Comics I've read this week

[blackruzsa]

 I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously loving these two titles right now:

Avengers Academy

Power Man and Iron Fist (2011)

Although I can't judge too much on the second one yet since I've only gotten one issue so far. 

My reasons?

1) AA is a great place to see all the Marvel universe cameo to interact with a set of interesting characters, delinquents to perfectionists to awkward teens--all of them with very dangerous, threatening powers. 
Every issue focuses on one character at a time, or all of them at once, and it's like candy for me to see the in-depths. 

Also, teen angst and drama, adult themes
YEAH. 

I am such a shallow SOB. 

2) It's way fun to see Danny struggle with his new attempts at being a master-slash-teacher. Plus I have a total crush on the idiot that is Victor Alvarez. Randomly lapsing into Spanish is sexy, okay? 

Okay, can you guess who's bored today? 

Anyways, one scan from the latest Avengers Academy (number 9) starring 

FINESSE AND HER MAYBE FATHER TASKMASTER.



I find this such an interesting take on Taskmaster's powers. 


And three scans from Power man and Iron Fist #1, just to show why I like Victor Alvarez and why he's a lovable (or simply just an) idiot in the general sense. 









Heheh. I remember Sofia from Shadowland. I think I love the family.

I won't spoil much, but an old friend of Danny's needs his help (they just visited her in prison and the guard was kind of an ass), so this happens:





Yeah okay, I kinda laughed at that too.  How is Jimmy Fallon, by the way?

Anyways...


I know it's kind of overdone that a black American comic character will keep referencing the historical oppression, but I do that a lot too (and no, I'm not black, I'm Filipino, so I have a whole other bag of issues with Westerners in general). 


It also strikes me how naive Vic is as a superhero or crime-fighter. Danny's got a more structured approach, but Vic sees the 'good and bad' like it's just there in front of him. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I like it so...

Comments

[psychopathicus_rex]

That IS an interesting take on Taskmaster's powers. It makes sense, too. One wonders, though, how he could run a thug academy for as long as he has with a problem like that - you'd think he'd need a good memory,
I still prefer the original Power Man, but this guy's snappily written, anyway. I don't get the reference to 'forty acres and a mule', though.

[glimmung]

40 acres and a mules is a post US civil war ref having to do with slave reparations.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ah, thanks. I thought it sounded familiar somehow, but I couldn't quite place it.

[blackruzsa]

Ah, cool.
(well not cool as in it happened but cool as in I understand now--well, you know)

[blackruzsa]

I don't get it either. I'm assuming it's about slavery.

[psychopathicus_rex]

It is - someone just told me. It's a reference to reparations made to ex-slaves after the Civil War.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, him having the nous to run the henchman academy was also my first thought on this, he wasn't just a figurehead, he was the operational head of a large scale money-making concern.

[shanejayell]

Well, computers probably help.

One also suspects that the condition might be a gradual onset thing: More data he soaks up, the spottier his memory gets? I mean, back when he started he only memorized a few characters abilities, and by now he probably has hundreds...

[psychopathicus_rex]

I suppose he could have had a VERY efficient secretary...

[rainspirit]

As someone who has a terrible memory about these things too? Probably lots of post-it notes.

[psychopathicus_rex]

They'd have to be disposed of quickly after use, though, or he'd run into a 'Memento'-like situation where he was taking care of things long after they'd already been taken care of.

[valtyr]

He has a ferocious filing and organizing system. Uses Remember the Milk and other such tools.

That's the real reason he's called Taskmaster.

[psychopathicus_rex]

...'Remember the Milk'?

[valtyr]

Online task manager, with dynamic lists and email reminders. Handy.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ah. Not surprising I haven't heard of it, then.

[icon_uk]

Hmm, anyone else getting a big of a Dick/Damian vibe from Danny and Victor here?

[blackruzsa]

Although oddly enough, Vic's less of an asshole and Dick is more tolerant.

[icon_uk]

I think I find Vic's instant judgements of right and wrong based on almost no actual experience to be more annoying than Damian, who is an unpleasant little sod, but who HAS got the skills (much as it pains me to admit it as it is annoying for other reasons)

And I'm still not sold on Dick taking no retributive action against Damian. I'm all for a laid back approach, but Dick seems to be approaching doormat mode half the time.

[blackruzsa]

Yes, more annoying, I concede that Vic is--
But Damian is still an asshole. No amount of skill stops a person from being an asshole.

And you're right about Dick, I think.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

To be fair, Vic's far more concerned about doing the right thing because it is the right thing than Damian likely ever will be. Vic's Power Man to make the world a better place, whereas Damien only cares about working as Robin in order to earn his father's respect.

When all's said and done, Vic's heart is in the right place. He cares. I'm hard pressed to say the same of Damien.

[icon_uk]

Oh his heart is in the right place, but people doing things because they think they're right can often lead to more trouble than anything else. Hotheads can change the world in magnificent ways, but they can also bring down complete chaos.

Damian started out wanting Daddy's approval, and then when Bruce "died" wanted to be Batman, and took the only route possible, being Robin to Dick's Batman.

However I think from the moment he defied his mother, he's been doing it for the right (Well, right-er) reasons, he accepted Dick as being a better person than he is and a worthy mentor (though he's sooner gargle glass than tell Dick that)

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions eventually, but the road to Daddy's approval with Damien started with a beaten up Tim and decapitated Ghost ;)

Damien's got a long ways to even approach Victor's view on right and wrong.

[blackruzsa]

Damian=good=still an ass.

Vic=good=an idiot.

All in favor?

[blackruzsa]

I'm sure Damian cares, or is slowly moving to the point of goodness inherent to being around the happy Bat-Family (let's pretend Jason isn't part of this).

But I stand by my statement, he's still an asshole.

[schala_kid]

The word master, I never thought about it but Danny was practically raised in K'un Lun and that word is pretty much akin to saying teacher for him but for Vic it has an entire different meaning.

And it's cute how Danny so desperately wants that student/teacher relationship with Vic (who is really tries his patience and drives insane which surprised me because Danny is calm and not easy to anger), but Vic is looking more for an equal partnership and not wanting to listen to anybody and then Danny is all "How do I reeeeaaaach thiiiis kiiiiid!" and I think I'm going to love this mini.

That said I think I'm loving Don of the Dead (I need more stuff with him) and that Taskmaster and Finesse moment, so full of sad :(

[blackruzsa]

Don of the Dead, ahehehehe

The Spanish-themed villains are amusing me too. It just feels so close to home, and it's interesting to understand their random exclamations.

You and I feel the same way, then, about what we like about the mini.

[point5b.livejournal.com]

that word is pretty much akin to saying teacher

Bingo. That's the general martial-arts fiction sense.

That whole second bit is a nice variation on the classic young hothead and wise cynic team-up.

[stolisomancer]

The whole thing with Taskmaster's powers is a reference to the recent four-issue miniseries that Van Lente wrote, which is pretty good in a Nextwave sort of way. I'm actually pretty surprised more of it hasn't been posted.

Anyway, it introduced the wrinkle to Taskmaster that he's got so much stuff in his brain these days that he's having trouble with his long-term memory. He can remember fighting styles and languages, but it requires significant mnemonic tricks for him to remember specific people.

I read the power man and Iron Fist, it's hilarious

[jazzypom]

I like the fact that Victor is young - yeah, he might be speaking about 'the man' and the whole 'forty acres and a mule' bit "and the rest of the stuff that Spike Lee says" but I like that. He's aware, but not not bitter, wanting to help, but unable to realise that sometimes, patience is the name of the game, grasshopper. Patience. He's a pretty balanced character as well. He's young enough to believe in black and white and how it's divorced from the shades of grey.

It's great that this new Power man is different from the old one (hey, Cage, how you doin'?). I loved his exchange with Noir, and I'm just enjoying this mini. If the other three issues are going to be this rollicking good fun, I think I'm going to enjoy the ride, yes aye.

Props to the fact that Danny is exasperated, baffled, interested and not a dick towards the young blood, you know?

[turtlefu]

No mention of the unrealistically stereotypical portrayal of Hispanic peoples?

Also, the "he is much more powerful than I could ever be" bothers me, because the new Power Man is a COMPLETELY new character. Isn't that jumping the gun a little bit?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

If you're referring to Don of the Dead, he's actually a white guy ;)

[turtlefu]

I don't even know if that actually makes it okay or even worse...

[schala_kid]

Ohmygod are you serious? You're serious!??!

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Yup. The Don is an old Shield agent who went with the whole Don act as a gimmick. I'm simply shocked that no scans of Taskmaster's mini were posted on Scans Daily.

[blackruzsa]

That explains the bad rendering of accent.

[thanekos]

It's really more potential at this point, isn't it?

All the chi absorption gets him now is " like as unto a thing of iron " all over and all he's got is one or two beginner-level K'un L'unian techniques from earlier absorptions.

Plus, van Lente's pretty much writing their power dynamic as "raw power/experience", so..

[schala_kid]

I like Don but I could so do without the writers trying to replicate his accent. It always bothered me with Wolverine, Rogue, Moira, and Rahne.

[blackruzsa]

I think his power is gonna be one of his flaws more than it's a strength XD
But that's just me. It is pretty shocking how powerful he is, as shown in the Shadowland issues, but for some reason early on, villains have already easily dispatched him with some power reducing thingos. So he's invinciblebutnotreally.

[flidgetjerome]

I dunno, I mean, Victor Alvarez? Have we ever even had a Black-Hispanic superhero before? I'm willing to give them points just because I think he's the first.

[blackruzsa]

I am thoroughly charmed by the fact they have a black Hispanic superhero, but am always living in the hope that a Filipino one that gets more than a few lines will emerge eventually.

[flidgetjerome]

What's Kato's official ancestry right now? Has he flipped back to being Japanese again?

[cypherfdp]

More Taskmaster is always a good thing.

[jcbaggee]

I kind of hate that you couldn't post the very next panel, because that was a legit tear joker moment.

Involving Taskmaster.


TASKMASTER.

[blackruzsa]

WHY DIDN'T I POST IT, I WONDER?
Seriously, I should have thought that through. It was so woobie, like "Maybe you might be my daughter and I'd like to remember that but if you are my daughter then I can never remember because your moves follow everyone else's exactly"

Take a picture?

[misterbug]

Of course, the subtext is that this makes Taskmaster even more of the perfect operative. He can't remember a single detail of the mission, and even if you brain-scanned him he couldn't tell you who employed him - but he knows exactly how he did it, and what's more he can do it again.

[glprime]

Then you can call him "sifu" or "teacher", you mouthy little twerp.

[blackruzsa]

Ahahahah