Mighty Marvels / DC Team

Greetings, Fellow Heroclix Enthusiasts…
 
I went all out after being gone for a while!

Let’s start with the mighty Marvels: The Armoured Spider-man  was made with an Armoured Spider-man and a Spider-man from the Mutant Mayhem set. Armour was stripped off and glued onto the other.  I reused the lamp-pole but it just wouldn’t stay up straight, (insert Viagra joke here), so I cut the pole away from the “concrete” base and slid a model brush protector sleeve onto the pole and it was a perfect fit. Comparing the old one with my redo, the pole has increased in diameter but not by much and is now completely straight. The paint job is just dry brushing silver over flat black.

The Marvel Ladies

Greetings fellow Heroclixers!

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We’ll start with one of my favourites, She-Hulk. Here, I’ve done her REV set (left to right). The Rookie consists of Power Girl’s torso, Polaris’ head, Circe’s face, The Lizard’s jacket, Hyena’s arms, Beast’s legs, and Ultimate Doctor Octopus’ base. This one is very labour intensive, hollowing out the Lizard body to fit in Power Girl’s and then heating a needle to make the ripped look of the white outfit for She-Hulk. The Polaris head was the best to show her uncontrolled look, while the open-mouthed scream of Circe made it appear as if the transformation was happening for the first time.

Doomsday, Red Hulk and more

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Good day, fellow HeroClixers. We all shed a tear when we heard the HeroClix franchise was ending, but now we can collectively cheer as it returns stronger than ever with the Hammer of Thor set. I am very excited. It has renewed my interest in the Custom Clix column so after a long absence let’s get to it.

Let’s start with the re-paints first. To begin, we have Doomsday. This was my first DC re-paint, but not the last as I went on to do the Hawk and Dove duo figure. Can you tell what got changed?

Top 10: Batman Stories

The seed for this article was planted during a conversation I was having during which I made an off-hand comment about the best Batman stories. It began life as the “Top Ten Batman Stories of All Time”, but after Dark Knight Returns and “Year One” I had trouble ranking my other picks in any kind of order. It stuck in my head until I had to write it.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized my best of isn’t going to be someone else’s best (and some of my choices are a bit wonky and even wonkier is what DIDN’T make the list). So, I settled for the Batman stories (single issues or multi-issue storylines) that I personally find the most memorable.

With sixty plus years of Batman stories to choose from here is what I whittled it down to:

1. Batman: Dark Knight Returns
Writer: Frank Miller
Art: Frank Miller & Klaus Janson
Date of Publication: June 1986

Best. Batman. Story. Ever.

While I don’t like Frank Miller’s take on Bats in general, this story is my all time favourite. Inside you’ll find warped humour, iconic imagery, and apocalyptic battles. There has been forests of appreciation dedicated to Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and I don’t think I can add anything to the mountains of words already written.

Top 10: Daredevil Stories

This time around, the Man Without Fear: Daredevil. DD has always been one of my favourite characters, and his stories have always been among my favourite reads. Having said that, I never got into the Ann Nocenti / John Romita Jr. run or that wacky Daredevil in armour period, where he tried to pretend that Matt Murdock was dead and he was someone else. I just didn’t care for Nocenti’s take on the character and dropped it quickly. I DID pick up quite a bit of the “armour” run but STILL found it unreadable. Those two eras spanned roughly #250 to #380– almost thirteen solid years where one of my favourite books was ransacked.

A note on the Frank Miller run. No doubt this was the best era for the character, and while it is represented here with a few issues, the strength of the Miller run is in the totality and not the individual parts. While to me, not a lot of individual issues were good enough to make the list, you put all those issues together and it comprises one of the greatest runs by a creator on a character ever.

And now, this Blind Man Shall Lead…

1. Fantastic Four #39-40 & Daredevil #37-38
This is what I call the “Doctor Doom Saga”. The story began in Fantastic Four #39-40, where Daredevil assists the Fantastic Four in defeating Doom, who had taken over the Baxter Building and turned Reed’s inventions against them.

For his part in the latest defeat, Daredevil was marked by Doom for special attention, and when the right moment came, Daredevil would be used as a weapon to destroy the Fantastic Four. The right moment came in Daredevil #37-38 when, following a taxing battle with the Trapster, DD is handily beaten by Doom and gets to trade bodies with him as a boobie prize. DD turns the tables, gets his body back and has the Fantastic Four on his tail as a reward. With the help of Spider-Man and Thor, the Fantastic Four is held to a standstill. One of my favourite story sequences of all-time.

Great work by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Gene Colan.

Top 10: Darkseid Stories

You’re probably asking yourself, “Why Darkseid?”

Good question as it wasn’t MY idea. Dana suggested it and I snorted that I might be able to come up with four. But the seed had been planted and the gears began to turn. It became an intellectual challenge to see if I could come up with ten good Darkseid stories.

The problem is, Darkseid isn’t a particularly interesting character. He’s one dimensional, always attempting to get his hands on the Anti-Life Equation so he can conquer everything he sets his eyes on. He sends his flunkies to do the heavy lifting while he stands around on the battlements of Apokalips with his hands behind his back, delivering monologues, waiting for someone to emerge from a boom-tube so he can blast them with his Omega Eye beams.

What makes a good Darkseid story then if the villain is dull? It comes down to a single criteria: What Darkseid’s actions bring out of his adversaries. It’s their reactions to his schemes and how they defeat Darkseid and his schemes. That’s what most of these stories have in common:

1. “Legacy” parts 1 & 2 from Superman: The Animated Series
I always knew this was going to be in my top three and the more I thought about it the more I realised this is probably the best Darkseid story ever. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini “get” Darkseid. Also, Michael Ironside’s baritone is the perfect voice.

Darkseid captures Supes and brainwashes him into believing he crash landed on Apokolips where he was raised by Darkseid, his adopted father. He leads Darkseid’s attack troops on a campaign of conquest, eventually leading to Earth. The people of Earth turn on him, latent xenophobia coming to the fore. Supes is captured by Luthor and the U.S. army, who decide he is too dangerous to be allowed to live. Only the timely intervention of Lois Lane spares his life.

The climactic battle on Apokolips is particularly brutal for a Saturday Morning. Superman covering Darkseid’s eyes, causing the Omega Beams to feedback was brilliant. Superman wins the battle but Darkseid has succeeded in trashing the Man of Steel’s reputation on Earth almost irreparably.

The next two stories jockeyed back and forth in my mind for top spot for a long time so it’s a tie…

Top 10: Galactus Tales

This time around, the big G, the Devourer, the Alpha/The Omega, GALACTUS! While doing some previous articles, I encountered Galactus quite a bit, and I got that “tingle”. If I can find 10 great stories for a character I don’t like (Darkseid), it shouldn’t be too hard to knock one off on a character I DO like quite a bit.

I’m not sure what it is I like about the character; he’s visually interesting thanks to a great Jack Kirby design, and despite being a planet eating monster, has a sense of nobility. Unlike Darkseid, the Big G does most of his own heavy lifting. I like spectacle and Galactus by his very nature is a spectacular character.

The top two slots are a tie.

1a. Fantastic Four #48-50: “Galactus Begins”
It’s all here, the funky character design, the Silver Surfer (a classic character dreamed up by Jack Kirby out of whole cloth), and, of course, SPECTACLE! The only misstep was the grotesque green coloring and big “G” on his chest on the last page of issue #48.

The Fantastic Four fight a battle against a foe they have no hope of beating. Only the assistance of the Watcher saves the day. Most long time fans and comics professionals consider this the best Marvel story of all-time. I don’t have an unbiased opinion on the Fantastic Four anymore, as I read and re-read the first 100 issues of this genre-changing series waaaaaay too many times as a kid. As much as I enjoy them, I still can’t re-read them, as I know them too well. Same reason I can no longer watch Star Wars or Wrath of Khan.

1b. Annihilation volume 1 #1-6
For the longest time, this was my undisputed #1 story, but I knew I had to include Fantastic Four #48-50 on top of the list. Anyway, on to Annihilation, which was probably one of the most spectacular (there’s that word again) stories in comics’ history. A galaxy spanning battle where the fate of the Universe hangs by a single thread, as Annihilus invades our dimension with a huge army from the Negative Zone. It’s also one of the biggest suspense stories in recent Marvel history. Galactus and the Surfer are taken down in the first issue and are captured by Thanos and Annihilus. Thanos puts Galactus and his planet eating machinery to a unique use.

I fully planned to ignore the series but seeing Galactus chained up in issue two was a classic “WTF!” moment. Any story that accomplishes that is worth a look. Next to Sinestro Corps, Annihilation was my favourite storyline of the past few years.

Nova put it best: “They’ve turned Galactus into a weapon. Think about that for a minute.” You knew that Galactus was going to get loose and when he did it was going to be good. And it was: a pissed off Galactus takes out all of Annihilus’ forces and a whole bunch of star systems with one tantrum. Great stuff.

Top 10: My Favourite Thor Stories

This time around: the God of Thunder himself, Thor. The character isn’t in my top five but over the years he’s found himself in terrific stories that are great reads. And I have read many of them numerous times.

Thor stories are usually spectacular and vast in scope– these are among the most spectacular comics stories ever done and among my all-time favourites. They all stand up to several re-readings. Without further ado, here we go…

1. The Man-Gog trilogy from Thor #154-157
While it’s four issues, I call it a trilogy as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had this strange habit of ending Thor stories in the middle of an issue and then starting a new storyline. This is one of Thor’s greatest battles as he takes on a being with the power of a “billion, billion beings.”

The Man-Gog is released from imprisonment by Ulik the Troll and because Odin destroyed his race proceeds to invade and wreck Asgard en-route to drawing the Odinsword and destroying the universe.

This storyline is a tour de force of carnage and heroism, as the seriously overmatched Asgardians battle valiantly against an infinitely more powerful foe. Only the timely intervention of Odin saved the Universe.

2. Thor vs. Thanos and Man-Gog from Thor volume 2 #21-25
While I don’t care a lot for either villain, teaming them up was a stroke of genius. Either one is almost more than Thor can handle on his best days, but the two of them together is the team-up from Hades.

Great battles culminating in one of the cleverest scenes in Thor history when he finds the Man-Gog’s one weakness– the one place he isn’t armored– and lets loose with the full power of his hammer.

Top 10: My Favourite Legion of Super-Heroes Stories

This time out I’m tackling my all-time favourite stories of the Legion of Super-Heroes. There are ten to twenty titles that I have read every single story of and Legion is one of them, at least until recently. I completely gave up on the latest Jim Shooter incarnation.

I love epic stories, and the Legion with its large cast is perfectly suited for epic. The best stories are the ones where the threat is so dire it takes the entire Legion to handle. DC is forever tinkering with the concept, and is always throwing the baby out with the bathwater by twisting it like a pretzel to fit whatever vision the current powers that be have.

The best era for the characters was late 70′s and early 80′s when Paul Levitz was writing and Keith Giffen was drawing. It appears DC finally figured that out and has been slowly bringing back those versions of the characters.

I have to admit I liked the direction of the “Five Years Later” storyline, but, by all reports, editorial interference kept Keith Giffen from telling the story he wanted. The title became a trainwreck that completely went off the rails with the introduction on the Batch 23 clones.

1. “The Great Darkness Saga” from Legion of Super-Heroes (volume 1) #290-294.
This is the high water mark of the Levitz/Giffen era. Darkseid awakens, steals the powers of Time Trapper and Mordru and then (almost) conquers the universe. Dark Clones of Orion and other New Gods and the entire population of Daxam pushed the Legion as far as it could. Superboy and Girl bursting out of flames to pound on Darkseid is one of my all-time favourite comics pages.

Top 10: Best Superhero Battles of All Time

This time around, the best superhero fights of all time. I got bogged down compiling this one, as there were so many to choose from. The breakthrough came when I determined what made a great fight.

1) The hero(s) overcome great obstacles and adversity to eventually triumph.

2) The fun in seeing a match-up between two similar characters or characters you’d like to see duke it out.

3) A well choreographed fight.

The battles that made the Top 10 didn’t meet all three but they’re all good clashes in their own right. These battles fall into three categories: just plain FUN, some emotional impact, or something about the battle made it memorable– clever use of a character or something that was never done before.

Interestingly enough, since I submitted this, Comicbookresources.com ran a poll asking fandom its opinion on the best 25 battles of all time. There are quite a few choices in common.

1. The Hulk vs. The Thing in Fantastic Four #25-26
For my money the best superhero battle ever. While actually the second time the Hulk and Thing tangled this one wasn’t a short tussle. It was an extended no holds barred punch up over two issues. This one had it all– Hulk vs. the Thing, Fantastic Four vs. Avengers, and then everyone vs. Hulk. While these two titans have tussled many times since then this is still the best of their battles, pretty much two solid issues of carnage. Also notable in this was the first time The Thing was soundly defeated. While The Thing was overmatched he never gave up and battled greenskin to a draw in the end. Great fun.