Silver Surfer #16-17

Let’s remember what we know about Silver Surfer so far. He’s a cosmic powered alien who is imprisoned on Earth against his weill. He’s madly in love with a woman on the other side of the universe. Mephisto, the devil incarnate, not only fears him but wants to control his power. So in these two issues Mephisto uses Shall Bal as incentive to coerce the Silver Surfer into destroying S.H.I.E.L.D.

Yes you read that. The maniacal lord of the underworld wants the paramilitary organization taken out, most likely to make it easier for him to take over the world at some point. To get this done, he promises Silver Surfer he won’t eternally damn Shalla Bal in exchange for the Surfer destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. The best part of this is that Mephisto is lurking around in a trench coat and fedora looking completely ridiculous.

Anyway Surfer begrudgingly accepts and attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. I get the point and all, but it’s so odd to see a story that involves the Silver Surfer, Mephisto and Nick Fury. Eventually Surfer finds out that Mephisto plans on going back on his word and the two wind up fighting. It’s revealed that the Silver Surfer is indeed much more powerful than anyone ever imagined and after thoroughly beating up poor Mephisto, he gets jettisoned into space. And for those wondering, Shalla Bal winds up alright, as since both Mephisto and Silver Surfer reneged on their deals it pretty much cancels everything.

These issues were John Buscema’s last work on the series, and he certainly stepped up his art a lot. I think that from an artistic perspective, they might have been my favorite issues of the series. Stan Lee sticks around for the next issue and is joined by a certain king of an artist.

Friday Fights # 22: Nick Fury vs. Cobra Commander

After taking most of the week off to feeling ill, it’s time for Friday Fights! One of the things I wondered about during my “lay on the couch because I have a cold” time, I wondered who would win in a fight:  Nick Fury or Cobra Commander.

The obvious answer is Fury, since he’s a veteran of pretty much everything, thanks to him not aging. He has enhances physical capabilities as well as has received every sort of combat, military strategy and espionage training known to man. Fury is also adept at all kinds of weaponry.

So that said, what chance does Cobra Commander have?

Whether its the cartoons or comics, the Commander is always shown to be a bit of a wimp. He doesn’t like to get his hands dirty and usually relies on the help of his subordinates when in a fight. So needless to say, chances are this isn’t going to be a fair fight.

Cobra Commander also isn’t the best trained hand to hand combatant  again he usually has someone else around to fight on his behalf. He is a master of escape.That said, I think Cobra Commander would narrowly escape Nick Fury. He would be in one of the Cobra “Trouble Bubbles” en route to his next safe house before Fury knew it.

So I’ll give this one a tie. Fury will always win the fight, but Cobra Commander will always escape.

Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos #1-6: Marvel’s Monster Mash

This was going to be my Halloween post, but Hurricane Sandy had other plans for me.  Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos is a fun look at SHIELD’s very own monster squad. Written by Keith Giffen, this mini series gives a look on how longtime agent Clay Quartermain gets to take over running the  Paranormal Containment Unit.

Needless to say with it being a Giffen book, there’s a certain humor to it. Clay sees this assignment of being kind of beneath him, leading monsters from Marvel’s modern and Atlas eras alike to defend the planet from super natural attacks.

The main conflict in this comes as a result of yet another incarnation of Merlin the Wizard re-appearing in England, turning the British Isle into something out of Lord of the Rings. It’s up to the Howling Commandos to get their act together and save the island (and the world) from falling under Merlin’s medieval rule. Along the way there’s a lot of wackiness, especially the undercover mission between Lilith and Vampire By Night, and a really cool plot storm involving Hellstorm (a character which I’ve always thought needed more exposure).

Usually I don’t enjoy supernatural themed books, but Giffen’s great sense of comedic timing was enough to get me through it. Howling Commandos is a pretty light story and I would recommend picking it up if you can get it on the cheap.

If there was anything to complain about this book was the art. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t like the art, but for whatever reason the penciller switched between Derec Aucoin and Mike Norton every other issue to the point that reading it from issue to issue was a little jarring.

Mighty Fine Agent Coulson of SHIELD Shirts!

It’s no secret that the break-out characters of the Marvel Avengers franchise was SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson. He stole every scene he was in through six movies. Even though he might be dead (but alive in comics continuity), Coulson is still popular.

Marvel and Mighty Fine have a line of Coulson inspired t-shirts! You can view all five shirts in the line here. My favorite is the one pictured, which lovingly pays tribute to Jim Steranko’s cover for Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4.

 

SDCC 2012 Exclusives: Marvel Comics Toys From Hasbro

It’s summertime and that means visions of San Diego Comic Con exclusives will be dancing in my head. Hasbro has a bunch of great stuff this year, mainly the Marvel Universe three pack of the Masters of Evil! Lead by Baron Zemo, the team is usually a group of whatever super villains that he can find available. This set features Zemo with Radioactive Man and Tiger Shark.

For me this is a must buy, since I’m a huge Namor fan. Really, when else will they make someone implicitly for the Sub-Mariner to fight? Not to mention, the translucent Radioactive Man is pretty sweet.

Marvel Legends fans can get a special three pack featuring Psylocke, Archangel and Wolverine in their grey combat gear from Uncanny X-Force comics. This is kind of passable for me, since I already have Marvel Legends of the characters featured.

The biggest thing–pun intended–Hasbro is offering is a four-foot long SHIELD Helicarrier! It’s a whole foot longer than the regular retail version. I think it also comes with an exclusive Maria Hill figure. As much as I would love to have this, I think I’m going to have to pass. If it’s going for $129.99, can only imagine what the shipping would be. But if one of my loving readers would like to gift this to me, I would be pretty grateful…

It May Have Taken Me Four Months To Beat Captain America: Super Soldier But It Was Worth It

I finally beat it. Yes I did. Great pal Frank was kind enough to give me the game for my birthday and I started playing Captain America: Super Soldier in late July. So why did it take so long?

Because the game is challenging, but in a good way. Super Soldier requires a lot of skill and timing, two things that I apparently don’t have. If your going to lead Captain America to rescue Allied prisoners of war and stop Hydra’s latest nefarious plot, your going to need them.

The game is set in this summer’s film adaptation continuity with Captain America infiltrating Hydra’s Bavarian headquarters (a huge castle compound formerly occupied by Baron Zemo) to rescue Bucky, Dum Dum Dugan and the rest of the Howling Commandos Invaders. He later discovers that Arnim Zola has some sort of massive weapons project under the castle that must be stopped. Along the way you fight off hundereds of Hydra agents, Baron Von Strucker, Madame Hydra and the awesome weird Arnim Zola robot.

Storywise, the game makes a lot of sense and is executed very well. All of the cut scenes and story elements flow together, and I would give this credit to comics writer Christos Gage who plotted the game. Visually the game is awesome. There’s a definite World War II/steampunk vibe to it, which works with the Zola character being a mad scientist.

The voice acting brings the cast of the film back together, including Chris Evans as Captain America.

Like I said, the game play takes some getting used to and once you get all of the nuances down its a pretty quick and easy game. There’s definitely some replay ability to the game, whether it be unlocking alternate Captain America costumes (let me telling you, playing as the World War II style Captain America from Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates is epic), the various challenge modes, and even collecting the various film reels that tell the story of how Red Skull wound up seizing the castle from Zemo.

I don’t see why this game got so many bad reviews. It wasn’t a groundbreaking game by any means, but it was very enjoyable. It came across like an interactive movie, due to its combined visual awesomeness and you controlling the fight scenes/sequences. I recommend it. Based on my experiences, it was certainly worth the four months I spent on and off trying to stop Madame Hydra.