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How about America? A comic that Marvel promoted the hell out of, written by an openly virulent man-hating anti-white racist? This was a comic from Marvel, mind you (not some indie company), which featured a superhero who attacked white people and men in every issue--a comic from Marvel that portrayed white men as the ultimate villains in society.

Hey, remember when comic books used to have a broad market, including both kids and adults? Well, would anyone in their RIGHT FUCKING MIND want their kid reading America?

By "Female Thor" do you mean Jane Foster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Foster_(comics) or do you mean Thor Girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Girl? Since Thor Girl was from the early 2000s I'm guessing you mean Foster, although that does a good job by itself showing that female versions of Thor aren't some miraculous recent thing. The current "Mighty Thor" comic does focus on Foster http://marvel.com/comics/series/20527/mighty_thor_2015_-_present, but there are two problems with that argument. First, Thor Odinson is still a major character in other Marvel lines including Secret Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Empire_(comics), and second while Mighty Thor has sold poorly, so have many other Marvel titles, including some very long-running ones. In that regard the "Mighty Thor" comic is about middle of the pack; hardly what one would expect if it were so bad it would be dragging everything else down.

As for the Iron Man, since you specified black *female* Iron Man, I presume you mean Riri Williams, since a black male Iron Man was done about 20 years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Machine#The_all_new_Iron_Man as James Rhodes (before he got his own War Machine title). It is true that the Riri Williams Iron Man has sold poorly and had negative reviews, but those reviews have focused on poor story writing, poor drawing and poor editing. See for example https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/24/generations-iron-man-ironheart-1-review/ and has little to do with Riri Williams as a character (although I'll certainly volunteer that she does come across as a Mary Sue).

So where is the evidence that any of these characters have failed due to being "forced diversity versions"?

Linux distros are like Hydra. Cut off one head, two others pop-up.

True, they could at least go with Thorunn or Thora, femine forms of the name Thor. Thor is a masculine name. Though I understand that they're trying to stress that she is the superhero now, not him.

Not a big fan of the new Thor costume. Too stereotypical female superhero "let's-remove-metal-from-all-sorts-of-critical-body-parts" "form-fitting steel boobs" style. You'd think if they're wanting to be progressive with the plot they'd be willing to face that old cliche. It doesn't mean you have to make them ugly or non-feminine, it just means that they're not dressed like they're going to some S&M hookup afterhours at Comic-Con. Wonder if they'll fall victim to this as well...

You don't understand secret weapons, do you?

They're supposed to just pop out of nowhere, break at least two physical laws and otherwise be incredibly unlikely. If they didn't do that, the other side would just make whole armies of them. RTFM.

I can't believe no one's pointed out that he probably discovered it because his mother did it.

You all fail geekery forever.

"But he points out that later on, during the time of the pharaohs, the gods were believed to have bones made of iron."

Just like Wolverine!

Please turn in your geek card.

Since Adamantium is a steel alloy, he's not incorrect.

We could just keep an eye out for this guy.

There's a Burger King ad on TV now featuring a robot-version of The King, clad in Iron Man armor, who gives someone a burger then starts shooting everywhere.

Obviously, that robot must be running MS's new robotics software.

I don't have Flash at work, but I believe you can see the commercial here.

I think way too much is being made over a decision to hand-wave web shooters instead of wasting screen time and attention to the montage of Peter's attempts to create the advanced tech, both the nozzle and the web fluid, required for the mechanical version. These are action movies, and there is little to no science in action movies, only tech. When the tech is not pre-existing and is not hand-waved as "developed by a multinational corporation," it must be explained. When you already have one spider bite giving someone enhanced danger sense, crazy physical strength, and wall-climbing abilities, why not toss in web-slinging and free up a slow five minutes for more explosions?

Of course the villains (for the most part) have advanced tech of their own--they would otherwise fail to provide the entertainment value. Unless it's an X-men kind of universe where mutants are common, villains must have a way to use vast amounts of power for their evil deeds; otherwise the whole film is going to be a ho-hum series of thwarted muggings. The easiest way to give them superpowers is to make them technological superpowers and explain them by saying, "some company threw enough money at the idea to make it happen." This is of course also fantasy, but it's a staple that nobody takes issue with.

And, to be frank, tech DOES have negative social influences, though "evil" is too strong a word for them and there are positives too. The society we live in extends breadth at the cost of depth. Myspa--er, Facebook friends are more numerous and less satisfying as flesh-and-blood friends. The Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory holds true. You probably do not know your neighbors. Despite the unquestionable increases in quality of life over the past hundred years, people are more stressed out than ever before. This is because we have gotten into the habit of modifying our behavior to better suit the needs of the tech we use, because the opposite is only lately becoming plausible. The Spider-Man villains were driven crazy by their tech: the Green Goblin had his serum and Doc Ock's harness hacked his mind. These are big-screen sized caricatures of the small sacrifices we make for techne all the time.

If there is some sort of message in these films about science and technology, which I really doubt, it is not "science is evil" but "ensure that technology serves you and not the other way around."

I wonder if The Green Gobllin had anything to do with it...

Of course this never happens in western comics at all, it's a uniquely Japanese phenomenon not found in comics produced
by such reputable companies as Marvel, DC and the like.

I could go on... in fact, I could probably just make every letter a link and it'd still work.

Special bonus: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31045&d=1167172520

Of course this never happens in western comics at all, it's a uniquely Japanese phenomenon not found in comics produced
by such reputable companies as Marvel, DC and the like.

I could go on... in fact, I could probably just make every letter a link and it'd still work.

Special bonus: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31045&d=1167172520

it can be two words as in Spider Man

Ouch.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's Spider-Man.

No worries, I'll provide the summary:

1) Find infidels
2) Find nuclear weapon
3) Combine

4) Get blasted by the infidel's nuclear-powered rays!

http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.2560

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Galactus

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Stranger

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Overmind

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Galactus

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Stranger

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Overmind

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Galactus

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Stranger

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Overmind

They are actually adapting.

Well, since slashdot in its transfinite wisdom won't let me see my own anonymous post anymore, I will just make a new post!

So the old issues just have the text in the JPG, and no SWF text balloons

wget http://www.marvel.com/dotcomics_issues/CAPA177/hi_res_col/1.jpg

for example...and I'm sure people are, which is why Marvel is completely hosed right now

It could be done, but the licensing fees to Marvel Comics would make it cost-prohibitive.

//I'm sure there are many slashdot readers (judging from the kind of posts I see here) who believe we are currently in a nascent "civil war"//

Oh, but they are right!

That's why I'm with Captain America!

Yeah, really. They could have maybe gotten someone like Paul Jenkins, who'd actually written the Hulk comic before, to work on the game with them. And maybe even base the game off of one of his comic book storylines. And they could have even gone the extra mile and done a comic book miniseries based on the game. Oh, wait -- they already did.

Granted, Jenkins was hardly the best writer the Hulk had ever seen, and the translation of the story to the game wasn't the best, either -- but the game itself was extremely solid and enjoyable, and immensely replayable.

I take it you didn't read Strange recently, very nice on how Dr Stephen Strange became Dr Strange:-

See http://www.marvel.com/catalog/showcomic.htm?id=834 &format=comic for details

Let's hope it's better than his current run on Astonishing X-Men.

Joss's predecessor, Grant Morrison, had written one of the best and more finely tuned storylines in the past seven years of X-History, and Joss basically came in and trashed it.

His first work: raise Collosus from the dead. With no explanation as to how it was done, except that it was the product of aliens from another world.

What's he doing now? Well, the X-Men are currently fighting against their most mortal mechanical enemy: the Danger Room. Yes, it reads like a plotline from the early 70's, but the dialouge is worse.

God only knows how Joss can mold Wonder Woman into his ideal image. My bet is that she will be a teenager, have more high school drama than superhero drama, and not have half the backstory that the current Diana of Troy has.

The Thing's left hand seems to be separating from his arm.

Lousy costume. Doesn't look near beefy enough to be the thing. The probably should have CGI'ed him. Original Look

And someone needs to tell Jessica to stand up straight. A superhero needs to have at least a little athletic look to them.

If you care for these "ultimate" reinventions Marvel is fond of (I only like Ultimate X-Men, myself), then it might interest you to know that Orson Scott Card is writing Ultimate Iron Man when it debuts in March. I'm not sure how long he's signed up for, but I'd guess no more than 12 issues. See here for details. For those not up on comics, the quick summary is that the "ultimate" line is Marvel's way of restarting their characters from scratch so as to draw in new readers who don't want to fuck around with the 40 years of storylines.

The blog has a story today about her work with Marvel Entertainment. Do you think they know they've hired Darl McBride's long lost sister?

If you're out of the X-Men loop, (or never in it in the first place), Issue 1 does a decent job of setting up the situation and characters, though it does make more sense if you've been following the recent story lines. Hopefully I'll get to check out Firefly soon, since his comic writing reflects well on him.

If you're out of the X-Men loop, (or never in it in the first place), Issue 1 does a decent job of setting up the situation and characters, though it does make more sense if you've been following the recent story lines. Hopefully I'll get to check out Firefly soon, since his comic writing reflects well on him.

It's about time Mystique found some honest work.

Marvel initiated a "web comics" version of their popular comic books a few years back called DotComics.

During that time, they had a full issues of Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-Men released every month in Flash format. The UI is pretty interesting, as each comic panel is magnified as the story goes. There's advertisement in between.

I haven't been on DotComic for a while (a year or two), notably because they started having only the first half of the comic books as a trailer, and also some of their titles fell behind schedule online. Looking at it now, there's quite a few titles under the free section, and there's many more under the members section (which IIRC, is a free registration.)

But I think it's still an effective marketing strategy because I actually enjoyed these comics and read them when I otherwise wouldn't have. The writing was excellent, and the art was very nice. And I'm sure I told at least 2 or 3 people about the site. And now, I'm actually buying the actual comic books because it got me hooked.

(I just bought the hardcover version of Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1, which collects #1-13 and I'm still collecting Ultimate X-Men.)

Waterjet is *the* coolest cutting technology in the world :)

People interested in becoming creators of comics might want to check out Marvel's Epic line, which is accepting submissions from newcomers to the business. If your work is accepted they guide you through the process of basically getting the entire book together yourself, and then they publish it. Because they only have to worry about publishing and you do pretty much everything on the creative end of things, books don't have to sell incredibly well and they can remain viable entities, unlike Marvel's normal titles with are pretty much all top 100 sellers.

I believe it pays $8k to be split up among the creators as they see fit. The big drawback is that they gain ownership of any new characters you create if I remember correctly, but to people trying to break into the business this may be a great opportunity.

• The Ultimates
  This is the best example of a modern revamp of a superhero theme. The writing and art is excellent.
• Ultimate Spider-man
  This is a story of Peter Parker and it's great how the writer always pushes the character into situations he'd hate to be in. The story is amazing, and the characters aren't two dimensional. It makes for an excellent read.
• New X-Men
  It's X-Men, but it looks far beyond the old tired stories of a minority group fighting for the people that hate them. It has a sci-fi edge to it.

• Y: The Last Man (by DC's Vertigo)
  It deals with the consequences of the world-wide death of every man on Earth
• Mek (by Wildstorm's Homage Studios)
  It's about cybernetics used by youths in the future as a social statement, much like scarification and piercing today.
• Global Frequency (by DC's Wildstorm)
  The world leaders, who should be the best and brightest, aren't... so the best and the brightest have rallied on to take matters into their own hands.

• The Ultimates
  This is the best example of a modern revamp of a superhero theme. The writing and art is excellent.
• Ultimate Spider-man
  This is a story of Peter Parker and it's great how the writer always pushes the character into situations he'd hate to be in. The story is amazing, and the characters aren't two dimensional. It makes for an excellent read.
• New X-Men
  It's X-Men, but it looks far beyond the old tired stories of a minority group fighting for the people that hate them. It has a sci-fi edge to it.

• Y: The Last Man (by DC's Vertigo)
  It deals with the consequences of the world-wide death of every man on Earth
• Mek (by Wildstorm's Homage Studios)
  It's about cybernetics used by youths in the future as a social statement, much like scarification and piercing today.
• Global Frequency (by DC's Wildstorm)
  The world leaders, who should be the best and brightest, aren't... so the best and the brightest have rallied on to take matters into their own hands.

Gamma radiation, although it passes through many feet of air and well into tissue, is not as damaging because it is not ionizing. However, high exposures have significant impacts.

Some public information from Marvel's 10-Q SEC filing in this PDF:

"7. SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE
During 1999, the Company entered into a license agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., ("Sony") providing for the licensing of the Spider-Man characters in exchange for a gross participation in the marketing of the Spider-Man: The Movie (which was commercially released on May 3, 2002) and related releases on DVD/VHS and likely other revenue sources (e.g., syndication sales, etc.), and established an equally owned joint venture for the merchandise licensing of the Spider-Man: The Movie characters.
Earnings associated with the Company's participation in the gross proceeds of the movie have been recognized as non-refundable advance royalty payments as received, which amounted to $10 million in 1999, and $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2002. During the quarter ended September 30, 2002, Sony reported Marvel's participation through such date at approximately $2.0 million in excess of advances previously received - which amount was subsequently collected from Sony. Prospectively, additional movie royalties will be recognized as revenue - as reported by Sony. Earnings associated with our merchandising joint venture (accounted for under the equity method of accounting) amounted to approximately $1.8 million during the three month period ended September 30, 2002, and $7.1 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2002, and represent the Company's share of merchandising royalties, net of expenses. The Company's share of the joint venture's earlier losses were $0.3 million in each of the years 2000 and 2001."

Millions in revenue, but no profits?

...GameCube would be Marvel: continuously re-introducing old popular titles in the hope that old fans with new incomes will buy them and restore the company's fortunes.

...Sega would be Image: beautiful graphics time after time, but slow to realize that's not enough to keep them from crashing and burning.

...Sony would be Vertigo: late to the party, but chock-full of great stories with some truly radical, if not entirely beautiful, graphics.

...Microsoft would Dark Horse: rather than creating anything great on their own, buy up everyone else's popular ideas and market the hell out of them.

Ultimate Spider-Man issue #1 will be one of the free books being handed out on Free Comic Book Day. It's the fourth comic book down at the website (alongside JLA Adventures, Tomb Raider and a Star Wars pre-AoTC comic.)

Ultimate Spider-Man is an amazing comic book. It's a retelling of the classic story for a newer generation. It's a great jumping on point for any new reader. Plus, now, it's free =)

Oh... you can also read the rest of the series for free in Flash format at Marvel's dot.Comics site.

From the Free Comic Book Day site:

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1--FCBD EDITION
by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, & Art Thibert

The perfect comic book for Spider-Man movie fans! New readers will meet Peter Parker, Mary Jane, Norman Osborn, Aunt May and Uncle Ben in the upcoming smash film - and this highly-sought-after debut issue begins their new adventures! Whether they're already a Spider-Fan, or only know the Web-Spinner from his upcoming motion picture, this easy-to-follow, introductory adventure is just the ticket for new customers! Cover by Marvel Editor In Chief Joe Quesada!

Blade Bio

This movie was a real action movie based on a comic book hero, nothing more nothing less. I personally found it to be quite entertaining, but I wasn't expecting something that would move my soul. If you want to pick on something to complain about, why not some of the "wrestling moves" used in a few of the fight scenes.

I found the plot to be sufficient to move from one fight to the next. They make a decent effort to explain things like Whistler still being alive, and they had already established the nature of the virus in the first movie. It had more action then the Blade, but was exactly what I was expecting to see. I wasn't disappointed in it at all and intend on seeing it again with a friend.

Basically it was a rip off of the Marvel Comics Iron Man character, albeit without Tony Stark's litany of personal problems.

Even Iron Man, who first appeared circa 1963, is not that original. Robert Heinlein's Hugo award winning novel Starship Troopers, which prominently featured powered armor, was first published in 1959.

I know that GE did a great deal of development in the early 60's on the Hardiman and related "Warehouseman" (I forget the name) human augment suits.

I do not doubt that the idea of power suits predates 1959. It can at least be traced to the late 50's early 60's. So when someone pops up on a decades old idea with a "hey this idea goes all the way back to the 90s!", I get a little testy.

Cheers

I.V.

The home of the Little Mermaid, the Submariner or Aquaman?

Still waiting for scientist finding a huge, yellow door at the northpole, a skull shaped cave in deep Africa or at least a portal to the negative zone.

http://www.marvel.com/dotcomics/

Marvel has made some online editions of its Ultimate line available. Issues #1 of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men are both up there. Check them out. They are both excellent.

This isn't a wholly new idea. Marvel uses a similar tactic in their online comics. The comics are designed to work like a regular comic complete with full page advertisments. Unlike a regular comic, you can't just skip the page. It was inevitable, it's new technology adapting to old methods.

This isn't a wholly new idea. Marvel uses a similar tactic in their online comics. The comics are designed to work like a regular comic complete with full page advertisments. Unlike a regular comic, you can't just skip the page. It was inevitable, it's new technology adapting to old methods.

About a year ago this time, when I was working for AnotherUniverse.com in Virginia, there were rumblings that the company was in financial trouble. Luckily, it seemed these nice gentlemen from California were willing to bail us out through a cooperative venture.

Shortly after I left the company two months later, they'd made all the employees sign their lives away with non-compete agreements; they forced the founder and president (Steve Milo, now working for Marvel Comics) out of his position into an advisory role, and then got rid of him entirely; and they slowly subverted and subsumed the AnotherUniverse name by dismantling the website and catalog and rebranding it. In short, AnotherUniverse.com was assimilated. There's no other word for it. I'm glad I got out when I did.

My friends who still work there say things are functioning well, and the company is apparently doing well. But then again, the Borg appear to be doing well as they conquer the universe too.
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