Me Geek, You Geek

Happy Halloween from all of us at Me Geek, You Geek, to all of you.  To you extreme geeks, today is the only day of the year that you can put on your cosplay costumes and people won't give a second look. So have at it.

For Halloween I wanted to do a special post on the Top 10 freakiest characters of all time.  So I sat down to try and realized I was inept at this task.  So I asked Bart to step in.  And he did.  His geekiness is on full display here. 

So without further ado, I turn this post over to El Barto.

Hi Folks.  The criteria I used was simply this: "What comic book characters actually scare me?  If I was confronted by (put character here) I would actually crap my pants.  Now keep in mind, these choices have nothing to do with power levels, strength, or sheer evilness, its just a vibe I get when I read these characters....disclaimer: most of these characters are Marvel characters because, frankly, I only read Marvel.

10.  Rick Jones.  Yes, Rick Jones.  This guy has been the sidekick of the Hulk and Captain America.  He has been the alter ego of two different Captain Marvels.  He has lived in Avengers Mansion.  He is married to one super-hot comic chick.  He has enjoyed a successful career as a rock musician in the Marvel Universe.  All of this, and Rick Jones still manages to be a super-lame character.  Now that's just freaky!

9.  Doughboy.  Yeah, I had never heard of him either.  After you gave me this challenge I went through the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.  Look at the picture of this guy and you'll know why he's on the list.

8.  The Morlocks.  A group of super-ugly mutants who are HAPPY to live in the New York City sewer system.  Check some of these guys out!

7.  The Headmen, or specifically "Chondu the Mystic".  One look and they'll be on your list, too.  Very lame premise for a super-powered group, but they do show up from time to time to hassle some pretty big-named Marvel heroes.

6.  Zsasz. He's a Batman villain who may be more homicidal than the Joker.  For every person he kills he gives himself one knife cut. He's got chicken-scratch scars all over his body.  How many people has this guy offed?  PSYCHO!

5.  Thanos.  Yeah, DC fans will call him a substandard Darkseid knock-off.  But for me there is just something about Thanos' love of death.  He actually hits on death like a young Jon-boy tries to hit on some floozie at any random bar.  Creepy!

4.  The Wendigo.  Kind of a B-list character in the Marvel U.  But, you have to know some background on this guy.  The Wendigo is magical.  He has power levels similar to the Hulk with a disposition more like Sabertooth.  The freaky part about the Wendigo is that anyone can become one.  If you become stranded in the North Woods, and you need to eat human flesh to survive, then Brotha', you just fell victim to the Wendigo curse.  Cannibalism in a superhero comic?  Freaky!

3.  Loki.  For the past 40 some odd years, Loki has been written in an almost comical way.  If someone ever really tried to write his evil side, none of us would sleep for weeks.  I mean, c'mon, he's the Norse God.....of Evil and Trickery!.......A God of Evil...A GOD!...of EVIL!!!

Before we go further I want to acknowledge the two freakiest comic characters on my list are not Marvel characters.....

2.  Rasputin.  The Hellboy Rasputin.  That dude is just plain freaky.  It may be the way Mignola draws, but I get shivers when I think of Rasputin from the Hellboy comics.  However, in the live action movie he looks more like a funny man that should be court ordered to stay away from children.

And the NUMBER ONE freaky comic character is...

Desaad!!!  Who?  You know, Desaad....Darkseid's guy in charge of torture.  Yeah, Darkseid's go-to guy for torture.  Everyone knows how twisted Darkseid is.  And to think, that guy isn't confident in his own torture abilities, and he has out-source torture.....and who does he pick?  Desaad, that's who!  If DC ever came to Alan Moore and said "Here's Desaad.  Do what ever you want."  I guarantee Congress would step in and shut down the comic book industry for good. 

In fact, DC should just off the guy, because writing him as anything less than the ultimate evil kind of makes him come off as bumbling and comical.  Did I mention he's in charge of TORTURE.........on APOKALYPSE.......appointed by DARKSEID.........I shutter to think what he could do if the gloves ever came off.

Runners up that would of made the list if it was longer include:

The Purple Man, Carnage, Ego the Living Planet, The Mandrill, Maximus the Mad, Psychoman, Malice, MODOK and/or MODAM, Ultron, The Shadow King, Apocalypse, Arnim Zola, Madcap and Karkas

Happy Halloween!

Labels: Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Top 10 Lists

Posted by Jon at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Okay, I've officially had enough of Stan Lee.  In my esteemed opinion, it's time for Stanley to retire and live out his remaining years in peace and harmony.

Boy, do I wish he would take my advice.

Since suing Marvel comics multiple times in the past several years (this still chaps my ass...since Stan isn't the only one that created the characters!  Read this site for more information on this.) he's now come up with the following three bone headed ideas:

1.  Turn David and Victoria Beckham into superheroes.  Stan stated to the Toronto Sun:

"We could make them a crime-fighting team where the soccer is just a facade."

"Or we could make them spies or we could make it a comedy where one of them wants to be an adventurer? He's a very attractive, personable guy and she's a very attractive, interesting looking girl."

Ahem.  Okay.

2.  If that doesn't work out, well at least he has Paris Hilton waiting in the wings, or so says Ms. Hilton:

"I've created a superhero with Stan Lee, which is based on me, and we're doing a cartoon right now with MTV."

Alrighty.  I can only hope that since this has been in the works for over a year that it fell through at some point.

3. Now this is the doozie. He also recently said he would have Will Smith play Captain America for the upcoming movie in 2011.  This from the UK News:

"I would love us to do something with Will Smith. It would be a real leap to make Captain America black... then again, I don't know.

It might be a really smart thing. If Barack Obama becomes President who knows... suddenly a lot of our characters will be black!"

So here are my questions. 

It might be the "really smart thing" to take a character that has been around as long as Captain America and change his skin color because Obama has been elected president? 

And what if McCain wins?  Does this "really smart thing" turn in to a "really dumb thing" since McCain is not black?

And then he says "suddenly a lot of our characters will be black"!  But only if Obama wins?  And if Obama loses...then heck no....we don't want any more black characters?  Is that what I can assume from this statement?

This is the most asinine thing I've ever seen Stan Lee say. 

I'm all about diversity and indeed we need a more diverse set of characters.  But to change the skin color of a character, a character that has been around as long as Captain America, simply because we may have a black president?

Isn't that the exact opposite of what equality should be?  Shouldn't we be thinking it doesn't matter what Obama's skin color is?  Or Captain America's skin color is? 

And the even bigger point is I think there is a lot more we can do for equality than change a fictional characters skin color.

I say thee....won't you just retire Stan Lee?  I think you are truly off your rocker now.

Comment below....I'm interested in hearing what you all have to say about Stan (or my thoughts on his comments).

Labels: Comics, Commentary, Marvel Comics

Posted by Jon at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Check this out my friends...

While I was writing my recent article about Marvel thinking about killing off Flash Thompson I was getting frustrated looking for pictures to support my post.  Since I often get frustrated while looking for pictures I decided to start looking for better ways to find pictures.  What I found was facesaerch.com.

As you can see from above it will search Google's images but displays them in a much cooler fashion that allows your creativity to be "zapped" by the perfect picture as you scroll through.

So check it out (the preview above works by doing a mouse over and scrolling). 

If there is something even better for searching for pictures, especially by size, let me know in the comments.  Please and thank you.

Labels: Blogging

Posted by Jon at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Well the writer for Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Guggenheim, recently spoke with the LA Times about the possible fate of old Flash.  Apparently we all need to get ASM #574 since it looks to be the demise of Mr. Thompson as he serves our country in Iraq.

One quote struck me from Mr. Guggenheim though:

"The question came up, 'Are we ever going to see what Flash is up to?' We decided yes but then the challenge was to decide what that story would be. Does Spider-Man go to Iraq for some reason?"

"Does Spider-Man go to Iraq for some reason?"  Oh boy.... Thankfully the next sentence was:

"We decided quickly that wasn't what we wanted."

Whew!  Looks like we dodged a bullet.

But apparently, and unfortunately, Flash does not.

Follow the LA Times link to read the whole article and hope for the best.

Labels: Comics, Marvel Comics

Posted by Jon at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The fact that I've posted 234 posts on MGYG and have not mentioned Stinkor even once should be considered one of comic book fandom's seven deadly sins.  One of the ten commandments at least.

He of foul stench deserves more respect than I have given.  So I'm here to rectify the situation.

Why has this come up all of a sudden?  Because apparently toy makers no longer understand the importance of engaging all five senses of a child.  Scent no longer is a sense they care to exploit choosing to waste valuable effort on sight, hearing, and touch.  How lame.

Just tonight my daughter came to me with a toy that was supposed to smell like candy canes.  We've had this toy out of the package for about two weeks.  Three weeks tops.  There was no smell of candy canes on this toy.  Only after a few weeks.

Carrot Sticks!  That is not how one makes a stinky toy.

To demonstrate I quickly ran down to the basement and in to the storage room.  The room is full of boxes on shelves from floor to ceiling.  There's 40 or so boxes in there so it can be a daunting task to find what I'm looking for.

But not this time my friends.  Not when Stinkor is what I seek.

A quick sniff by the right box and I knew I found it.

With box in hand I flew up the stairs and to the living room where I set the box down on the floor. 

The kids gathered.

Slowly, I pulled open the box and was quickly greeted with a smell from ages past.  The smell that I can still conjure up even when I'm far from home.  The smell of my youth and youth lost.

The smell of Stinkor!

Now you may have to be educated a bit here. This action figure was made in 1985.  And since there was no way this was a popular toy that means it was off the shelves rather quickly.  I'm willing to go with 1986 since my cheap ass parents probably saw it in a 50 cent bin and bought it for me in 1986.  I can see my dad laughing all the way home thinking of how he just bought his kid a toy that intentionally stunk. 

...Post continues below...

So we have 22 years between the initial package opening of Stinkor and his living life again in my living room.  And the smell remains!  Actually, the whole box, and all its contents, smells of Stinkor.

Why?  I'll tell you why.  Cause Stinkor was the Evil Master of Odors.  I sh*t you not.  The Evil Master of Odors.

In fact you know that Stinkor means business with his stink when his first appearance was titled:

THE STENCH OF EVIL!

Upon doing some research for this post (I bet I am the first one to ever do Stinkor research.  I wonder if it's tax deductible?) I learned that Stinkor has kept his stench for the last 22 years because the plastic that was used to mold him was infused with patchouli oil, not simply sprayed on! 

[So I also set out to investigate patchouli oil.  And by investigate I mean I went to wikipedia.  Apparently patchouli is a bushy herb of the mint family.  It's known in the western world as that "Weird Hippy Smell" since it is heavy and strong.  The Chinese use it in medicine for many ailments; who knew Stinkor came with so many alternative uses!]

I guess all this time I just assumed that Stinkor got his stink from some horrific chemical which was never tested on humans and was eating away at the insides of every child in the world that ingested some of his evil stench.  Whew, dodged another bullet!

So here's to Mattel!  They knew how to make an action figure keep his stink.

Labels: Toys

Posted by Jon at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So first there was Wolverine vs. Hulk.

Now there's Hulk vs. Thor coming out, straight to DVD.  Here's what Marvel is unloading:

It's gods versus monsters in this epic 45 minute movie! Never have we explored the explosive power of the Hulk like we have in this new film, every major character from the Marvel Thor universe is thrust into battle with this Green Goliath as he brings a new Ragnarok down upon the realm of gods.

Now, by "never have we explored the explosive power of the Hulk like we have in this new film" they mean, "Yes, our last two live action Hulk movies blew and we're trying to make it up to you with this straight to DVD nonsense."

And wait a second?!  Forty five minutes?  Really?  Is the DVD going to cost as much as an hour and a half movie since it's half the animation production?  Forty five minutes?  I mean....c'mon. 

However, 45 minutes is the exact time I fell asleep during the Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and two Ultimates straight to DVD movies.  So maybe this isn't such a bad thing.

Here's the trailer...

Labels: Marvel Comics, Movie Trailers, Movies, Video

Posted by Jon at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Sorry about the huge image.  But let's be honest.  There is no other way that you should see this image other than huge and in your face.

Nothing is better than a cute Wolverine.  Or a cute Thor.  I say thee....cuteness is good.

Marvel and DC are on the right track.  Keep making this stuff so the kids get addicted at a young age.  For a long time they were going after kids at the 10-13 range...but by that age anymore kids are on to iPods and PSPs.  No, we need to get these little runts addicted to comic book crack at an earlier age!  Say by age five!  Way to go Marvel.

For more about this picture head on over to Marvel for the news article.

Okay, back to the real comic book world news....

Labels: Comics, Marvel Comics

Posted by Jon at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I just like posting DP movie news because of the funny pictures I get to add....this one courtesy of Mr. Young.  And I guess, because I'm pumped about the DP movie.

Here's a recent article from IESB.net with Fox Chairman Tom Rothman and he talks a bit about the upcoming DP cameo in the Wolverine movie and how it may roll into a solo project.

This is part three of the interview.  Part two had Mr. Rothman speaking pretty frankly about a reboot of the Daredevil movie franchise which I will post about soon since my last post on the idea saw me eviscerated by "jojo".  Ouch.  But in the next post I will back up my "crap" about my thoughts on the Daredevil reboot.  Stay tuned jojo!

Anyway, back to the Deadpool movie.  Here are some quotes from Tom Tom Rothman:

IESB: So, we get teased in the Wolverine trailer with Deadpool, he's a fan favorite, another second tier Iron Man-like character, and Ryan Reynolds has been dying to play this guy for years and I think that's why he even did the cameo because he wants a stand alone film. Any movement there?

TR: Yes and no, I mean, Deadpool is an integral part of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we are in the process now, of doing all the CG work to create that character at an A +++ level, that's being done in truly as state of the art fashion as possible...

Deadpool is an integral part of the Wolverine movie.  Woot woot!  Cool news folks.

But I do have to ask IESB, since when did Iron Man become a second tier character of the Marvel Universe?  Especially, on the same tier as Wade Wilson? 

If he's second tier where does the Ant Man movie rate?  18th tier?  And who is first tier?  Spidey.  Check.  Fantastic Four?  I would have to say they would be right there with Iron Man.  Hulk?  Okay, first tier based on know-ability alone maybe.  Captain America?  First tier?  Second tier?  Interesting question.

I've always put ol' Shellhead up there in the top tier in the Marvel U. 

Now if you take ALL supers across company lines I would kick Tony out and would be left with only Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and the Hulk.  Am I missing anyone?

What do you guys think?

Labels: Comics, Marvel Comics, Movies

Posted by Jon at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This image is of the newest, and I would argue best, ebook reader that I've seen.

This device (by Plastic Logic), and the bevy of future devices which will look to emulate this device, will change the way comic books (and all media) are created and distributed. 

The biggest complaint to ebooks so far is that we all like the feel of an actual book in our hands.  We also don't like tiny screens.  This sucker is an 8.5x11 touch screen and as you can see is the size of a magazine.  And about the same weight.  And future products, as demonstrated in some of their videos, incorporate flexible screens.

This version is black and white for the moment but something I read said that color versions are being worked on but are a couple of years out.

Think of the production costs that would be slashed if our comics weren't printed?  The printing and the distribution costs.  Wow.  It will be a whole new ball game.

However, we comic book lovers are collectors.  So how will we adapt to not having something that we can bag and board?  I guess we will have to see.  I know our wives (or husbands for all you lady readers) will appreciate the closet space back, since my 57 boxes are taking up quite a bit of space.

Plus, how often do you actually get out an old comic to read it?  This would allow access to a huge database of your comics at a touch of a button (or screen in this case).

Will you adjust to this?  Will comics be able to survive without the collectible market?  It will be interesting to witness that's for sure.

Here is what Plastic Logic is saying:

Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it's thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience - better than alternatives of paper or other electronic readers on the market today.

I am rather excited about it.

Also, check out their video that is really boring, but also really informative.

Labels: Digital Comics, eComics

Posted by Jon at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This is a pretty interesting app that you can get if you are one of those Apple people that have a iDevice that can install apps.  (I myself am waiting to see what Google Android is going to become.  Woot!).

But check out this little video and see what you think.  Looks like someone is going to make a serious run at portable comics....without having to bag and board first.

Labels: Comics, Digital Comics

Posted by Jon at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

January. 1997. 

I'm three years in to my second go around with comic books.  I'm single.  I'm working full time.  I have very little rent.  I have no children.  I have no major financial responsibilities.

I have a TON of expendable money.

And I have a local comic book shop who likes to take most of the expendable money.

It's 5 years after Spawn #1 and the Image phase, so it seems about right that Marvel and DC are just getting in the swing of trying to emulate what was successful for Image (all flash, no substance) and are producing books like Elektra #3 and X-Man #23. Ouch.  Or, in fact, allowing the Image boys to play in the big pond again with the likes of the "Now-With-Big-Ta-Tas-

Captain America" in Captain America #3.

And Marvel Comics had just filed bankruptcy the year before.

Yikes.  Bad times in comics?

But it doesn't matter that there are a bunch of crappy comics out on the stands.  I'm back into the comic groove, wanting to pick up everything that has color on the cover and some comics are actually starting to be made well again.  Books like Batman: The Long Halloween and Astro City are making us fanboys, or at least the recently reintroduced fanboys, excited for what is about to come next. 

Which indeed was the greatest thing to hit comics.  Well, to hit comics that day anyway. 

Deadpool #1: "Hey, It's Deadpool! or... Deadpool #1"

I loved this book and read it with great interest through Joe Kelly's entire run.  Sure after he left it lost it's edge but let's give Joe some credit!  He took a Rob Liefeld creation (see "Cap Boobies" above) and turned it in to a character that has lasted now for 11 years (17 if you count the Liefeld stuff....but I don't).

And the recent book of DP is pretty cool.  I have to say.

All of this is my way of telling you to go read the Joe Kelly interview over at Marvel.com.  Joe is back at Marvel and he's bringing some DP wit to Spidey (with Chris Bachalo I might add...yes!).  Joe's humor will lend well to Spidey and we can look to have some smart, action packed adventures again in a Webhead book.

Oh yea, this will be a good ride.

Here's a little treat for all you DP fans out there: Cute Deadpool!  Awwww!

Labels: Comics, Marvel Comics

Posted by Jon at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post