The Mutant of The Night

Here on The Panel Biter I have made it obnoxiously clear in every X-Men discussion that Nightcrawler is my favorite X-Men and one of my favorite Marvel characters in general, but I'm sure fans such as myself have pondered if there is some type of cap to how awesome he is. Some kind of limit that remains uncrossed. Buckle up readers, because today I'm topping that cap by telling you about Nightcrawler's daughter from another dimension! Today's Z-Lister is Nocturne!

Talia Josephine Wagner was created by Jim Calafiore in 2001's "Blink #4". TJ comes from a version of The Marvel Universe where Nightcrawler of The X-Men is her father and Scarlet Witch of The Avengers is her mother. In TJ's world a villain known as The Shadow King uses his powers to possess Wolverine's body and kill Professor X and Jean Grey. Professor X expelled The Shadow King from Wolverine's mind just as the he died, but Cyclops left The X-Men as a result of these events. With Wolverine and Nightcrawler leading this version of The X-Men, Nocturne became a valued member of the team.

Three years after these events, Nocturne was visited by The Time Broker to join The Exiles. The Exiles are a group of character from across The Multiverse who help fix distortions in other universes in order to keep their own worlds from being distorted. Kind of like a reality-hopping clean-up crew. In order to save her world, Nocturne joins The Exiles. While on these adventures, Nocturne falls in love with an alternate version of John Proudstar/Thunderbird and becomes pregnant. After Thunderbird is put into a coma by a version of Galactus, Nocturne has a miscarriage that's never given a detailed explanation. Despite those events Nocturne later returns to a positive attitude. After being a member of both the main universe X-Men and The New Excalibur, Nocturne suffers from stroke. During her recovery, The Exiles return with Thunderbird awake from his coma. While The Exiles continue to fight evil across worlds, Nocturne and Thunderbird leave the group to help her recovery and redevelop their relationship.

I should note that while she looks similar to Nightcrawler, she did not develop his mutant ability to teleport. Instead she inherited The Scarlet Witch's "Hex Bolts" which-instead of altering reality-expel energy from the realm Nightcrawler enters in-between teleports. An ability unique to her is the ability to possess other people. While using their body, the original mind of the body is knocked out while Nocturne's mind runs the body. After leaving a body, the person possessed in left in a 24 hour coma.

I always liked the concept of The Exiles and a character like Nocturne is why. She borrows cool elements of both her parents and really has some traits unique to her, which I appreciate. It would be too easy for writers to just mesh the two characters together and say "original character". Given the suppression of X-Men characters over at Marvel, I can't see Nocturne returning anytime soon. Unless Marvel reuses The Exiles. And honestly, with all the alternate worlds we saw during 2015's "Secret Wars", a team of heroes who clean up alternate Earths might be necessary.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I'm sorry for the current lack of posts, Blogger is having technical issues and writing has become much more difficult. Please be patient.

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The Nest Of Owls

"Court of Owls"

1880, Gotham City during the days of The Wild West. A scared man runs through the streets, bumbling about some monster following him. He bumps into a wandering bounty hunter (Jonah Hex) and is almost shot dead, but he instead begs the gunman to kill him. Two police officers take the man away from the bounty hunter and start walking him into their carriage. The two men consider taking him to the looney bin, but notice the man is Adam Wayne, a billionaire from one of Gotham's first families. Knowing his arrest would compromise the family legacy, the police toss him back into his home Wayne Tower. Adam gets up only to be swarmed by a flock of owls.

In modern Gotham, Batman and Nightwing are disguised as gang members in a "Joker gang". The two don their masks and defeat the gang before they can poison the Gotham water supply. When they return to the now rebuilt Wayne Manor they are greeted by Alfred, Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. With Barbara and Cassandra out of town, Dick, Tim and Steph are visiting for a party Bruce is throwing. Bruce gives a speech to his guests on how he wishes to reestablish the Gotham Restoration Comity, that despite the clean-up from The First Born's attack (JL: Godfall) being finished, Bruce wants the poor to have a chance to make it in the city. He believes that Gotham is a place of trail and hardship and he asks all his rich guests to donate money to parts of Gotham that are populated by the lower-class. After his speech, he talks with Lincoln March (who he met during "The Deadliest Shadow"), March and Bruce get along and March claims he's running for mayor, much to Adam West's concern. After chatting it up, Bruce overhears his guest Commissioner Jim Gordon on the phone about a homicide and sneaks out.

Batman meets Officer Harvey Bullock at the crime scene where a man has been stabbed several times and pinned to wall by small owl-themed daggers. He discovers oil and a brush in the man's coat and lights a flame that spells out the message, "Bruce Wayne will die". Furthermore, Batman finds DNA samples under the man's fingernails.

Upon getting back to the cave, Batman is using hologram technology and a communicator to Jim Gordon to do an analyses of the victim's corpse from the Batcave. More clues point to a mythical group called The Court of Owls who have been rumored to be in Gotham since its founding. When Nightwing shows up in the cave to tell Batman his other allies have left, Batman reveals the DNA under the victim's nails to be Nightwing's. Nightwing recalls the man attacking him on the street, but he assumed the man was drunk or something. After a night of researching, Batman finds this man has no identity and can only assumed he was killed by someone who might believe in the Court of Owls.

The next day, Bruce meets Lincoln at one of Gotham's oldest buildings. Lincoln wants Bruce's support in running for mayor and even notes how he too lost his parents due to Gotham's criminals. The two men are attacked by an assassin and while Lincoln gets away, Bruce and the assassin fall off the building. Bruce grabs onto a gargoyle while the assassin falls to his death, but his body is gone when Bruce gets down there. That night, Bruce discovers the assassin was dressed in the garb of a Talon, the apparent enforcers of The Court. Still not believing in this group, Batman's research leads him to a his ancestor Adam Wayne, who's death records match up with the stab victim. Adam Wayne had constructed every building in Gotham before his death, and it was by his decree that every building be built without a 13th floor. When Batman investigates some buildings, he finds that all the buildings have blocked off 13th floors filled with memorabilia of The Court. After one of these floors ends up exploding with Batman in it, he returns to the cave to continue his research only to be yelled at by Nightwing, who claims Batman is too weak and tired to keep on this case.

Batman tells Nightwing that after his parents were murdered he-as a child-believed it had to be planned. He knew the stories of the Court and investigated Gotham's most esteemed families, but his research wound up getting him trapped in an empty warehouse attic for three weeks before Alfred and the police found him in a coma. Batman learned from that experience all those years ago that he can't let his emotions drive his mission, that it was his youthful anger that failed him. After checking out another 13th floor, Batman is attacked by another Talon and knocked unconscious.

For an unspecified amount of time, Batman is trapped in maze with bright lights and cameras by The Court of Owls. Because of Maxwell Lord's actions in "JL: Checkmate", Batman no longer has the back-up personality he used in "The Knight in Wonderland" and so when the bright maze starts to drive Batman insane, he has no psychological defenses. He sees visions and stumbles upon rooms filled with pictures of old rich Gotham citizens and coffins with pictures of children on them and a miniature statue of Gotham with a wall of names. Names of significant people in Gotham including himself. As Batman yells at the cameras that he's not listening to them, a Talon assassin begins beating Batman up. Escaping, Batman thinks he sees his parents, but giant owls burst out of them and attack Batman. Talon reappears and beats Batman with one of the cameras. Batman is seemingly defeated, but he sees a vision of owls eating Adam Wayne and he finds the energy to fight The Talon. Batman recalls the water of a fountain he found and the stone used for the owl statues, he uses material from a broken camera to set fire to the statue and cause a fiery explosion that drives the unseen Court members away and gives Batman a passage into the sewer beyond.

A few days later, Nightwing comes to Wayne Manor and finds Bruce has surrounded himself in darkness during his recovery. The manor is attacked an army of Talons, one of which Nightwing pins to the ground of the Batcave using Batman's giant penny. Blood tests on the Talon reveal that he has been given a modified sample of Lazarus Water, the same water than kept Batman's foes Ra's al Ghul and Talia al Ghul immortal. Over the Talon's radio device, a voice from The Court tells Batman that men like him and Lincoln stand to upset the balance of Gotham, to give Gotham's glory to those who are undeserved to hold it. Alfred finds a message on the Bat-Computer with a list of targets the Court want dead, so Nightwing calls in Robin, Spoiler, Black Bat, Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, Catwoman and Wildcat to help spread across Gotham and save all the targets from Talon assassins. Meanwhile, Batman dons large battle armor and drops the temperature in Wayne Manor to beat the Talons until they collapse from the cold. Batman heads out into the city and finds Lincoln stabbed in his chair, in his hand is the location of The Court of Owls. The location turns out to be the warehouse Bruce was trapped in as a child and when he arrives there he finds each member of The Court of Owls dead by suicide.

Though Gotham starts to become peaceful and his allies think its a job well done, Batman researches each of the Court member's history. Though Nightwing returns to continue his criticism, Batman claims one of the members was William Cobb, Dick Grayson/Nightwing's grandfather, which explains why the first stab victim confronted Dick on the streets. Batman and Nightwing investigate a closed down orphanage that many of the Court members funded back in the day. While Batman is alone, he is struck in his notably weak back by a shadowy figure. Batman is then trapped in a net as the man reveals himself to be Lincoln March. Lincoln reveals he too had the Lazarus Water inside him and faked his death for The Court, that when the Court members killed themselves it was to answer for their failures to take Gotham back and to leave their riches in Lincoln's hands, so that The Court may expand beyond Gotham. As Lincoln dons an owl-themed costume, Batman struggles to get up, but sees Nightwing sneaking up. Batman goads Lincoln into revealing more and as Lincoln explains: he is Bruce's brother.

When Bruce was three, Martha Wayne was pregnant with a second child, Thomas Wayne Junior. After a car accident, Junior was born with brain disabilities and the Wayne's put him in this very orphanage so that the orderly could care for him. However, The Wayne's never told Bruce about his brother out of shame for their irresponsibility. After the Wayne's died and the orphanage was shut down due to health concerns, Junior was taken into The Court to be their secret weapon. He was raised to be like Bruce Wayne, and when Bruce announced his plans to help the poor, The Court sent Junior in to start their plan.

Now fully suited, Junior stands over Batman ready to kill him, but Nightwing leaps in and fights Junior. When Batman is finally able to get up, Junior is seemingly defeated. Nightwing carries Batman out, but Junior sets off a bomb he has on his suit and Batman and Nightwing barely jump out the building as it explodes.

Bruce and Dick talk at Wayne Manor, Bruce believing he isn't what he used to be. He never knew for sure if The Court was real, he never even knew he had a brother, and he still doubts if can keep up all of Gotham's secrets. Dick reminds Bruce that while his brother may have been a foe, he will always have his family. As Dick leaves Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred walk down to the cave and remark on how with The Court gone Gotham can finally move into the future. And that a new era, needs a new Batman. Bruce reveals a sleek robotic suit (the Batman Beyond suit) in a case. Bruce grabs his cane and walks to the computer, "now then, old chum" he says as he sits, "Let's see what Gotham has to offer today".

After the credits, a dark room full of computer screens is being watched by an unseen man. Each screen shows Batman fighting various villains and recruiting many sidekicks. One monitor shows an image of Batman on a rooftop, taking a playing card out of his belt and looking at it. The man in the chair smiles a wide, red-liped grin. The screen goes black as The Joker whispers, "oh, darling".

Thanks for reading.

Back to hope! "Supergirl: Children of Krypton" comes next.

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The Panel Biter's Archenemy

It's not often I call people out, but upon recent studies I've discovered that The Panel Biter has an archenemy. A man who sees the opinions this comic fan has as the incorrect hopes of readership he doesn't understand. Today I'll be talking about Dan Didio: The Man Who Almost Killed Nightwing.

Dan Didio is a writer, editor and publisher for DC Comics, he has been with the company since 2002 and should be respected for his works on many obscure books like OMAC, The Forever People, and Challengers of The Unknown. Didio is very much a supporter of the more obscure DC Comics characters and has been an overall help to the company's business. All praises sung, Didio's one place of opinion that falls short is when he talks about Batman characters. That's not to say he means to destroy Batman, but rather has only one point of view for Batman characters.

The first character to be slammed by Didio is Stephanie Brown. Stephanie has been the vigilante Spoiler, a short-time Robin, and the third Batgirl. Unlike other Batman characters, Steph was the kind of character who wasn't unbelievable. She was light-hearted and comedic to her allies, and more annoying than threatening to her enemies. She showed up around the time Tim Drake was Robin-and the smartest of the sidekicks-and Cassandra Cain was Batgirl-being a former assassin and master martial artist-so she wasn't seemingly vigilante material compared to them and her training took a lot out of her, but readers got to see her develop into a great hero. Then Didio happened. In "Detective Comics #809" in 2005, Stephanie-while using the Robin mantle-was tortured to death by Black Mask. After her death, readers were upset because she got no memorial in the Batcave like Jason Todd-another Robin who died and was honored by Batman with a case containing his costume in the cave. In a Q&A, Dan Didio claimed Stephanie was never a Robin. Despite the fact that she A. Wore the costume, B. Used the name, and C. Was referred to as Robin by Batman, who's pretty much the authority on who is and isn't Robin. Oh, it doesn't end there. In another interview about the story in which Steph died, Didio claimed the plan was to kill her at the end, but by then she wasn't Robin yet. So Didio told the writers to make Steph the new Robin for a short time, that way her death would be bigger. So basically, Didio made Steph Robin just to have her killed and than when he was called out on Steph's death being treated unequalled to Jason Todd, Didio claimed she didn't count as a Robin. Like an ouroboros, Didio chews on his own editorial fanny.

Next is Batwoman. And yes, Batwoman is completely different from Batgirl. Without going into family details, Kate Kane was another Gotham socialite who was inspired by Batman to use her fortune and military training to become Batwoman. Like many DC Comics characters, the history of both Kate and the Batwoman mantle is a bit complicated, all you need to know is that alongside being a perfectly capable crime-fighter, Kate is also Jewish and gay. In fact, she is DC Comic's most prominent gay character. In her most recent book, J.H. Williams and Haden Blackman planned on getting Kate hitched to Metropolis police officer Maggie Sawyer. Then Didio happened. Dan Didio forbid the marriage. And before you jump to conclusions and make this about sexuality, the ban on marriage was made to apply to all characters. Didio isn't homophobic, he's just a killjoy. See, Didio said in an interview (and I know I keep claiming he says this stuff in interviews without sources, but if you really cared you'd google this stuff yourself, shows more dedication from your end) that superheroes should not have happy social lives. That all heroes-no matter who they be-have to sacrifice personal pleasures and commit to defending others. If Batwoman was the only superhero in DC Comics, this would make sense. If Superman, Aquaman and Green Arrow hadn't been married in the past without any change to their duties as superheroes, this would make sense. But because Batwoman IS NOT the only superhero, it does not matter if she spends some time being a married woman. Because Superman, Aquaman and Green Arrow HAVE been married without any change to their roles as superheroes, having a happy personal life does not ruin a character. What makes these claims worse is that Didio doesn't state his opinion as just his, but firmly states that DC characters are not allowed to get married. Because of Didio, Williams and Blackman left the Batwoman book and fans collectively sighed in disappointment.

The final example is the one you loyal readers will understand the most. Didio wants to kill Dick Grayson. Yes, Dick Grayson, the first Robin, former Teen Titan, longtime Nightwing, current Spyril Agent, and one of DC Comic's most beloved superheroes. And my favorite comic book character. Dan Didio's initial desire to kill-off Grayson was when he uncovered a cancelled script for a 2005 "Crisis" event which would end with Dick Grayson going through some traumatic event and becoming a villain. Another script for that event was going to have Grayson die at the end, an act that Dan Didio really pushed, but was scrapped by Geoff Johns who saw the character as "the linchpin of DC Comics". Further more, in the more recent event "Forever Evil" Dick Grayson's secret identity as Nightwing was outed by a group of villains and he was strapped to a literal death machine. All the advertising made it seem like the character was going to die, but due to fan backlash Didio's plan of killing off Grayson was prevented again by the rest of DC Editorial. Instead of dying, Dick Grayson's death was faked to the public and he was sent undercover at a spy organization. Thus "killing Nightwing", but keeping Grayson alive. Didio has wanted to kill Grayson off for so long because Grayson opposes his opinions of superheroes. Grayson is optimistic, friendly, his love life is always booming. Didio probably wants him gone because he knows it'd spark stories about depressed friends of Grayson, making Grayson a martyr of sadness. Didio also must dislike the idea of Grayson being an adult because if Grayson is an adult that must make Batman at least forty-five. Comic books are a lot like professional sports, once someone passes the age of thirty-six people stop pushing them. That's why DC Comics is always rebooting their comics, to keep guys like Batman from aging. Despite the fact that one of the best Batman stories ever written is about Batman being, like, sixty.

Taking all of this in, you can understand why I have such gripes with Didio. Again, I have to respect this guy, he helps keep DC afloat and he does his job well. But when he is against something, its for such wrong reasons. It's like Dan Didio is against progression. "Can't let this character get married, than things will be happy and boring! Can't let this character older, than people won't like him anymore". The only time he wants characters to progress-like Steph becoming Robin-is so they make a bigger "thud" when they hit the ground. When he isn't being a stubborn maul about things, he's being a ratings-hungry business-hog! I'm not saying DC Comics should fire this guy, but at least stop giving control over what GOOD comic book writers have to offer that will shake up the industry he's obsessed with keeping the same.

Thanks for reading!

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The Path of The Bushido

The Teen Titans are a team of young heroes from around the U.S., but like many teams of superheroes they are not opposed to welcoming heroes of vast cultures and races. One reserve member of this team hails from a land of Japan. The hero in question is today's Z-Lister, Bushido!

Created by Geoff Johns and Ben Raab in "Titans Annual #1" in 2000, Ryuku Orsono came from a long lineage of Bushido. A Bushido-to summarize-is a warrior who seeks to die in battle rather than flee from one. Ryuku was trained by his mother to be a warrior, but Ryuku was not interested. However, when he was a teenager Ryuku's mother was murdered by a demon known as Tengu-in reference to the Japanese kite demon of the same name-and her last words to Ryuku were "continue". Ryuku took the title of Bushido like his ancestors before him and fought evil from modern day gangsters to ancient demons in Japan. When he wasn't training or fighting crime he was tracking down Tengu to have his revenge. He had trained in the use of naginata, jitte, hachiwara, shuriken, and the katana, all of which carry the guiding spirits of the Bushido before him.

The demon Tengu possessed the body of Beast Boy, a member of The Teen Titans. When The Teen Titans followed the possessed Beast Boy to Japan, they came to conflict with Bushido who knew Beast Boy was possessed by Tengu and claimed the only way to free him and destroy Tengu was to decapitate him with his magical sword. Though The Teen Titans tried to stop him, Bushido sliced Beast Boy's throat which freed Beast Boy and killed Tengu.

Bushido retuned to join Beast Boy's Titans West/Titans L.A., but the team quickly dissolved due to lack of member commitment. Bushido returned to The Teen Titans to help fight Superboy-Prime. Superboy-Prime is an entire post on his own, but simply put he's an immature, misunderstood, and uncontrollable version of Superman. Bushido is quickly killed by Superboy-Prime, as the villain cuts Bushido in half using his heat vision. Bushido was later revived as a Black Lantern zombie to join a group of Black Lanterns and kill Superboy-Prime, but the same thing happened, more or less.

Bushido hasn't been seen since, though he had a minor appearance on the "Teen Titans" animated series. I think this character is pretty cool, little known fact about me: I like Japanese culture, especially historical stuff like the bushido. I'm disappointed the character has such a short history and two unimportant deaths. Characters like this who carry cultural diversity and honorable lore should receive more attention. However, with the main Teen Titans book being so poor, part of me doubts we'll see this character anytime soon. Maybe he can team up with Katana or something. No, no the sword, there's an actual character named Katana. What does she do? Well, she....has a katana. Hmm.

Thank you for reading!

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The Sum of Their Parts

Robots! Amazing automatons designed for purposes beyond human limitations! Combat! Research! Rescue! Dusting your house while at the movies! These and many other fascinating functions are performed by science-fiction's most possible creation. Today we'll be looking at the best robots in comic book history! So, here is The Panel Biter's Top 5 Comic Book Robots!

5. Danger

Although this character's sentient form was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday in 2004's "Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #8", Danger's original form was created by legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in "The X-Men #2" in 1963 as The Danger Room. You see, The X-Men owned a high-tech training room ever-so-affectionately referred to as "The Danger Room" which over time had been upgraded to suit new forms of training protocols. One such upgrade was an artificial intelligence that the X-Men's leader Charles Xavier tried to bury with his psychic powers. Eventually, the AI was free and sought vengeance on the X-Men. Danger had also been programmed with the weaknesses of every recorded X-Men. Early on, Danger was not programmed to kill The X-Men and had to resort to manipulating one student into killing himself. Despite that surprisingly dark act of villainy, Danger would join The X-Men as an ally years later. I like Danger because of it's clever concept, turning a common element of X-Men stories into it's own character. Why Danger designed a female robot body? I guess some intelligences are just born feminine.

4. Red Tornado

Though the original Red Tornado was a hefty suburban mother with a pot helmet (search "The Crimson Crime-Fighter" for more), this Red Tornado was created by Gardner Fox and Dick Dillin in 1968's "Justice League of America #64". This character's origin is confusing to say the least, but the simplest way I can put it is that an alien called Ulthoom had split itself into two beings in the process of creating it's own version of Earth. One was The Tyrant which became a villain, and the other was The Champion who saw an evil scientist building a robot to destroy The Justice Society of America. The Champion possessed the body of the robot, lost it's memory and became the heroic Red Tornado. Again, simplest way I can put it. The Red Tornado has been a JL member for decades, he's built the human identity of John Smith-real creative, by the way-and has even advised for the teenaged team Young Justice. What I like about Red Tornado is how bright his design is, focusing on primary colors. And while I don't like his backstory I'm a sucker for a robot-with-a-soul type of character. Plus, how many characters in comic books primarily have air-based powers, right?

3. Skeets

Well this was a given. Skeets first appeared in "Booster Gold #1" in 1986, created by Dan Jurgens. Skeets was originally a security robot from the future, he was tasked with watching over a museum until one night a security guard stole Skeets, a load of superhero gear and a time machine to come to our time and become a rich and famous superhero named Booster Gold. Since Booster was the only person from his era, Skeets had no choice but to follow Booster's orders and become his assistant, eventually taking a liking to his kidnapper. It's time stockholm syndrome...but from the future! Skeets has had many adventures with Booster and is always a comedic foil to the hero. I enjoy Skeets because of how well he bounces of Booster Gold, when Skeets became capable of sarcasm his interactions with Booster became all the more entertaining. Oh, and while Skeets is usually seen with either an egg-shaped or plate-shaped body, there was a time when Skeets became Booster Gold's armor and was able to move Booster's body if the hero was unconscious. Heh, yeah, that was cool.

2. The Metal Men

Created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru in the pages of "Showcase #37" in 1962, The Metal Men are six robots designed by Doctor William Magnus to help save people from situations human beings couldn't handle. Each robot is crafted from a metal: Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Platinum and Tin. Each has a different personality and exclusive skills based on the metal used in their creation. For example: while Lead can block radiation, Mercury can become liquid. Their origins have been changed now and again and members of come and gone, but the core team of Magnus and The Metal Men resemble a family. I like the Metal Men because they are reminiscent of a reused concept, but given a shade of charm. Magnus originally designed them for the government, but after he saw each had a personality and regarded them as one of their own, Magnus only wanted to protect them. It's a really heartwarming origin when it's told correctly and the presence of the team adds an unappreciated element to The DC Universe.

1. The Vision

The Vision was created by Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, and John Buscema in "The Avengers #57" in 1968. Like Red Tornado, The Vision is actually a Silver Age redesign of a Golden Age character of the same name, but this Vision became more commonly known. Okay, try to follow me on this: Professor Hank Pym (also Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, and Wasp #2) was a member of The Avengers and he created a robot named Ultron to help protect the world. Instead, Ultron became one of The Avenger's deadliest foes. In fact, Ultron's brainwaves were copied off of Hank Pym's. After failing to defeat The Avengers, Ultron created The Vision as a "synthezoid" to battle The Avengers. Yet again, The Vision's brainwaves were based of The Avenger known as Wonder Man. The Avengers convinced The Vision to join them, seeing as how his brainwaves were based off Wonder Man-a much closer friend to The Avengers than Hank-The Vision turned against his creator and became a hero, even marrying The Scarlet Witch for some time. I like The Vision from a design standpoint to start, its hard to make green, red and yellow meld so perfectly. Though his newer designs are noticeably better. Also, even though he's a robot his powers of density control are very interesting. He can make himself so heavy he's super strong or so light he can phase through walls. The thing I enjoy most is how "beyond machine" The Vision is. While it is true his personality is usually the typical logical computer type, The Vision was created from organic and robot tissue, his mind is that of a robot, but he has a brain. In a sense, he is a perfect combination of man and machine. His newest solo series has really upped my interest in the character and I look forward to seeing what else the character has to offer!

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Keep On Buggin'

"Blue Beetle"

On the planet Reach-2, a council of aliens sit around a table discussing the take over of multiple worlds. The council's active general and administer of "the infiltrators" is named Djozha, and does not impress the council with his infiltration of "easy planets". The council claims they need a powerful planet, and so Djozha announces his next target will be a planet untouched for a millennia, a planet where one of their own has laid dormant for centuries. Djozha shocks the council by revealing the next target under The Reach's control will be planet Earth.

From there, we are shown a scene of two teenage boys getting kicked out of a party and walking home. Jaime Reyes and his friend Paco cross a river where they see a fisherman getting beat up by some thugs. The fisherman tosses a box he pulled up from the river towards the boys and they run off with the box as the thugs chase them. Backed up towards a tall cliff, Jaime opens the box to reveal a small blue scarab. As the thugs get closer, Jaime grabs the scarab and it crawls onto his back, sprouting blue armor around him. He uses the scarabs powers to scare off the thugs and flies himself and Paco back home.

Paco and Jaime learn that the scarab won't come off his back, but by reflex he can activate the suit. Jaime considers telling is family, but Paco says if he tells them they could call The Department of Metahuman Affairs on him and he'd be in a cell for the rest of his life. Paco's social network feed is blowing up with news of armed men holding a family hostage until "the kid with the scarab" shows up. Taking responsibility, Jaime activates the suit and flies to the home of the hostages. The men-who were the same ones at the river-want the scarab, but Jaime tells them it won't come off. When one of the men goes to shoot a child hostage, he is speared in the shoulder by Jaime who is just as surprised at what he did. The man falls to the ground and the two other men back up and frantically claim they'll kill the family. Jaime starts to hear a voice in his head, it indicates that a similar action would be optimal. Jaime figures out that the voice belongs to the scarab and that his suit wants to kill these men. Jaime tries to talk the two men down, but the teenage girl of the family grabs the gun off the dead man and shoots one of the other criminals in the stomach. The last man runs out of the house, only for Jaime to create pincers from his suit and grab the man. Unintentionally, he crushes the man to death. The police and news crews look on in fear at Jaime. Jaime flies off.

The next day at school, Paco talks to Jaime and learns that the suit is forcing Jaime to kill. If he can't protect people without killing someone, what's the point? Paco believes the opposite, that killing is hard, but the most effective way. Jaime-pissed off by Paco's ignorance-runs into Brenda, the girl at the hostage situation who shot one of the criminals. Jaime and Brenda seem to strike up a friendship as Jaime is the only person at school who shares her shame for the loss of life and how tough it is to deal with killing someone. After school, two men watch Jaime leave school with Paco. These two men are Kyle Rayner-Earth's newest Green Lantern who'd appear in HBO's "Takion"-and Mike Carter-Booster Gold who's taking a break from superheroism. Kyle explains to Mike that the scarab on Jaime could be connected to one of the Green Lantern Corps' oldest enemies and that they should take the kid in before anyone else gets hurt, but Mike says the kid deserves a chance to prove he's not a monster and that they owe it to Ted Kord to guide him. Kyle allows Mike to tutor Jaime, but if things go south he's stepping in.

That night, Jaime has a nightmare of himself enslaving the world, with heroes dead and his own family and friends under his boot as aliens land on the scorched Earth. He wakes up sweating and asking the scarab where it came from, but the scarab has no memory. The next day, Jaime receives a note telling him to meet at certain coordinates in the desert, it also reveals whoever sent it knows he has the scarab. When Jaime and Paco get to the location, Mike is waiting there. Stopping the scarab from perceiving him as a threat, Jaime learns that Mike used to be Booster Gold and offers to help Jaime become a superhero. While Paco sees this as a great opportunity, Jaime is afraid of his suit. Ultimately, he accepts the offer. That day, Mike trains Jaime in the use of all the weapons his suit can create. Jaime also discovers his suit has two modes that make him stronger and faster, respectively. Mike insists Jaime tell the people of El Paso he's a hero, but Jaime doesn't think he deserves to make that claim. Mike tells Jaime about the time his friend Ted Kord-The Blue Beetle-thought he wasn't cut out to be a hero. Mike had told Ted that being a hero isn't about having powers or being strong, it was about having the heart to stand up for people, no matter who they may be. Everyone deserves to be saved, just as everyone deserves the chance to be a hero. Jaime shows up at an El Paso news station and speaks to the citizens of El Paso over air. He introduces himself as "The New Blue Beetle" and that he only wishes to protect his city.

On Reach-2, the council demands answers as to why the Infiltrator scarab that Djozha reactivated has not conquered Earth yet. Djozha tells them it is simply waiting for a moment when Earth's heroes are weaker. Away from the council, Djozha tells his top "Enforcer Scarab" and "Negotiator Scarab" that he lied to the council and that these two must go to Earth and either recruit Jaime or kill him. Yet again, Jaime has a nightmare about destroying the Earth and he flies off to the motel Mike is staying at. When he gets there he walks in on Mike talking to Kyle. Seeing Kyle's Green Lantern Ring causes Jaime to lose control and attack him. After a fight between Kyle and Jaime, Kyle tells Jaime the truth Mike has been hiding. The scarab came to Earth a millennia ago and was discovered by Egyptians, but as the scarab tried to take a host two pharaohs (previous incarnations of Hawkman and Hawkgirl) smashed the scarab and ended up frying its memory banks. It was discovered a few years ago by archeologist Dan Garrett and the scarab lent some of its power to Dan in return for using Dan's adrenaline to recharge itself. When Dan died using the scarab and it fell into the hands of Ted Kord, the scarab had begun using the energy is syphoned off Dan to reboot and recover, making it useless to Ted. The scarab was activated by Djozha just in time to attach to Jaime, but too early resulting in its memory still being gone.

With the blanks filled in, Jaime learns from Kyle that the scarabs are sent by The Reach to take over planets from the inside and that if they don't get him the GLC base on New Oa, he could end up the same. Jaime leaves, Mike wants to chase him, but Kyle insists he needs time. Jaime-as himself-meets with Brenda and they talk in her backyard. Jaime reveals why he sympathizes with her about murder by revealing that he is the Blue Beetle. Afraid, Brenda refuses to talk to Jaime.

The next morning, Jaime is invited back to Brenda's. When he gets there, she is alone in the house and seems a lot more flirtatious. Brenda convinces Jaime to show her his "big blue suit" and upon turning into Blue Beetle, Brenda stabs a red spike into Jaime's back. The red spike starts covering him in red webbing and Brenda reveals herself to be a Reach Negotiator, a specific type of Reach soldier designed to trick enemies. Jaime blasts this "Red Beetle" away and uses his suit's tech to find Brenda and her family tied up in the basement. According to the scarab, it could not tell Brenda was a Negotiator because Jaime's "disgusting male hormones" disrupted it's sensors. Though Brenda and her family get out of the house, the Red Beetle continues to beat Jaime while the red web makes it harder to move. Desperate, Jaime activates the suit's "attack mode" and becomes bulkier. In this mode he defeats the Red Beetle, but a Reach Enforcer-a "Black Beetle"-breaks the house down as he attacks Jaime.

Mike and Kyle get a call from Paco and get to Brenda's home. Jaime and the Beetles are gone and Brenda's family is traumatized. Kyle claims he'll get a GLC squad together while Mike gets his suit, Brenda also makes Kyle promise to save Jaime.

On Reach-2, Jaime is escorted to a room by the Red Beetle and Black Beetle. Red gives Jaime a history lesson, proclaiming The Reach's first home was destroyed by The Guardians of The Universe-who ran the GLC sometime ago-as a means of keeping a lid on The Reach's goals of universal peace via enslavement. Jaime also learns that the GLC and The Reach have a peace treaty that prevents the Reach from "directly" invading planets. Jaime is brought before Djozha and the council, Djozha swears to the council that he will work day and night to fix Jaime's scarab and assure Earth's capture. Before he can humiliate Jaime further, Djozha, the Beetles and the council are shocked to see Jaime is gone. We see Jaime has activated the suit's "speed mode" and became lighter and more aerodynamic to run through The Reach base. Using the scarab's scan of the base's layout, he finds the ship dock and is about to leave. Jaime's suit locks up as the scarab refuses to resist The Reach. Jaime tries to convince the scarab otherwise, claiming it only got to think for itself when it wasn't working for the Reach. It seems the scarab sides with Jaime, but more Black Beetles show up and Jaime is outnumbered. Mike-in a new armored Booster Gold suit with built-in Skeets-and Kyle-with a battalion of GLC members burst in and help Jaime fight the Beetles. GLC members go throughout the base using special tech to disarm Reach members. All the while, one rogue Beetle is stabbing each GLC member and vanishing.

Jaime reaches Djozha and prepares to fight him, but Djozha makes a voice command that orders the scarab to kill Jaime. Jaime's suit turns into a type of iron maiden and begins crushing Jaime. Djozha attaches his own black scarab and claims he could have made Jaime a God. Instead, Jaime chose to misuse the weapon he was given. Jaime shouts "he's not a weapon". Upon this defense of the scarab's place, the scarab stops crushing Jaime and deletes all connections to The Reach. Jaime battles Djozha and defeats him, though Djozha uses his scarab to kill himself after the council activates the base's self-destruct. Kyle tries to get Jaime to leave with him, but Jaime says he has one last job. With the help of the GLC, Jaime gets every alien off the planet as it explodes, saving the slaves of the evil organization.

Jaime's narration tells us that the aliens who lived among/were controlled by The Reach were given new homes on planets freed from The Reach's control. Kyle was recognized as an "Elite Lantern" for his compassionate stance on the mission. Mike went back to wandering the country, proud of his superhero student. Jaime, Paco and Brenda are all still friends and Paco and Brenda even help Jaime stay updated on any crime in El Paso, including more of the men who were after the scarab. Men who turn out to be part of a group called "Intergang", Jaime and his friends plan on keeping an eye on them. Jaime and Brenda also have a romantic relationship that becomes awkward when the scarab has gone from murderous to over-protective. Jaime gets mail from "The Teen Titans" as we see Jaime fly into the night sky and claim, "The New Blue Beetle is here to stay". From there, we see Mike visiting the grave of Ted Kord. He sets down flowers and sits next to the grave, "Ted, old buddy" he says, "You won't believe what this new kid can do".

After the credits, the rogue beetle returns to a shadowy figure with veils of blood from all the GLC members during the Reach battle. The alien scientist takes the blood veils and claims the beetle's mission is over. As the scientist walks away, the rogue beetle kills himself and the scientist loads the blood into a data bank full of blood from all over the galaxy. A monitor goes off detecting the blood of Thanagarians entering the sector and the scientist orders his computer to call Mongul.

Thanks for reading.

The night of owls begins, "The Court of Owls" is next.

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The Five Favorites of 2015

It's been a heavy year for comic books, between Secret Wars, Convergence, and so many other comic book events from DC Comics and Marvel Comics, its hard to comb out exactly what was the cream of the crop in the realm of comics. So, as customary, today I'll be talking about my favorite books of 2015. Just to clarify, these aren't the best, these aren't the most important, these are the books I liked the most, the ones that I was thrilled to see out and happy to read twice. This is The Panel Biter's Top 5 Comic Books of 2015.

5. Silk (February 2015-January 2016)

Written by Robbie Thompson and drawn by Stacy Lee, Silk is a wonderful book about Cindy Moon, a young woman who was bitten by a radioactive spider. Unlike Spider-Man, Cindy was locked in a bunker for around thirteen years while her powers manifested. When she was released by Spider-Man, she created the hero identity of Silk and used her powers to fight crime and search for her missing family. The first pull of the book is the artwork by Lee, it feels cartoony and almost Disney-inspired. The writing and characterization of Silk is charming and really gets you to root for her. Unlike a lot of other Spider-themed characters, Silk seems like somebody with more brightness in her future. For more details on the book, go search up my full review of it titled "Wrapped In The Web of Silk". My only gripe is that the book changes artists here and there, and this is the only book where Silk is interesting and by the look of sales I don't know how long this book will last. Oh, and points to racial diversity!

4. Elektra (June 2014-May 2015)

Elektra is a Daredevil supporting character who went her own direction, to decent success I should say. She started as the anti-hero lover/enemy of Daredevil before becoming a wandering assassin. And she's died like three times, but whatever. In this book-written by Haden Blackman and drawn by Michael Del Mundo-Elektra is hunting down another assassin while also evading the attacks of a new villain who can gain the abilities of others by eating a piece of them. The story goes in a lot of cool directions, the characters are diverse and interact well, and Elektra's portrayal adds more depth to the character than anything else has. Not to knock Blackman's amazing work writing this, but the real selling point is the beautiful artwork by Del Mundo. Oil on canvas, fights that look like forms of expressive dance, expressions drawn perfectly, and a reflection to the matured and tuned attitude of the character. Elektra is a very underrated comic that makes the character less of a supporting love interest, and more of a tragic yet strong superhero.

3. Batman & Robin (November 2011-May 2015)

Continuously written by Peter J. Tomasi and drawn by Mick Gray and Patrick Gleason, Batman and Robin is one of the few ongoing books from The New 52 reboot to stay good. Every story arc follows the life of Bruce Wayne/Batman and his son/sidekick Damian Wayne/Robin. Choosing to focus on the dynamic of the new dynamic duo, Tomasi allows Damian-often seen to be a spoiled, stubborn and stuck-up brat-to grow as a hero and show remorse in his past life as an assassin. It is wonderful to read a book about Batman being a parent to a troubled child, a book where Batman is actually allowed to show he is an older man rather than a mid-thirties kind of guy really scores respect. The arcs include Damian overcoming his urge to kill criminals, dealing with the return of The Joker, Damian comparing himself to the other Robins, but the crowning achievement of the book is the arc where Batman must come to terms with the death of Damian. Disregarding Damian's later revival, the story in which Batman goes about his usual night without his son by his side is beautiful. Not just by Gray and Gleason's art, but also by Tomasi's ability to tell such a heartbreaking story without any dialog.

2. Amazing X-Men (January 2014-June 2015)

The writing of this book mostly includes talents like Jason Aaron and Chris Yost, with art duties being passed to artists like Ed McGuinness, Kris Anka and Jorge Fornes. At a time when so many X-Men books where important and interweaved and dire and substantial to the mythos of mutant-kind, people like me wanted a break from the hazardous world of The X-Men, and wanted to see the marvelous adventures of the team resurface. Amazing X-Men is the fun X-Men book, it includes diverse and likable characters, features the return of the iconic (and my favorite) X-Men member Nightcrawler, and features classic foes of The X-Men like The Wendigo and The Juggernaut. Ah, good ol' Juggs. With all the changes tossed on the X-Men and all the various X-themed teams they have, this is the team that doesn't expect anything from the readers. "We are mutants, we are superheroes, we fight evil and help our friends. If you don't know a character, we'll fill you in". That simple. There are even arcs that deal with death, attacking friends, gay acceptance, and addiction to power. I'm sad to see the book go, but happy I followed this fun ride along the way.

1. All-New Ghost Rider (March 2014-March 2015)

What? You expected Iron Man? Of course All-New Ghost Rider was my favorite book of 2015! With art shuffling from Tradd Moore, Damion Scott and even the book's writer Felipe Smith, All-New Ghost Rider's art is a bit anime, a bit tattoo, and all kinds of awesome. The art work is exaggerated and expressive in every way. And don't worry readers, not only does this book look good, it is written great! Felipe Smith creates a new Ghost Rider for Marvel named Robbie Reyes, a young man who attends school, works at a garage and is the only guardian of his disabled brother Gabe. Robbie unknowingly gets wrapped up in the drug runnings of two gangs and is shot to death by mercenaries, only to be revived by a mysterious spirit as The Ghost Rider. Sporting a demonic muscle car, a sleek new design, and a backstory full of twists and turns, this book draws your eye in and keeps it on the page. The main characters are so likable and-for me-relatable in a lot of ways. Go check out The Comic Buffet Podcast for a full look at this book. The thing that makes it my favorite book of 2015 is how much potential oozes off the setup. For the first time ever we have a Ghost Rider who isn't just cool looking, for the first time ever we have a teenage character with modern day responsibilities, Felipe Smith "is" the ignition that drives this character into the hearts of readers. And with any luck, The All-New Ghost Rider will ride again.

Thank you for reading and Happy New Year!

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Steve's Soldiers

When a generic evil organization and their generic mystery soldier seek the blood of Shang-Chi for the generic schemes of a generic wizard, you can count on the totally not-generic Secret Avengers to save the day! Come listen in at The Panel Biter Podbean!
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In Mother Russia, Butt Kick You

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea this was an actual comic book character. Like many others, I first encountered "The Russian" in 2004's "The Punisher", but upon research I found the comic book version of the character couldn't be more different from Kevin Nash. Today's Z-Lister is the little-known enemy of The Punisher, The Russian.

First appearing in "The Punisher Vol. 5 #8" in 2000, The Russian's birth name and origin are never given, but we are told that he has travelled the world. One vacation spot in particular was Belfast, where he devoured a man on a bet. The Russian comes from Kazakhstan where he is contacted by crime lord Ma Gnocci to come to New York City and kill Frank Castle/The Punisher, as he has been attacking Gnucci's crime empire. Accepting the job, The Russian boards a plane and crashes it in Canada, killing everyone else on the plane and allowing him to cross the Canadian border in secrecy. I'm sure this violent mistreatment of an aircraft won't be answered with an fatale act of irony. Once in New York, The Russian is sent to Frank Castle's apartment. His and Frank's fight goes from Frank's apartment to the apartment of Frank's obese neighbor, Mr Bumpo. The Russian is clearly dominating the fight, but Frank improvises. Okay, so you know how in the film Frank burns The Russian with boiling water? Well, in the comic Mr Bumpo had recently ordered a pizza and Frank uses a slice of pizza to burn The Russian's face. You can't make this stuff up people! Frank than trips The Russian and tosses Bumpo onto The Russian's face, with the man's weight asphyxiates him. Dead from pizza and a fat man, The Russian's head is cut off by The Punisher and sent back to Gnucci.
The Russian's remains are gathered by the evil General Kreigkopf and The Russian is resurrected as a cyborg via stolen SHIELD technology. However, the experimental hormone treatments that stabilize his body have the side-effect of giving The Russian breasts and menstruations. To compliment the breasts he comes to enjoy, The Russian begins dressing as a woman. You cannot make this stuff up people! The Russian goes after The Punisher again, but this time Spider-Man is present. The Punisher uses Spider-Man as a human shield and manipulates his web-shooters to send The Russian off the building their fighting on and into an oncoming train.
Finally, The Punisher fights The Russian one more time while The Russian is boarding a flight to Brussels. I am sure this trip via an aircraft will not end in a familiar or uncomfortable event. The Punisher's fight with The Russian ends up crashing the plane. Though The Punisher escapes, The Russian is-again-the only survivor of the crash. General Kreigkopf orders his men to hijack another plane carrying nuke, but The Punisher sneaks onto the plane. Just when The Punisher believes he has stopped the General's plan, The Russian appears in the plane and they fight, ending with The Punisher blowing a hole in The Russian's head. I am no doubt assured that this aircraft will remain safe, especially now with the plane-crashing madman subdued, now he can enjoy a relaxing flight. The Punisher then chains The Russian to the nuke and drops it on Grand Nixon Island-home to Kreigkopf and his criminal empire. Before all the criminals are obliterated by the nuke, The Russian-strapped to the bomb-says "Dosvidanja, Big Boy! The Russian really has to hand it to you". For crying out loud, you just cannot make this stuff up people!
The appeal of The Russian isn't where he comes from or how tough he is, it's how off the damn wall he has been used after his first appearance. "Menstruation & Pizza Burns" should not be the takeaway from this simple tough guy archetype of a character. I really hope The Russian remains one of those characters who stays dead, because you just can't top his rise, his phase, and his death. It's absolutely absurd, totally twisted, and completely and utterly comic book!
Spasibo za chteniye! (Thank you for reading!)

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Namor No More!

In an age where characters as obscure as Drax The Destroyer can find their way to the movie screen, one Marvel character has evaded the film industry for decades despite being one of the most important comic book characters to exist. Today we talk about Namor The Sub-Mariner and his confusing film history.

For those of you who don't know Namor, fear not! I have the answers! See, Namor was one of Marvel's first characters, in fact being their first anti-hero. He was created by Bill Everett and appeared in "Motion Picture Funnies Weekly" in 1939, but had a more permanent appearance in "Marvel Comics #1" in 1940. Namor was portrayed as the Prince of Atlantis who would constantly attack seafarers and the surface world for their crimes against the ocean. Basically, if you tossed a soda can in the ocean, he'd throw it back harder. Namor is one of the few cases of DC Comics mimicking something from Marvel-usually it's the other way around-as Aquaman was created in 1941, two years after Namor's conception. Being one of their first characters, Namor was also part of Marvel's first superhero team-The Invaders-with Captain America (1941) and The Human Torch (1939). It should be noted that The Human Torch on The Invaders was not Johnny Storm-who'd be created by Stan Lee two decades later-and was rather another early Marvel character named Jim Hammond who was an android (a man-shaped robot). Though Hammond and Namor came to blows many times, Namor saw the threat of The Axis Powers and held a truce with America's heroes to defeat The Nazis. Poetic that Namor would interact with that Human Torch because Stan Lee would revive the character in the pages of Fantastic Four as an enemy and occasional ally to the team. Namor since has been an on-and-off hero and villain, he's been part of The Defenders with Doctor Strange and The Hulk, and more recently has been a member of Marvel's Illuminati with other intelligent and highly respected Marvel characters. In fact, he has also been a member of The X-Men. Though his origin states he is the son of an Atlantean queen and a human sea captain. So the title of "The First Mutant" was more an excuse to put Namor on The X-Men during a darker period in their history, as technically speaking he is simply a hybrid. Also his love interests include a human police officer named Betty Dean, Susan Storm, and his cousin Namora. No, it's not creepy!
With such a long, diverse, and memorable history attached to one of Marvel's oldest characters, why exactly has he never appeared on film? Well, for years people have tried to make that happen. From 1997-1999, film maker Philip Kaufman tried to develop a Namor movie with a very early Marvel Studios, but the idea failed to launch. By 2001, Marvel Studios had partnered with Universal Studios and even Saban Entertainment (the people behind Power Rangers) to get the ball rolling. The date of release was pushed from 2003 to-eventually-2007 before the film was scrapped. In 2008, Marvel Studios/Disney began their shared cinematic universe and film rights had become a topic of discussion. Spider-Man was owned by Sony Pictures back then, Fox had the rights to The Fantastic Four and The X-Men, and The Hulk was under a joint-custody between Universal and Marvel Studios/Disney. But what about Namor? In 2013, it was revealed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige the film rights to Namor still sat with Universal. The most recent report-said in July of 2014-is that the Namor film rights do not belong to Marvel, nor do they belong to Universal or Legendary Pictures, but that "there are a number of contracts and deals that need to be sorted out". My best guess is that-because of all these studios being involved-Namor's rights are split up. Spider-Man's rights were in a similar situation before Sony got him. Universal, Legendary, Marvel, maybe even Fox or Saban might own a segment of the Namor rights.
Namor is too important to let slip. After all he seems the most connected to Marvel, being an enemy to The Fantastic Four, a member of The X-Men, always at odds with The Avengers, pretty sure he fought Spider-Man once too. Plus, he is probably the second Marvel character ever created. He is the basis for all anti-heroes and conflicted villains. Yeah he's the Prince of the Sea and Aquaman pretty much does what Namor does with a smile, but Namor holds so many trophies above the heads of other Marvel characters. It should be no surprise that Marvel wants him back, he's even referenced in "Iron Man" by a "superhuman activity" dot over the ocean on a screen and in "Iron Man 2" Namor's company "Oracle" makes an appearance. All that remains is getting the character and letting him loose on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's what I hope, and maybe now you hope too.
Thanks for reading.
IMPERIUS REX!

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You Know Who To Call

Welcome, loyal listeners, to Titan Tuesdays! An All-New series of podcasts commentating on the "Teen Titans" animated series. As one of the best comic book cartoons out there, the Panel Biter crew has decided to start a series talking about the greatest episodes! So come listen in at The Panel Biter Podbean!
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The Greatest Hero Never Known

"Booster Gold Beyond"

Following the events of "Justice League: Checkmate", Michael Carter/Booster Gold has been more of a nuisance than a hero, drunkenly failing every attempt to help people around Hub City. His ancestor Daniel Carter/Supernova has become one of the few heroes the US government approves of, more so, the now rich and famous Daniel Carter has kicked Booster Gold out of his house and Booster is alone. His best friend is dead, his sister is gone, his robot friend is nowhere to be found and The JL has been disbanded.

With nowhere else to go, Booster tries to find the time traveler Rip Hunter, who-as he sees it-triggered all the disasters in his life. Booster can't think of a way to find Rip, but he knows Rip has been watching him as Rip swore to protect the rest of the Carter Family. So, Booster attempts to kill himself by flying headfirst into a mountain. He is intercepted by Skeets, who flies into Booster and causes them both to crash into the woods. Skeets has been redesigned after becoming slave to Maxwell Lord's mind-controlling worms. Skeets brings Booster to Rip Hunter, who had sent Skeets to stop Booster's "cry for help". Booster wants nothing to do with Rip and only wants Skeets back, but before he can leave Rip explains that the tear in time formed by Booster's first time jump and his sister's time jump has been sealed, but that another time traveler has used the time tear to distract Rip and make alterations in the timeline. Alterations that will become permanent if they don't act fast. When Booster refuses, Rip admits that Booster's sister didn't die and that Rip simply plucked her back to the future to make it seem like she died during "Booster Gold: World's Finest". Booster sucker punches Rip and points out that this is why he could never work with him, because there is always something he is keeping secret. When Rip asks again, Booster says he'll only help fix the timeline if Rip will let Booster save Ted Kord from his death afterwards. Though he is hesitant, Rip agrees.

At Daniel's penthouse, a knock is heard at the door and he thinks it's Booster trying to get back in, but it is actually a man draped in shadows who stabs Daniel in the chest and steals the Supernova suit.

On his first time mission, Booster has to fix the Green Lantern lineage. The "time criminal" Rip is chasing went back in time and convinced Sinestro (former Green Lantern, current Yellow Lantern) to go to Earth and make a man named Guy Gardner his apprentice. In the main timeline, the first human Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, chosen by a dying Lantern. Guy Gardner was only ever meant to be Hal's high school bully. When Booster goes back in time to Coast City, he fights Sinestro and tricks Sinestro into believing the man who told him to find Guy was trying to sabotage Sinestro's "successful future". As he is dressed in yellow, Booster claims he is from "The Sinestro Corps" in the future, playing to Sinestro's ego and making the correction in the timeline. Booster also decides to find Guy in Coast City and convince him to spend the day with his dying father, who's death is recorded to be on this day.

When Booster and Skeets return, Rip shows them Daniel in the hospital and without his suit. They deduce that the time criminal must have acquired an ally.

The next time mission is to save Superman. The time criminal had gone back in time and killed the descendent of Jonathan Kent. Without him, Superman-as baby Kal-El-would have been found by the Luthor Family and corrupted by Lex Luthor's influence. Booster is sent to 1872, the Wild West, where he asks some locals the location of Mr Kent. The only person who knows where Kent lives is a bounty hunter named Jonah Hex. Booster and Jonah have a drinking contest until Hex drunkenly reveals where Kent lives. When he gets there-still drunk-Booster is met by the mysterious man who stole the Supernova suit. They fight, but Booster is outmatched. Luckily, the evil Supernova is pulled out as he failed to kill Kent.

Rip, Booster and Skeets use their time travel vehicle to chase another vehicle through the time-stream, the same vehicle that picked up Supernova. They follow the two time criminals, who have gone to the past and prepared a lightning rod to prevent Barry Allen's transformation into The Flash. Our heroes get to that day and find out the time criminal is Rex Hunter, a former Time Master like Rip who betrayed the rules of time travel and was banished by Rip's superiors. After the tear in time, Rex escaped and decided to rid the world of superheroes. Booster has another fight with Supernova, and it turns out Supernova is Jonar Carter, Booster's father.

Booster/Michael recalls how he placed bets on all his high school football games to support his mother's operation, but his father Jonar pressured him into continuing these bets until Michael served jail time and was kicked off his team. Jonar's bullying of Michael extended to his sister and his mother too, and Jonar died of a heart attack just before Michael became Booster Gold and went back in time. Rex Hunter went into the future and recruited Jonar, telling him that his son was going to ignore his death and be a hero, so Jonar stole the Supernova suit and joined Rex. Booster Gold and Supernova fight it out again, until Skeets' reminds Booster of the mission. While Booster helps grant Barry his powers, Supernova destroys Skeets and kills Rex Hunter by mistake before vanishing.

After that ordeal Skeets' mind uploads into Booster's suit so that Skeets can stick around while his body is in repair. This upgrade makes Booster's energy reserves and reactions accelerated. Booster stresses his desire to save Blue Beetle, but Rip claims Supernova made one last change in the timeline. He convinced The Joker to cripple Barbara Gordon.

Booster and Skeets go back in time to the night The Joker knocked on the Gordon Family home. For as many times as he tries and fails, Booster cannot stop The Joker. After many tries, Rip explains to Booster that some moments in time are cemented, unchanged and meant to happen. These "fixed points" are permanent to development the universe and the people who populate it. If The Joker hadn't crippled Barbara Gordon, The Oracle would have never established the covert operations superhero team-The Birds of Prey-and if Ted Kord had not died, Maxwell Lord would have continued to live and reign further chaos with Brother Eye. Booster knocks Rip out and travels to the night Blue Beetle found Maxwell Lord's secret warehouse.

At that time, Booster Gold watches from above as Blue Beetle sneaks into the warehouse. He is about to follow, but Supernova shows up and fights Booster. Booster gets the chance to either knock his father out or go save Blue Beetle, but upon looking at his father Booster realizes if he manipulates time to get what he wants, he'd be cheating. Cheating, just like he did all those years ago. Booster knocks Supernova out and leaves this time, saying goodbye to his soon-to-be-dead friend for good.

Rip builds another new body for Skeets and Booster apologizes for his actions, Rip does the same and promises to deal with time threats on his own from now on. Michael decides to leave Skeets, the Supernova suit and the Booster Gold suit in Rip's hands, retiring from the hero game for a little while and finding his place in the modern world. But first...

Booster Gold delivers Jonar Carter to a hospital in the far future. He tells the doctors there that Jonar will suffer from a heart attack as soon as he regains consciousness and to alert his family. When the doctors ask who Booster Gold is and Booster asks if they have heard of him in this time, they say no. This leaves Booster with a cold, but contempt smile.

Rip drops Michael-with civilian clothes and some cash-in Smallville, Kansas. Rip tells Michael to meet a kid in Texas who needs his guidance, the rest is up to him. Michael and Skeets say their goodbyes for now and Michael walks beside the road, thinking about the friends he has made and lost in his career as Booster Gold. As the credits role and he keeps walking, Michael whistles the classic theme song from the Richard Donner "Superman" movies.

After the credits, a group called Intergang successfully rob a warehouse belonging to Kord Industries. As they open the box, they see only a small blue scarab. They try to activate the scarab, only for their car to explode and the scarab to wash down the nearby river which leads to El Paso, Texas.

Thank you for reading.

"Blue Beetle" is born again, next.

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Martians Among Us

Today on Current Issues we talk about the most recent comic book run of DC Comic's most underrated Justice League member, The Martian Manhunter. With his popularity being spawned in "Justice League: The Animated Series", having a small appearance on "Smallville" and being introduced into "Supergirl", now is a good time to see what DC Comics is planning to do with this long-standing superhero. Let's dig right in.

Writer: Rob Williams

Penciler: Eddy Barrows

Inker: Eber Ferreira

Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb

The Martian Manhunter was created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa in "Detective Comics #225" in 1955. His tale began with a back-up story called "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel", a story in which a scientist named Saul Erdel tests out an experimental teleportation device and accidentally teleports a Martian named J'onn J'onzz to planet Earth. Erdel-shocked by the sight of this alien-dies of a heart attack and J'onn must stay on Earth until Martian civilization has created technology to retrieve him. Originally, J'onn was a displaced alien capable of contacting other members of his race. His early popularity got him a spot on the very first version of The Justice League, cementing his place in the DC Universe. In 1998, the backstory for The Martian Manhunter was changed to include more tragedy. We learn that J'onn had a brother on Mars named Ma'alefa'ak who misused his Martian powers of telepathy to "mentally rape" J'onn's wife. For his crimes, The High Council of Mars wiped his memories of these actions and repressed his psychic powers, causing Ma'alefa'ak to believe he was simply born without telepathy. Feeling outcasted by his people, Ma'alefa'ak unleashed an ancient Martian plague that set every Martian capable of telepathy on fire. J'onn watched as his wife, his children, and every member of his race burn to death before being teleported to Earth by Erdel's experiment. Ma'alefa'ak would roam Mars for years before learning J'onn survived, while J'onn would mask his psychological damage by creating a human identity on Earth, John Jones, and becoming one of Earth's greatest heroes. Despite his trauma, The Martian Manhunter has been a wise and compassionate ally to Earth's heroes, landing significant roles as a mentor and as a solo superhero. It is because of his ability to move on from his people's death and strength in adopting Earth as his new home that readers and viewers everywhere can find greatness in this character.

Rob Williams plans on retooling the backstory of this character. As of now, The Martian Manhunter has been more downplayed as a hero and this book explores his new backstory. This story establishes that J'onn J'onzz has been lying about his past and desires to kill himself. Which he does. However, even with J'onn dead, we meet other characters who carry the book. Each of these characters turn out to be a part of J'onn split into different personalities. Martians are capable of both shapeshifting and telepathy, so its implied before rejecting his "original purpose" and killing himself, J'onn created physical beings with fabricated memories to act his back-up life. The characters in questions include a New York police officer, a disabled teenager, an international thief, an elderly man, and an eccentric alien named Mr Biscuits. These five parts of J'onn are hunted down by beings known as White Martians. Before this book, The White Martians were a feral subspecies of Martians who sought to destroy their green counterparts, but for this book it is implied that after the green Martians were wiped out, the White Martians captured J'onn and planted him on Earth to be their secret weapon. By killing himself and subconsciously leading his five other personalities into a Martian spell-circle on Earth, J'onn orchestrated the revival of the Martian race by slowly erasing the human race from existence. Now with J'onn revived, he must battle his five personalities, decide which planet he wants to save, and face his brother Ma'alefa'ak and the White Martians.

Taking this new origin into consideration, it instantly bothers me how quickly Williams complicates things. Anyone who knows me knows I hate it when writers feel the need to add a complex layer to a simple backstory. A great example is Scott Snyder's "Zero Year" which was a year long Batman origin story. Snyder is admittedly one of the greatest Batman writers of our time, but I believe Frank Miller wrote a better Batman origin story with "Batman: Year One" in four issues. This is another case of that. A Martian kills his entire race out of spite, one survives, comes to Earth and channels his pain into defending the people of his new home. It's like Superman, but darker. Removing the need to actually make Superman darker. With a backstory like that, it'd be so much simpler to just do a story about J'onn coping with those events. Instead, Williams sought to create an origin that sounds more like science fiction movie. An honestly, I don't even dislike this plot. I like the concept of aliens invading Earth by disguising themselves as humans, I like the idea of Mars being revived by sacrificing Earth, my favorite idea by far is the concept of J'onn creating five different people out of himself to maintain his presence without being alive. That is so cool! And it makes total sense with his powers, Martian Manhunter has always been an overpowered character-he has most of Superman's powers, plus telepathy, telekinesis and shapeshifting-so splitting himself into five people with preconceived lives is genius. I always like when characters literally split themselves into separate beings. Reminds me of Piccolo from "Dragon Ball Z". Oh! Martian Manhunter vs Piccolo! Still, I feel that this story could've been told less complicated. I mean, most of what I've put together as the plot synopsis is based of educated guesses of what I've been reading. Sometimes I've had to reread a few panels to get an understanding of how and why something is happening. That's not to say the plot is too cluttered, but that the plot could've been told more straight-forward.

The art by Barrows is perfect for the story being told, it's very grotesque when dealing with the grotesque and flattering when dealing with the flattering. What I mean is, Barrows is the kind of artist who doesn't set a middle-ground for important moments. If he draws an alien monster, it's going to look gross and scary. If he's drawing an innocent little girl, you're going to want to pat that kid on the head and tell her to have a nice day. He's excellent at creating expressions, so much so that by taking a character's face out of context you can completely understand what they're feeling, it's great for a title like this to get an artist who can juggle humans and aliens with such perfection. Ferreira and Eltaeb's colors are really nice too. The colors are bold and not at all muted, for a title like this it's nice to see vibrant and expressive colors weren't expelled from its creation. The colors on J'onn himself have never looked better together. Cold and shadowy blues, popped out red, and most "this is an alien" shade of green I've seen in a comic.

Overall, I'll continue reading this book to see what Williams does with J'onn. I may be a loyalist to the origin prior, but I'm not going to ignore a good science-fiction thriller. Even if you prefer the old version, this is probably the most professionally done Martian Manhunter story in a long time. It really puts him back on the global scale and matches his adventures up to those of Superman and Batman. I look forward to seeing the story and characters develop!

Thanks for reading!

MARTIAN MANHUNTER VS PICCOLO, 2016!

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Pubescent, Mutated, Martial Artist Reptiles

For part three of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed series, I'll be flexing my literary muscles and giving my pitch for a reboot of TMNT. This could used for a comic, or a cartoon, or a film, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that you loyal readers take a look at how I would introduce the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to a new generation.

In 1954, there were two men who lived in a Japanese village. One was named Oruko Saki, who came from a rich family. The other was Hamato Yoshi, a poor peasant. Saki and Yoshi came from two different lives, but as young men became best friends through their common interest in the tales of ninja. The two friends often displayed public sparing matches and were given names by the people of the village: for his savage and unrelenting strikes, Saki was called "The Shredder", and for his precise movements that struck between his enemies movements, Yoshi was called "The Splinter". It was thanks to Saki's family-who were an off-branch of the Japanese Yakuza-that Yoshi was able to rise from his poor lifestyle, leaving his biological family in the process. When the friends were both in their early thirties, they met a woman named Tang Shen. Saki and Shen were arranged to marry, but Shen had grown a liking to Yoshi. After Shen and Saki were wed, she had a child who shared Yoshi's likeness. Saki felt betrayed by his friend and fought him with murderous intent. Their fight would spark a fire in the family home and debris would crush Shen. While Saki escaped with the illegitimate daughter of Yoshi and Shen, Yoshi sat by Shen's side until the rest of the house crashed down.
New York City circa 1974, a now older Hamato Yoshi owns a Japanese antique shop and is seen as a hermit by the community. One day, Yoshi witnesses a truck about to run over a boy with a tank of pet turtles. Yoshi stands before the boy, ready to give his life, when the truck driver flips the truck over and spills mysterious chemicals. Yoshi and the boy stand clear, but the chemicals wash the pet turtles into the sewers. At the boy's request, Yoshi travels into the sewers below and watches as the chemicals give the turtle's humanoid bodies. Terrified by these turtles, who mimic his words and walk upright, Yoshi tells them to stay put as he tells the boy they disappeared.
Yoshi takes the four turtles to his antique shop and watches as they behave like children. When they ask their "new father" what their names are, Yoshi takes inspiration from the italian portraits he's collected. He names the sea turtle Leonardo, the snapping turtle Raphael, the tortoise Donatello, and the box turtle Michelangelo. Noticing their energy, Yoshi decides to introduce himself as "Master Splinter" and discipline them in ninjutsu in secrecy for the next ten years. He also trains each in a weapon he keeps in his shop. While training, they all wear dark red masks to signify their equality as students. In 1984, Yoshi's shop is one day burned down by a group called The Purple Dragons and as he and the turtles escape into the sewers, Yoshi grabs a historical scroll that links "The Tale of The Purple Dragon" back to a ninja clan called "The Foot", the same ninja clan he and Saki shared an interest with. Yoshi comes to the realization that Saki has returned, and he's in New York.
Yoshi graduates the turtles and gives them differently colored masks to signify their individuality. Since Saki will be looking for Yoshi, the turtles are tasked with tracking down Saki's operations and returning the intel to Splinter. Along the way the turtles develop their personalities further, pick up a liking to pizza, and ally themselves with a field reporter named April O'Neil who's investigating the interactions between The Purple Dragon gang and Mirage Industries. The five of them discover Mirage Industries is the corporate cover of Oroku Saki's crime empire, which uses the Purple Dragons as pawns. They also meet Karai, leader of the Purple Dragons and the daughter of Saki. She rivals the turtles in her fighting skills and is not aware of her true relation to Yoshi.
After the turtles are kidnapped by Karai and her men, they are brought to Mirage Industries where Saki claims that Yoshi only raised the turtles to make up for the family he abandoned. Saki plans on using every torture method in the book to turn the turtles into his minions, but his plans are stopped by Splinter, who was informed by April of the turtles capture. While Splinter goes after Saki, April releases the turtles just in time to fight off Saki's four traditional ninjas. Defeating the ninjas, the turtles head to the roof of the building where Saki-now clad in armor-has beaten Yoshi to near death and claimed "The Shredder will always defeat The Splinter". The four turtles fight The Shredder, but each fail to defeat him in combat. With only Mikey left, he uses Saki's insecurities to battle him. Mikey regards how Saki wasn't enough for Shen, how his obsession with ninjas is childish and how-unlike most victims of adultery-Saki got left raising a kid that wasn't even his. This enrages Shredder and gives the other turtles to a chance to fight him. Shredder is stabbed in the stomach by Leo and tossed off the building.
After these events, Yoshi recovers and begins using a cain. Mirage Industries is shut down and Karai and the rest of Shredder's people vanish. April gains popularity as she reported on the whole thing, but leaves the existence of the turtles a mystery to the public. In return for protecting her from any suspicious followers, April shows the turtles a closed subway station she and her friends used to hang out in and the turtles make it their new home. Meanwhile, Karai tells an unseen figure that the rest of their ninjas are ready to assume The Foot Clan mantle. We learn that while Karai knows Yoshi is her father, she still sides with Saki. It is then revealed that Saki survived the battle with the turtles and is living off Mutagen, the same chemical that created the turtles and is provided to Saki by a company called TCRI. The final scene is of Raphael sitting outside April's apartment on bodyguard shift. He hears fighting in the alley below and is face to face with a man in a hockey mask.
From this, stories featuring TCRI, the alien Krang, and the realm of Dimension X can be explored with The Foot Clan and Shredder making a stronger effort. I tried to expand more on the TMNT lore without becoming to outlandish, I believe this take could be a refreshing and simple take on these cultural icons.
Thanks for reading!

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