80s Marvel Rocks!

Animorphs AND Young Jedi Knights? Omg.

I DEFINITELY had LOTS of friends as a small child and DID NOT spend most of my childhood running around PRETENDING I had friends like Rachel and Marco and Jaina SUPER FUN TIMES.

For EU stuff I mostly read 1.) Jaina/Jacen Young Jedi Knights stories, and 2.) the Obi-Wan Padawaan series by… holy shit, was it Garth Nix? No wonder it was so stupid good. The one with ~~Xanatos~~, ahahaaaaaaa. Which, I thought I was the ONLY PERSON ON EARTH to know about the fucking angst factory of Xanatos until I saw him mentioned recently as like, original trash baby of the Star Wars universe and I was like “SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE REMEMBERS THIS FUCKER.”

But yes, those two series (and a very brief toe-dip into Rogue Squadron until I got… bored, or maybe the Latin-athelete games were coming up and I got super focused on those?? and dropped the series hard) were the only tastes I ever got of the EU, though I ~know of~ other things just from nerd culture.

HEY GUYS ANY OF YOU REMEMBER XANATOS??? FUCK.

anyhoos.

Anyway, here’s the adorable Master Ikrit: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ikrit

As you might expect he didn’t last much longer than Anakin did in the NJO novels. Now when I look at him, all I can see is Kyubey from Madoka Magica. “Jedi Contract?”

Animorphs AND Young Jedi Knights? Omg.

I DEFINITELY had LOTS of friends as a small child and DID NOT spend most of my childhood running around PRETENDING I had friends like Rachel and Marco and Jaina SUPER FUN TIMES.

woman: OOOOoOOH NoO!!!! It’s meelltIINNGG!!

*ring melts off woman’s hand*

woman: MY PRECIOUS POWERRrRR RING! GONE FOORRVVERrrr..

In case you missed it, it has its own sound effect.

After he won a National Book Award, and one of the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called genius grants, no one anticipated Ta-Nehisi Coates’ next move – into comic books. Coates has written the latest installment of Marvel's Black Panther story, which follows an African king with superhuman strength and intellect.

Okay, I’ve been promising to make this post forever, and today seems like as good as a time as any with the announcement that MOTHER FLIPPING SONGBIRD IS GONNA BE AN AVENGER. So here it is!

THUNDERBOLTS. ONE OF THE BEST SERIES MARVEL HAS EVER PRODUCED.

Some quick plot facts: The Thunderbolts show up at a time when all (most) of the world’s heroes got sucked into another universe and were “dead” and the world was left with a hero vacuum. Oh nO! But then, a new superhero team! To fill the void! Called the THUNDERBOLTS!

But wait, WHAT’S THIS?! (Spoilers from literally the first issue): The Thunderbolts are actually THE MASTERS OF EVIL.

GASP.

Now, I know what you (might be) are thinking at this point: ew, a villain book. I KNOW GUYS, I KNOW. I am not into villain books either. They’ve never been my thing. BUT GUYS. This is SO MUCH MORE than a villain book.

First of all,the time Busiek takes with each of these characters is AMAZING. This (and maybe Runaways) is probably the best character-driven book Marvel has ever produced. Busiek really makes you care about these guys, and he takes the time to let you see what’s going on in each of their heads.

These are guys who, very quickly, start to realize the hero gig is exactly as much as it’s cracked up to be. And they star to wonder if maybe they shouldn’t give it a REAL go, rather than this fake go that devolves into a take-over-the-world plot that they’re doing now. Some of them really want to go straight after a while (Abe, Melissa) but kind of suck at it, some of them are just plain old evil and never are tempted to go good in the slightest (Zemo), some of them are waiting to see who winds up on top and align themselves with them (Karla) and some of them just want someone to please tell them what to do (poor, poor Eric). The work Busiek sits down and does developing these characters is just OUTSTANDING.

(Not to mention Bagley’s art is just so VIVID and FUN and GORGEOUS. I just love his dense layouts and clean, vivid pages. Just makes it such a freaking delight to read, from every angle.)

Other things:

IT’S ALSO HAWKEYE’S BEST BOOK EVER

You want Hawkeye at his absolute best? Hawkeye, the guy who could one day lead the Avengers? Hawkeye, the best friend who will believe in you and push you to be your absolute best, even when you don’t believe it yourself? THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.

Hawkeye shows up (in disguise!) about 19 issues in, after the jig is up and the whole world knows who the Thunderbolts really are. 

About 85% of them are still trying to go straight, in spite of what everyone now knows of them. Hawkeye sees this and is like “hey! I  know this! I am VERY FAMILIAR WITH THIS. I will totally help you guys out!! Let me help you out. :D”

Then one of the best Hawkeye scenes ever happens. In a bet with the Thunderbolts, Hawkeye tells them if he can last 5 minutes against all of them, they have to give him a shot leading the team.

He wipes the floor with them.

BUT WHY NOW?

One of Busiek’s Great Promises was that Songbird would, one day, become an Avenger. I can’t explain why this matters so much unless you read the series so just READ THE SERIES and you’ll see why this is just SO, SO, SO IMPORTANT. 

AND GUESS WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS FALL?!?!!?

Like in the cartoon, Hawkeye actually fights them by himself once, and wipes the floor with them!!! It’s one of the coolest Hawkeye moments ever.

in honor of my hometown, I give you “Tallahassee Man” and “Tallahassee Woman”

First appearance of the Serpent Society.