinking about a quote attributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself."
This comic, like the mini-series as a whole, was alright. I felt there were plenty of things this mini-series could have done better. I wasn't a fan of the X-Men's portrayal here, I did feel the romance between Colossus and Zsaji did need more room to breathe (they could have excised her whole thing with her and the Human Torch). Also, the new characters. Volcana and Titania did get some focus (I would have liked to have seen Titania dealing with the humiliation she endured from Spider-Man more here, even though it was explored in other books later on). However, we got to meet a new Spider-Woman...and we didn't really learn much of anything about her. A shame.
One thing I did find odd was the Beyonder's wanting to study desire. But is that not desire? The Beyonder did desire something. He was capable of desire. So, why did he want to study it? Maybe it was the he didn't understand this feeling he had. That would have made more sense.
So, what did I like about this? Well, on paper, I love the scope of this story. We got many of Marvel's biggest heroes all fighting for the fate of the universe. That is just awesome right there. Plenty of action, and some nice character moments here and there. It was a big story, and it was really neat showing Doom struggling with the power of the Beyonder. He may be a powerful man in mind, but he was still a man. As much as he'd never admit it, even he has limits.
Secret Wars did have effects on the Marvel Universe, both major and minor. Some of those effects still are felt today:
- Most famously, it would be revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984) that that black costume that Spider-Man obtained in Battleworld was a living creature. A symbiote that tries to bond with him. The symbiote would eventually bond with Eddie Brock, creating Venom.
- In Uncanny X-Men #181 (May 1984), Lockheed's dragon friend becomes a giant monster, forcing the X-Men to kill it.
- In 2015, the miniseries Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars was released. This revealed that the mercenary Deadpool was among the characters transported to Battleworld. It revealed that the Wasp used the "wish-granting" abilities of Battleworld to make everyone forget he was there in the first place. It also showed that Deadpool used those same properties to restore Zsaji to life and send her and her people somewhere they could live happily and not be harmed ever again.
- Incredible Hulk #296 (June 1984) sees Hulk ditch his leg cast and slowly revert to the savage Hulk of old.
- In Iron Man #183 (June 1984), Iron Man dumps the modifications to his suit. Those dumped components would eventually evolve into a monster that menaced Project: Pegasus in Quasar #8 (March 1990).
- Ben Grimm's adventures in Battleworld would be chronicled in Thing #11 (May 1984) - #22 (April 1985). Thing #22 would also reveal that all of his adventures in Battleworld were influenced by his subconscious mind, and he would lose the ability to shift between his human and Thing forms. He would rejoin the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #296 (November 1986).
- In Captain America #21-22 (September-October 1999), it was discovered that Cap's shield was not reformed as perfectly as believed. There was a small molecular flaw in the shield that grew over time as the shield took various blows. This created a "vibranium cancer" that threatened to destroy the world's supply of the sonic-absorbing metal (and blow up the planet), but Cap managed to prevent it and save his shield in the process.
- She-Hulk would be a member of the FF up until around the events of Fantastic Four #301 (April 1987). She was not shown officially departing the group, having last been seen as an FF member beforehand in Silver Surfer #1 (July 1987). She would remain a friend and ally of the imaginauts ever since.
- Doctor Doom would reappear in Fantastic Four #288 (March 1986), a tie-in to Secret Wars II.
Secret Wars is...a flawed miniseries. But it is not terrible. It has an exciting story, and it's epic in scope. It was one of the first "event" comics, and as such, I think it is an important read for historical purposes. I personally enjoyed the miniseries despite its flaws. It's the comic equivalent of a "popcorn blockbuster movie". You just sit back and enjoy. Crisis on Infinite Earths may have been the better "event", but Secret Wars paved the way for it. As such, it does deserve respect for that alone.
If you want to read this for yourself, I would recommend tracking down the 2005 trade paperback Secret Wars. It has a nice foreword from Tom Brevoort, and also provides some material that explains the set-up for the Secret Wars in various Marvel titles at the time. And it also had an epilogue that talked about some of the effects of the miniseries on various characters.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, as we look at the beginnings of the Legion of Super-Heroes...
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