Derf's Picks of the Week (July 5, 2023)

 

It's the first week of July and we have new comics to explore.

I wonder if July will  prove to be a better month for comics?

Let's find out.

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BOOM!

Grim #11

Once Upon a Time at the End of the World #7

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DARK HORSE

Barnstormers #1

Survival #3

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DC COMICS

Knight Terrors: Batman #1

Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1

Knight Terrors: First Blood #1

Knight Terrors: The Joker #1

Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1

Knight Terrors: Ravager #1

Peacemaker Tries Hard! #3

Steelworks #2

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IDW

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War #4

Star Trek: Defiant #5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game #8

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IMAGE

Monstress #45

Spawn #343

Swan Songs #1

Torrent #5

Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland #1

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MARVEL

Captain America #750

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #1

Clobberin' Time #5

Daredevil #13

Doctor Strange #5

Edge of Spider-Verse #4

Extreme Venomverse #4

Fantastic Four #9

Marvel Zero #1

Spider-Man #10

Star Wars #36

Star Wars: Yoda #9

Thor Annual #1

Venom #22

Venom: Lethal Protector II #5

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #5

X-Men #24

X-Men: Before the Fall - Sinister Four #1

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Phew!  This is one long list, lol.

Until next time, get your READ on!

Derf's Picks of the Week (January 5, 2022)

First Picks of the Week for 2022.  What the hell happened to 2021?

It's slim pickings this week which is not unheard of due to the holidays.

 IDW

Transformers: Best of Optimus Prime #1

IMAGE

Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special #1

Spawn #325

MARVEL

The Amazing Spider-Man #84

Captain America / Iron Man #2

Elektra: Black, White & Blood #1

Inferno #4

Thor #20

Wastelanders: Doom #1

X-Men #6

Well, those are the titles I will be looking for this week.

Until next time, get your READ on!

Saturday Showcase: Psycho-Man

 

    For my devoted followers, you know I play the game Marvel: Contest of Champions.  Recently they added one of my favorite villains of all time, Psycho-Man. He was mainly used as a villain to fight the Fantastic Four, but he has had run-ins with the Avengers, Spider-Man, Cable, and the Micronauts to name a few.  Well, when I saw him in the game, I knew I had to make him star in my latest Saturday Showcase.  So, sit back and enjoy reading the origins and abilities of the villain known as Psycho-Man.

    Psycho-Man first appears in the 1967 Fantastic Four Annual #5, as the leader of a technocracy that governs a microscopic system of worlds in the Microverse.  Due to overpopulation on these worlds, the character decides that the macroscopic world will be an ideal new base. Using technology from the mainstream universe, Psycho-Man remains microscopic in size but is able to function by controlling a suit of advanced human-sized armor. Using a portable device capable of influencing people's emotions, Psycho-Man enslaves a number of human subjects to build a larger version of the machine, with the intent of subjugating the world. The plan, however, is thwarted by Fantastic Four members the Human Torch and the Thing, by the Royal Family of the Inhumans and by the Black Panther; Psycho-Man is forced to retreat back to the Microverse.

    He eventually reappears and causes all kinds of havoc in the Macroverse including using his emotions machine to bring forth Malice against the Fantastic Four.  Which, in the long run, he loses and the Fantastic Four remain victorious and the Universe is saved.

    We have also witnessed heroes such as Spider-Man and Cable travel to the Microverse to put an end to the mad man's plans.  My favorite story arc is from issues 38 and39 of the Cable series.  In fact, one of my favorite Cable comic covers is issue 38.  Psycho-Man just looks so bad ass!

Publication Information

• Publisher: Marvel Comics
• First Appearance: Fantastic Four Annual #5 (Nov. 1967)
• Created by: Stan Lee (writer) & Jack Kirby (artist)

Origin and Abilities

• Place of Origin: Traan
• Abilities:  

1.     Genius-level intellect 
2.     Use of powered armor 
3.     Possesses a futuristic space vessel 
4.     Emotion manipulation via emotion-controlling device

Derf's Picks of the Week (August 5, 2020)

Empyre #4 (F4 Variant)

Sorry my picks are coming to you two days late.  This work week for me has been strange.

So, let's just get straight to the point.

BOOM!

JIM HENSON STORYTELLER GHOSTS #4 (OF 4)

DC COMICS

BATMAN #96

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE #3

DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL – LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHTS #1

DC CLASSICS: THE BATMAN ADVENTURES #3

DCeased: DEAD PLANET #2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #50

STRANGE ADVENTURES #4

IDW

USAGI YOJIMBO #11

IMAGE

FIRE POWER #1

MARVEL

ANT-MAN #4 (OF 5)

AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #4 (OF 5)

EMPYRE #4 (OF 6)

EMPYRE HANDBOOK #1

EMPYRE X-MEN #2 (OF 4)

FANTASTIC FOUR #22

GIANT SIZE X-MEN FANTOMEX #1

STAR WARS #5

Well, that's my picks for the Week of August 5, 2020.

Until next time, get your READ on!

Saturday Showcase: Impossible Man

the Impossible Man

    It's a my first showcase of 2020 and I wanted to make it spectacular.  So, I put some thought into who I was going to showcase and I couldn't pick just one.  So, I went to the movies with some friends to clear my head.  Before the movies, we went to a local bookstore and I came across a Marvel trade that was on sale and the light bulb in my head went off and my heart exploded with delight.  This was the answer I was looking for.  The trade was a collection of the one and only Impossible Man.  The Impossible Man is one of my favorite characters every to grace the pages of the Fantastic Four and X-Men.  So, without further rambling, here is my Saturday Showcase of Impossible Man.

the many talents of the Impossible Man

    The Impossible Man is a Poppupian from the planet Poppup and has shape-shifting abilities. The Impossible Man character is mainly used for comedy, portrayed as a lonely, attention seeking alien that often annoys those around him, especially the Fantastic Four. The Impossible Man first appeared in Fantastic Four #11 (February 1963), and was created by writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Jack Kirby. 

1st Appearance: Fantastic Four #11 ('63)

   The Impossible Man's alien physiology gives the character the ability to take on virtually any form via molecular rearrangement, an effect commonly accompanied by a "Pop!" sound effect. He can mirror the properties of objects or super-powered beings he shape-shifts into.   The nickname, the Impossible Man, actually came from the fact that the Thing once called him "impossible".  He also has the ability to teleport across vast interstellar distances and even dimensions.

    The Impossible Man once battled the New Mutants' Warlock to determine whose shape-shifting ability was superior, a contest Warlock won when he showed he was able to change his colors to match those of the forms he mimics, while the Impossible Man could not.  This was not the case when he first appeared, he was able to change his colors but for some reason Marvel thought it would be best if he could not.  Besides shape-shifting, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of Earth's popular culture. Which he uses to "bore" is adversaries at times.

Impossible Man Vs Warlock

VITALS:
Publisher: Marvel Comics
First appearance: Fantastic Four #11 (Feb, 1963)
Created by: Stan Lee (writer) & Jack Kirby (artist)
Species: Poppupian
Team affiliations: Lethal Legion
Abilities:  Shape-shifting and super-power mimicry
                 Teleportation

                 Possesses encyclopedic knowledge of Earth's culture

Round 1

    Well, I hope you enjoyed this showcase about the "villain" known as the Impossible Man.  He was one of my childhood favorites and I would love to see him make some kind of appearance in a future Marvel Studios project.

Until next time, get your READ on!

Saturday Showcase: Super-Skrull

Super Skrull Vs the Illuminati 

    With all the talk about the release of Captain Marvel this week, I figured now would be a great time to showcase one of my favorite villains from back in the day.  We all know the skrulls will make their debut in the film about Carol Danvers, but their is one Skrull in particular that I am a fan of.  That Skrull's name is Kl'rt, but you may also know him as the Super-Skrull.

    Kl'rt is from Tarnax IV (in the Tarnax system of the Andromeda Galaxy) and was given the combined powers of the Fantastic Four so that he could destroy them once and for all so that the Skrulls could conquer Earth.  Although he was a powerful villain, he has always been conquered only to return to reek havoc on other heroes in his conquest of the Earth.  He has stood toe to toe with the Hulk and Thor and has still lived to talk about it.  He is very powerful, don't get me wrong, he just hasn't gotten the edge on the heroes...yet.

    Kl'rt is a character created by the late Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  He was first introduced to the world back in September of 1963 in issue #18 of the Fantastic Four.  He has been giving Marvel hell ever since.

Super-Skrull first appeared in Fantastic Four #18 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

   Some of Kl'rt's powers and abilities include: shape-shifting (like all Skrulls) but, thanks to his re-engineering by Skrull scientists, he has versions of the Fantastic Four's superpowers. These include greater malleability; superhuman strength, stamina and durability; flight, heat manipulation and energy projection (in the forms of plasma, concussive force and anti-matter blasts); invisibility and the creation of invisible force fields. He has developed his expertise over time. The Super-Skrull also has a unique power: the ability to control the minds of others or paralyze them by emitting hypnotic force from his eyes. 

   Kl'rt may be an impressive specimen, but he isn't the only Super-Skrull as we would later find out in the Secret Invasion story-line from Marvel Comics (2008-2009).  Some of these skrulls included versions of  Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Elektra, Spider-Woman, Colossus, and Giant Man to name a few.

Secret Invasion: the new breed of Super-Skrulls 

    Although we know that Kl'rt is no longer the only Super-Skrull, we also know that he was the original.  That is why I will always think of him as the one and only Super-Skrull.  He was the one that I watched battle my favorite heroes as a child so he holds that place in my heart.  I just hoe you can find room in your heart to learn more about Kl'rt, the Super-Skrull.  

Kl'rt Vs The Ultimates

    As I wrap up this week's showcase, I can only think to myself about how the Captain Marvel movie should at least mention him as he was known in the Skrull army, and that is as General Kl'rt.  I can understand if he wasn't super yet since Disney just recently bought back the Fantastic Four rights from Sony.  So there is always the possibility of an F4 film to take on the Skrulls (one can dream).  

Until next time, get your READ on!

Super-Skrull Victorious?

the Fantastic Four vs Galactus

F4 vs Galactus by uncannyknack on deviantart.