Hank McCoy (Before the Fur)

I really can’t get enough of Marvel Comics lately. I think Dark Reign has been frickin’ awesome. I know these mega crossovers have a habit of burning themselves out after a few years, but I find that the last several… from Dissassembled to House of M to Civil War to Secret Invasion…have just been loaded with well written story-telling. The thing that always let me down with the company-wide crossovers is that, inevitably, there’s some issue of some comic that has a label on it (Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, whatever) and that comic has almost nothing to do with the story unfolding in the main book(s). The character plays out some drama or fight that is only tenuously connected to the events and themes of the overall story at best- thus, Inferno: Fantastic Four does not involve the F.F. rushing out to the X-Men’s aid to fight demons. Instead, they fight demons, but only in this form that is fitting for their comic- kind of, as if, Inferno was being driven by the events of their story, totally ignoring the epic plot unfolding in Uncanny X-Men. Now, I get that not every mythology ties together neatly- and, for that matter, it’s hard to give one particular set of characters the spotlight when others are always rushing in to hog it. If Thor showed up every time there was a serious problem…well, Spider-man, Daredevil, and others wouldn’t have much to worry about, would they? Still, continuity is my drug of choice. And for that matter, I really love it when something happens and all of the characters in the Marvel U. have to appreciate the gravity of it. So if something happens to the X-Men (i.e. they appear to die on national television, a la Fall of the Mutants), I like the idea that all of the other characters are aware of it and react accordingly. Even some of the ‘peripheral’ storytelling in these lines, like Civil War and Dark Reign, has been fantastic lately. Osborn…wow. I keep wondering how the whole thing is going to end, you know? Who’s going to take Osborn down? Spidey? Songbird? Iron Man? Doom for that matter? I’m thinking Fury, maybe. I love Secret Warriors. It’s such a cool comic book. Marvel has this way of giving all of their super-hero-ness a slightly realistic, CIA/military feel to it. And Secret Warriors does that so well. I also love that it’s a slight allusion to the old-school Howling Commandos, Nick Fury’s World War II fighting battalion. That’s why, in that one issue of Secret Invasion, Fury’s like “All right Commandos…let’s turn this thing around!” Granted, the actual team bears little resemblance to its original incarnation (which were strictly military). But a lot of the members of the Secret Warriors are legacy characters- that is, they have connections with older, important figures in the Marvel U. Here’s the line-up: Quake- First introduced in Secret War, Daisy Johnson is the daughter of the villainous Calvin Zorbo (aka Mr. Hyde). Daisy is modeled after Angelina Jolie (can you tell?). Phobos- I love this- you know how there’s always the obligatory innocent, powerful, child character? Phobos is the ten year old son of the Olympian God of War, Ares (currently a member of the Mighty Avengers), and can inspire intense fear in others by looking into their eyes. Although something of a normal kid, he’s god quite a legacy to grow into, don’t you think? Druid- the son of Dr. Druid, a somewhat lesser known Dr. Strange-ish character. Yo-Yo- such a wacked out power- she runs at superhuman speed and then bounces back to the point she started at. She’s the daughter of the Griffin, a really freaky Marvel villain whose physiology and constant mutations put the X-Men to shame. Hellfire- the grandson of the original Phantom Rider, the precursor to Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch. He’s got a fiery chain (although I don’t think the original Rider ever did?). Stonewall- Not the mutant from Mystique’s Brotherhood/Freedom Force days. New guy- got some criminal background. Turns into a big, rock-skinned giant.