I'm not into comics like I used to be, but for about twenty years there I'd say I was a 'serious' collector at the very least. This also meant that I was reading pretty much all of the current titles out there, and when the first issue of Marshal Law came out of that brown paper comic book store bag I knew I had something unique on my hands. I was blown away, it was a force of nature, a slap in the superhero face, a superbly written, wonderfully drawn, satirical anti-hero comic. I really didn't know what to think. I loaned it to my friends and they handed it back to me with polite smiles. Law is a hero hunter, a government sanctioned 'cape killer' whose job is to eliminate genetic super soldiers back from the war who tear apart the fabric of civilization. The stories are dark, perverse, and gritty but also excellent. I would say "welcome" to Marshal Law, like I do all inductees to the Thor's Day Heroes, but he might kick my teeth in.
Not too long ago I had profiled Iron Man, stating he was one of my favorite solo comic books. That's true, for Marvel Comics, Green Arrow on the other hand was probably my favorite solo DC Comic character. The good ole Mike Grell drawn and written Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) of the late 1980's. I got to meet Mike Grell and had my copies of the Longbow Hunters series signed, probably the first time I had met a comic book creator which was cool and cemented Green Arrow as one of my all-time faves. For that he becomes the newest member of the Thor's Day Heroes.
There's tons of non-super powered, "everyday" superheroes out there, but Oliver Queen is about as everyday as you could get. He's good with a bow, really good with it, but it's just a bow. He also a flower shop cleverly named "Sherwood Florist", apt since he has a whole Robin Hood motif going on. To get a real sense of his personality you need to look no further than the Green Arrow / Green Lantern team-ups of the 70's, there's some really good writing and the duo made for the perfect 'odd couple' team. The character was killed off in the 90's but then brought back in a new series that was pretty well written I must admit.
Welcome to another Art Leftovers! Today's trio could almost be thrown into the same genre together, almost. I'm sure I've plugged the LEGO skirmish battle rules a buddy and I came up with a very long time ago. If not, here you go! The rules were written around '97, so the above image (which went with the rules) is about as old. It's a psyker from the game; sci-fi mega-mind powers trooper. Ride the lightning!
Up next is a spaceport chick. Nothing much else to say, she's the kind of local you'd find hanging out at a spaceport. She's tough, she's alien, she's hot (in an alien sort of way), and she can more than take care of herself, hence the blaster. I don't know if she's wearing a head wrap or a bandage.
Last up is a superhero based off a radio handle based off real life. Once upon a time I was a delivery driver. Our driver cohort numbered four and we had color-themed handles to use with the dispatcher. Not happy with just colors we went a bit further so in the end there was Soylent Green (above), Blue Phantom (me), Agent Orange, and Red Menace. Dispatcher was Echo Base. It was a fun gig to have in your twenties, and the pay was decent enough. Above is my buddy Oz who has made several cameos here over the years in his Soylent Green guise.
That's all the leftover art we have this week, thanks and enjoy!
It's a bit worrisome that I'm posting a "backup" art post two weeks in a row! Well, on with it! First up is an idea I had for a superhero campaign, given the age it was probably Champions 2nd edition. It was a take on the "toy master" villain, but instead of having a horde of evil toys he had one, kind of like a powerful sidekick. This pint-sized grim reaper-type is the result. Flames added for hot rod coolness.
This next one really is a leftover and it's only for posterity that I include it here. I figure if I'm going to to include them, I'll include them all since I bothered to scan this one a dozen years or so ago anyway. So, he's a swordsman, no big deal. I was trying something new and he was done mostly in just focused ink washes.
Finally we have one of those pieces you draw because of inspiration directly from a gaming session. In our very longstanding Forgotten Realms campaign we came upon a portal we had to navigate but it was at the bottom of the ocean. We acquired a bunch of water-breathing potions, poured 'em into tankards, had a toast, and were off. In the back you've got three different Elves (Sun, Wood, and Moon in that order) and up front was a barbarian Halfling and a Gold Dwarf (sans loincloth).
Art copyright George Perez
It's taken me quite a while to get around to press-ganging Iron Man into the Thor's Day heroes, but here is the golden Avenger, better late than never! It's no secret that the last thirty years or so of my life are steeped in comic books and this armored guy was one of my favorite of the solo heroes. Yup, there's been a couple of successful Iron Man movies, a couple of character reboots in the comics, cartoons, and more. Me, I'm talking about the comic book Iron Man of the late 70's to the early 90's. The, "This thing kicks like an Arkansas mule!" Iron Man. The guy who built a big, gray suit in the middle of the Vietnam war to save his own life Iron Man. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say Iron Man is easily a Thor's Day hero.
Batman was one of the first heroes brought on board with Thor's Day Heroes, so it would make sense that some type of homage would show up eventually. Here we have Batgirl, courtesy my daughter about five years ago. My best friend's son was dressed as Superman this year so I thought I would whip up a little hunk of Kryptonite for Batgirl to carry around with her, you know, just in case big blue needed to be taken down a notch.
I had mentioned earlier that strong, independent women will definitely be making regular appearances here with the Thor's Day Heroes, and you don't get any stronger than Hawkwoman. She's an alien from another planet, and has a history on said planet in law enforcement, how cool is that? She flies, has super strength, wields an arsenal of medieval weapons, and is quick to anger and quicker to settle a score.
To the uninitiated, she was just the gal-pal to Hawkman, and both of them were just winged 'extras' in the Justice League. There's been a couple of Hawkwomen (Hawkgirls) and it gets convoluted, but today's entry is on the original, Shayera Hol. It was the awesome mini-series titled Hawkworld back in 1989 that really got my attention, and I've been a fan since then.
You know people actually asked if I was a bit disappointed when were having a girl because I couldn't share all the geek stuff I enjoy with them? What?!?!? Obviously they weren't too close of friends! Mind you, firstborn has her girly tendencies, she's a girl after all, but she also loves Hot Wheels cars, Star Wars, superheroes, and more. Halloween is always good to indulge in the superhero genre, and here we've got a pint-sized Spider-Girl in a half-homemade costume. The Spider-Man homage couple with being my direct genetic offspring are all reason enough to include Spider-Girl into the Thor's Day Heroes.
It has been quite some time indeed since I've witnessed a massive blog giveaway the likes that Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher is in the midst of performing.
It's a massive, superhero figure laden prize indeed featuring the Pulp City rules, Pulp City figs, and a jaw-dropping amount of of supers related figs such as Reaper Chronoscope, card art, and tons more.
PRIZES
1) 2 Pulp City starter boxes, 2 extra Supremes and a full colour printed PDF rulebook (over £80 worth) 2) 4 Reaper Chronoscope Supers and a Beast - Thanks to Miniature Heros 3) 2 Lvl2 and 2 Lvl1 Pulp City Supremes of your choice - Thanks to Pulp Monsters 4) 3 x sets of Pulp City Artwork Postcards - Thanks to Pulp Monsters again
That there is plumb amazing! So I entered, I think you should too. Even if I don't win, which would be a bummer indeed, I think my curiosity is more than picqued about Pulp City, and the figs look stunning, so my overflowing plate just got that much more full.
Starting off with number ten does leave a lot of questions unanswered as to what came before, but suffice it to say the other nine spots before this one helped only to make this one that much better.
It was 1990, I was sixteen and had a car, and a bunch of gaming under my belt. I was also big into comic books, so when a superhero rpg came out, I had to sign up. This was also the first time I remember having to actually work for the money to buy the hardback rulebook, which was kind of expensive at the time!
So I was mobile, driving myself to comic shops and games of Champions at other friends' houses, it was a good time indeed. I remember a lot of these games mainly due to the characters we painstakingly crafted but also the epic four hour battles against equally cool villains.
After 1990, and this foray into Champions, everything else gaming in my life just kind of exponentially grew. There's a reason I stuck with the first ten for this list, because the next twenty plus games could go on and on for quite a while!
I've got a lot of honorable mentions along the way, cool games that might've been one-shots or short-lived. The ten I picked out for this list however are the milestones themselves. So with Champions in the number ten spot we kick off the first ten gaming moments that have defined who I am, as a gamer, today. Enjoy!
We have been playing a lot of the new Marvel Heroic roleplaying game. I'm quite enamored with it and a "how great is this game" post (also called a review) is in the works.
Until then I leave you with the new and improved Living Laser to the left. Normally a C-List villain, there was a chance that my character (Iron Man) could spend experience points to "unlock" the Laser as a PC. I did this, because it was a neat idea, and the chance to play a character outside of the box was too good to pass up.
So look for a redeemed Laser v2.0 soon also drawn by my buddy Chris "Biscuit" Miller (sketch by me in the mobile reel right). You can see the rest of his superhero banner from the left at the top of the Minions blog. Enjoy!
In the early nineties I worked in a comic book store, and like any good employee invested at least half of my weekly paycheck right back into the store itself. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on, but the quirkier the better. Well, along came the Tick, and you don't get much quirkier than that! I met Tick creator Ben Edlund at a con many, many years ago. He was very cool, very gracious, and an all around cool guy.
The Tick as a hero isn't all there, having escaped from a mental institute with apparent amnesia. He is nigh invulnerable though, with super strength, and super-zany speeches and catchphrases the Tick does what any tights-wearing person in his situation would do; fight crime. He's surrounded by an equally zany cast of characters and for a while enjoyed a multi-media acceptance in the form of comics, a cartoon, and even a live-action tv show. The latter of which was awesome, don't let any naysayers tell you differently!
It's kind of hard to have a Thor's Day Heroes roster without this icon. Batman was a superhero, sure, but he was more than that...by being less. Written from the ground up to be everything Superman was not, Batman was human, had only his wits and gadgets, and was flawed. Sounds pretty modern, but we're almost on the 75th anniversary of the Dark Knight.
In hindsight, the first Tim Burton movie is the only one worth watching. The Nolan movies are absolutely amazing, and the old Adam West television show, well, it's certainly interesting. What I think of Batman the most isn't in his solo comics or movies, however, but as part of the Justice League, especially the reboot written by Grant Morrison back in 1997. This got Batman back to what I liked best about him, sure he knew how to fight but his biggest weapon was his smarts, and many a Superman-crippling alien invasion was brought low by the one guy on the team without any powers at all.
Thor's Day Heroes is the newest feature here at Mik's Minis, gently replacing LEGO Thursdays. I had to stick with Thursday of course, and how serendipitous that the first of a new feature falls on the first of the month? I couldn't have planned it any better.
What is Thor's Day? Well, originally the Greeks named the days of the week after their Gods. The Romans followed suit shortly thereafter substituting their own Gods, and then eventually the Germanic people got in on the gig using their Gods. Thor, well being Thor, got Thursday.
Thor's Day Heroes is my "who's who" in all things relating to the many personalities out there that run in the circles we all enjoy; movies, books, games, and the like. Kind of like the age-old question, "What five books would you bring with you to a deserted island?" but mine is more along the lines of, "Who would you take with you on an intergalactic adventure?"
Who do I like in the movies? What are my favorite characters? Directors? If I were to be a minion under the employ of a villain, who would it be? I bet you and I have some of the same candidates.
Well, all that and more begins pretty much now. This isn't just show and tell, what keeps me doing this blog is the interaction with you, the reader. There's never a comment unanswered, and that even includes the spambots. So let me know what you think of my choices each week as well, and welcome to...Thor's Day Heroes.
I had said that this moment was coming, and that moment is upon us my friends...the holiday loot wrap up! Thanks to the amazing Amazon wish list, the giving gifts to Mik season is much easier. It may take some of the fun out of it but when you have hobbies as specific as ours any ole random present won't do! That being said, I was still in store for many a surprise this holiday season, one of which I'm wearing at the big family Christmas dinner party over yonder to the left. All right, enough, on to the loot.
Legends of Anglerre is one of those books I've had on my wish list forever and just never saw myself actually getting. It's also one of those books I kind of need because we do so much with it, especially as of late. I get by with the PDF, but for roleplaying books I kind of prefer, well, a book. Needless to say, I was very happy to pick that one up. Next up is the Thundarr DVD boxed set. Thundarr! As a kid I loved Thundarr and as an adult gamer now there are so many nuggets and gems to extract from it, especially for post-apocalyptic settings. If you don't know about the world of Thundarr, Lords of Light! Get to it!
Assassin's Creed Revelations follows suit and since I just conquered all of Skyrim, it's pretty good timing. Having played a little bit so far though I can see why it got lackluster reviews, it's more of the same without anything new. Mind you, if you loved the previous Assassin's Creed games like I have, then it's no problem.
I got a mandolin book as well, though mandolin playing isn't something I blog about it is something that I do from time to time, and this book in particular has a bit of a personal connection as well, so I was quite happy to unwrap this one. I also got a movie, the New World. In this day of Netflix and cable and what-not it takes quite a bit for me to want to permanently add a movie to the collection, but this is one of those movies.
My wardrobe grew as well, including a Captain America shirt, a Green Lantern shirt (whose tag claims it glows in the dark), and a rockin' San Fransisco Giants ball hat. Finally would be a pair of Two Hour Wargames 5150 rulebooks, the pseudo-rpg/narrative skirmish game New Beginnings and the campaign/scenario book First Contact. New Beginnings at first glance looks incredibly detailed and is easily over two hundred pages. It seems to have a little bit of everything in it so you can make your games as detailed as you want. First Contact is basically a set of scenarios designed around a central narrative; rebels on Mars breaking away from their Earth benefactors. For what it is it looks cool.
That's it for the loot wrap up, which means this year is fast coming to a close. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, the third annual Year in Review. Until then, enjoy!
Got my Iron Man in the mail to join the rest of the Avengers...
The son of a wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, and Maria Stark, Anthony Edward Stark is born on Long Island. A boy genius, he enters MIT at the age of 15 to study physics. After his parents are accidentally killed in a car crash, he inherits his father's company.
While observing the effects of his experimental technologies on the American war effort, Tony Stark is injured by a booby trap and captured by the enemy led by Wong-Chu, who then orders him to design weapons. However, Stark's injuries are dire and shrapnel is moving towards his heart. His fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work Stark had greatly admired during college, constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart, keeping him alive. In secret, Stark and Yinsen use the workshop to design and construct a suit of powered armor, which Stark uses to escape. But during the escape attempt, Yinsen sacrifices his life to save Stark's by distracting the enemy as Stark recharges. Stark takes revenge on his kidnappers and heads back to rejoin the American forces, on his way meeting a wounded American Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey" Rhodes.
Back home, Stark discovers that the shrapnel fragment lodged in his chest cannot be removed without killing him, and he is forced to wear the armor's chestplate beneath his clothes to act as a regulator for his heart. He must also recharge the chestplate every day or else risk the shrapnel killing him. The cover for Iron Man is that he is Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company, such as Communist opponents Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man, as well as independent villains like the Mandarin, who eventually becomes his greatest enemy. No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivates an image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast at this point are his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, to both of whom he eventually reveals his dual identity. Meanwhile, James Rhodes finds his own niche as Stark's personal pilot, revealing himself to be a man of extraordinary skill and daring.
The comic took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as opposition rose to the Vietnam War. This change evolved in a series of stories with Stark profoundly reconsidering his political opinions and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the military. Stark, however, shows himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to let the ends justify the means. This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities. Stark uses his personal fortune not only to outfit his own armor, but also to develop weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. and other technologies such as the Quinjets used by the Avengers, and the image inducers used by the X-Men.
Iron Man possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength and durability, flight, and an array of weapons. The armor is invented and worn by Stark (with occasional short-term exceptions). Other people who have assumed the Iron Man identity include Stark's long-time partner and best friend James Rhodes; close associates Harold "Happy" Hogan; Eddie March; and (briefly) Michael O'Brien.
The weapons systems of the suit have changed over the years, but Iron Man's standard offensive weapons have always been the repulsor rays that are fired from the palms of his gauntlets. Other weapons built into various incarnations of the armor include: the uni-beam projector in its chest; pulse bolts (that pick up on kinetic energy along the way; so the farther they travel, the harder they hit); an electromagnetic pulse generator; and a defensive energy shield that can be extended up to 360 degrees. Other capabilities include: generating ultra-freon (i.e., a freeze-beam); creating and manipulating magnetic fields; emitting sonic blasts; and projecting 3-dimensional holograms (to create decoys).
In addition to the general-purpose model he wears, Stark has developed several specialized suits for space travel, deep-sea diving, stealth, and other special purposes. Stark has modified suits, like the Hulkbuster heavy armor. The Hulkbuster armor is composed of add-ons to his so-called modular armor, designed to enhance its strength and durability enough to engage the Incredible Hulk in a fight. A later model, designed for use against Thor, is modeled on the Destroyer and uses a mystical power source. Stark also develops an electronics pack during the Armor Wars that, when attached to armors that use Stark technologies, will burn out those components, rendering the suit useless. This pack is ineffective on later models, however. While it is typically associated with James Rhodes, the War Machine armor also began as one of Stark's specialty armors.
The most recent models of Stark's armor, beginning with the Extremis Armor, are now stored in the hollow portions of Stark's bones, and the personal area networking implement used to control it is implanted in his forearm, and connected directly to his central nervous system, making Stark essentially a cyborg.
Two Caps for today, coupled with my movie review last month and you'd think I've gone cap-crazy. Not really, it's all coincidence. We (my daughter and I) needed a better representation of the first Avenger than what I had shown the other day.
I found the Marvel Universe version (the official and most excellent figure line of all the supes) online for a reasonable price but didn't want to wait. We found the above fig at the store, and although he's from the movie line of toys it doesn't matter, we open our packages 'round these parts.
There were about six Caps to choose from; WWII Cap, Arctic Cap, Comic version of Cap (with metallic pants?), Night Stealth Cap, Break-dancing Cap, and so on. We opted for "heavy artillery" Cap, basically because he looks normal once you ignore all the spring-loaded nonsense that came in the package with him. Plus, his shield is pretty normal, which apparently is a big criteria.
As for the coffee cup, it was just too cool to pass up. I found it for three bucks at a discount clothing store in the back with the other assorted and random kitchen stuff. I also got a ceramic, multi-colored fish you use to put dirty spoons and the like on while cooking. I thought that might've been pushing it too far to include here however.
There's an Avengers cartoon out there, it's streaming on Netflix and if you haven't checked it out, I suggest you do so. It's solid, it's good. What I'm struck most about is how they have managed to seamlessly modernize these heroes while aligning each character as well the overall story arc with the current catalog of recent Avengers movies.
What's more is that the series is kid friendly, my eight year old and I have enjoyed watching them together. It brought a smile to my face the other day when she said in earnest that she "really needs" a Red Skull figure to be the head bad guy.
The cartoon is good, and it's prompted me to get some action figures to back up all the Avengers talk between firstborn and myself. I've had the Black Panther for some time, as well as the Hulk (though he never got a post). Thor was easy to pick up, and I've got an Iron Man on the way via eBay. I still need to pick up Cap and Hawkeye, but I think I may use the clicker Wasp since she scales perfectly with the rest of the team.
We can't go down a toy aisle without trying on hero gear!
Last night a big group of us got together and went to see Captain America. The biggest accomplishment of the night was that we managed to get twelve seats together in a packed theater. We had some serious service issues at dinner beforehand, but this isn't a review about that, it's about the latest Avenger flick.
They did some things I always wanted to see in a Cap flick, namely squarely setting the action in World War II. I would've liked to see more details in this department, but it was still cool. The Howling Commandos were present, just not by name. They were kind of cameo at best really, but Dum Dum's signature 'stache was on screen, that's good enough for me.
There weren't any blatant Avengers movie tie-ins, but I was surprised at all of the tie-ins Captain America had with the Thor movie that just came out. The cast was solid, the action wasn't too over the top, and the effects were spot-on. I say the cast was "solid", but Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull was just plain awesome.
Four out of five stars, as the title says, that's what I would give it. It wasn't a cinema masterpiece, but the trend of "better than bad" comic book movies continues.
Start saving your pennies now, news as of today is that LEGO has locked in a stranglehold of a licensing deal for DC Comics. Not just a few Batman sets that most of us didn't buy when we should have, but the full ride; Superman, Wonder Woman, the Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor to name just a few. There's thirteen characters slated in the initial January lineup.
Sure, LEGO X-Men would be awesome but something tells me we're going to get more mileage for our brick, err buck, out of a mini-fig lineup from DC.
EDIT: Thanks to aptly named minifigure below (no really, thanks!) there's even better news. Looks like we can have our cake and eat it too since Lego's also getting a Marvel Comics license as well. It's toned down comparatively but Lego X-Men, Avengers, etc. are now a reality. Seriously, start saving your money today.
Here's a couple of solid links that give even more information:
