The Matt Signal Advent Calendar 2015 Day 17: Marvel’s Super Hero Squad Show “Mental Organism Designed Only for Kissing”

Marvel’s Super Hero Squad Show

“Mental Organism Designed Only for Kissing,” Season 1, Episode 14, 2009

Dan Says:

As gateways for younger viewers go, Marvel’s Super Hero Squad Show, which ran on Cartoon Network from 2009-11, was a lot of fun. It pulled from a deep bench of classic Marvel characters and stories, always kept things light and, when necessary, peppered in fart jokes.

The basic premise of the show was that all the superheroes (except Spider-Man, who never appears) lived in their own city, the mayor of which was Stan Lee. Just over a heavily fortified wall was Villainville, where Dr. Doom spent all this time plotting, yelling at his henchman and generally being a real crankypants. The main hero characters are Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor, Hulk, Falcon, and Silver Surfer, replaced by Scarlet Witch in Season 2. The main villains are Doom, the Abomination, and MODOK.

In this episode, Amora the Enchantress comes to Doom claiming she can make Thor fall in love with her, thus allowing him to be turned to Doom’s devices.

When asked what Amora gets out of the deal, she flashes back to high school, when Thor was in a garage hair metal band with the Warriors Three and she had a huge crush on him. As they play, Thor demands more cowbell. That level of humor, clearly presented for the parents watching with their children, is prevalent throughout the series.

Unrequited love apparently is rampant on Asgard. Skurge the Executioner is in love with the Enchantress, who is in love with Thor, who is infatuated with the new-in-town Valkyrie.

(It should be noted that Thor offers to take Valkyrie, or Val, out for shawarma, three years before the Avengers were seen exhaustedly stuffing their faces with it on film.)

Amora’s love spell goes wrong amid a battle between goodies and baddies, leading Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers, who hadn’t yet been promoted to captain) to fall in love with MODOK. Within the world of the show, Ms. M is a high-level SHIELD agent often portrayed as being in a bad mood, and MODOK is an incompetent giant floating head with a voice like a malevolent chipmunk. A montage shows the two sharing root beer floats, running/floating through fields and making goo-goo eyes at each other against a fake Beach Boys song that’s a lot funnier than my description of it.

Their relationship makes Ms. M a liability, however, and SHIELD sends Hawkeye to take her out. The Enchantress, grossed out by what she’s done, provides him with an arrow that can break the previous spell, setting everything to rights, which is to say Ms. M comes to, beats the crap out of MODOK and throws him in jail. Roll credits.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 21

After a couple weeks away, and on the eve of All New, All Different Marvel, we return to Battleworld for some more Secret Wars reviews. Dan Grote looks at the final issues of MODOK: Assassin and X-Men '92, and I read the final issue of Inferno...

MODOK: Assassin #5

Story: Christopher Yost

Art: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallot, & Rachelle Rosenberg

The biggest drawback to living in Battleworld is that God Emperor Doom forbids most people from crossing the borders of their respective territories. As such, word appears to travel slowly from Doomgard to the rest of the world, even when you’re the baron of a domain.

Baron Mordo was convinced he could draw Sheriff Strange to Killville to, well, kill him and take his place at the right hand of Doom. What he failed to bank on was that a) Strange was busy at the moment with the plot of the main Secret Wars book, b) that Strange would be dead in a little bit anyway (this book takes place before Secret Wars #4), c) the reason his archnemesis is sheriff is that he was there when Doom re-created the multiverse in his image and d) Doom probably don’t give a f@&% about Baron Mordo.

Also, as MODOK rightly points out when Mordo finishes explaining his plan like a basic Bond villain, “This ‘plan,’ and note the sarcasm as I call it that, is filled with logic errors. >>>Stupidity.”

After dispatching so many notable characters with glee over the past five issues, MODOK tries defeating Mordo rather than killing him. His love for Angela-Thor makes him want to be something more than a killing machine, though even in describing her, his love appears to be based on her capacity for murder. Finally, though, he gets tired of hearing Mordo rant and rave and liquefies his brain, with the same eyeball-popping, lavender glow the art team has made its trademark in this series.

For uncovering Mordo’s plot and saving the life of a Thor, MODOK is made the new baron of Killville. And really, after these past five issues, who’s a better fit for the job? Forget Wolverine. MODOK is the best there is at what he does.

Does he get the girl? Oh, Hel, no. Angela whacks him across the face with her axe for even puckering his fat, split lips at her. But Battleworld’s greatest killing machine does have a sweet new job and an appreciation of his capacity for love. “For in the end, what else is there? Killing … and love. >>>Just those things.”

Marvel, if you’re listening, if a couple of your 60-some-odd All-New, All-Different titles don’t work out and you’re looking for a replacement, you could do worse than to make this an ongoing.

 

 

 

X-Men ’92 #4

Story: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims

Art: Scott Koblish & Matt Milla

I could not have been happier when I found out X-Men ’92 is returning as an ongoing series next year. Chad Bowers and Chris Sims have created a fantastic book around the premise that your favorite cartoon from 20 years ago was both amazing and terrible at the same time, and based on how this miniseries ends, they’ve barely scratched the surface. And while Scott Koblish proved himself the right man for the art job with his 10-headed Sentinels and chariots pulled by Warwolves, I’m very much looking forward to what the ongoing’s artist, Alti Firmansyah, brings to the table. Her work on Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde made that mini another of my favorite Secret Wars books, and we already know she draws a great, expressive, creepy Gambit.

Back to the issue at hand, though. To steal an expression from Saturday Night Live’s Stefon, this book has everything: a 10-headed Sentinel; multiple people in optic visors; gay subtext; telepaths who pass out after using their powers; a female superhero whose clothing is strategically ripped; old catchphrases (“Za’s Vid,” anyone?); someone ordering a falling character to go limp; Onslaught with Phoenix wings, a giant gun and a bloody huge scimitar; Jim Lee’s gatefold cover to X-Men #1; a kinetically charged motorcycle; new Horsemen that don’t make any sense; the sound effect “BRAKABRAKABRAKA”; jokes about lasers; and Joseph.

The issue’s three endings (a little Lord of the Rings-y, but who cares?) make it clear the creators are already planning for the future in glorious ways, re-introducing old characters from the cartoon and from the ’90s in general.

But I’m gonna ask again: Where’s Morph?

Inferno#5
Story: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Javier Garron & Chris Sotomamayor
 

Last week I finished reading Essential X-Men Vol. 8, a massive collection that wraps up with the original "Inferno" crossover, so it seemed fortuitous that the final issue of the Secret Wars mini-series that tied into the crossover should come out this week as well. The Darkchylde now rules the Inferno Domain, both through force of arms and by decree of Doom, and all the forces who oppose her are gathered ion the Morlock tunnels: the X-Men, Goblyn Queen and her army of goblins, and Mr. Sinister and his army of Boom-Boom/demon hybrid clones (and only in comics would that statement appear and make perfect sense). But these three groups have their own axes to grind with each other, and pretty soon they're not only battling Darkchylde's demons but each other. I was hoping to see a grand last stand for our heroes, but mostly they fall under the onslaught, and it comes down to Colossus and Domino against Darkchylde. This whole series has been about Colossus coming to terms with the fact that he lost his sister, and even to the final battle, he is hoping that he can somehow save her. It's a great battle too, with swords drawn and no quarter given (at least by Darkchylde). The ending is at best bittersweet, as Colossus does finally accept that his sister is gone, and it's his love for Domino that allows him to finally do what must be done. But by the time this has happened, pretty much everyone else is dead, and so Colossus, Domino, and Boom-Boom, our core cast of heroes, use the Soulsword to teleport away from the crumbling Domain. It's interesting to see how many of the different Secret Wars tie-ins are ending with Domain hopping, and it makes me wonder if certain characters are being positioned for appearances in the finale of the core series. While I kind of doubt it, I would love to see these versions of the characters again. Colossus maintains his nobility while being haunted, and Dom and Boom-Boom are fun, balancing out the darkness of Colossus. Major kudos go to artist Javier Garron, who populated every fight scene with tons of cameos of mutants from various eras. His art was outstanding throughout the series, and I'd love to see on an ongoing soon. The final couple pages tie up one last loose end, dealing with Madelyne Pryor and her son, the ten year old Cable, who is still my absolutely favorite part of the series. Like Dan said above with MODOK, Marvel, if you're listening, a Goblyn Queen and young Cable mini-series or ongoing spinning out of this series would totally be a book I would buy.

 

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 13

In an ambitious turn, Dan Grote reviews not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR Secret Wars tie-ins this week. read on, True Believers...

X-Men ’92 #2

Story: Chad Bowers and Chris Sims

Art: Scott Koblish and Matt Milla

When we last left the X-Men of the ’90s, ’00s villain Cassandra Nova (or more accurately the Shadow King possessing Nova’s body) had them hooked up to machines, trying to cure them of their violent tendencies. And so we get that lovely trope of characters being shown their deepest desires and innermost demons while being psychically manipulated.

Wolverine goes first, because of course he does. Logan’s sequence is an exercise in seeing how many Easter eggs can dance on the head of a pin, as he wrestles first with a cadre of his then-greatest non-Sabretooth foes – Lady Deathstryke, Cyber, Silver Samurai, Omega Red and Viper – then with every version of himself that was ever made into an action figure, from first-appearance Wolverine with the whiskers on his cowl to Uncanny X-Force Wolverine with the black-and-gray costume. And at the end they all hug. For serious.

However much they’re paying artist Scott Koblish, it isn’t enough. Given the number of cameos, throwbacks and downright homages – especially in the Wolverine section – Koblish spends the entire issue playing chameleon, mimicking the designs of John Byrne, Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Bachalo, Joe Madureira and others, many times in the same panel.

As Nova makes her way through the team her motivations become a bit clearer. The Shadow King-powered Nova is in touch with the psychic energies of everyone on Battleworld, including the X-Men of other realities, nearly all of which are much darker (Age of Apocalypse, House of M, Inferno, etc.). She claims if she doesn’t turn the X-Men of Westchester into a patch of peaceful vegetables, the same fate will befall their domain.

“I’ll die before I see the Thors place a ‘suggested for mature residents’ sign outside Westchester,” she tells Storm, once again winking so hard at the reader as to risk being stuck with permanent Popeye face.

While the X-Men are trapped in Nova’s Clear Mountain, another team of mutants is trying to track them down to rescue them. If the X-Force at the end of this issue – Cable, Domino, Bishop, Archangel, Psylocke and Deadpool – would have appeared together on the original Saturday morning cartoon, 13-year-old me would have lost it (and possibly asked why, if it were X-Force, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Sunspot, et al, weren’t there). Cable even yells “Stab his eyes!” which I don’t think I’ve seen on a page in 20 years.

Another made-up team of familiar faces in this book is the Rej-X, freaks who failed Nova’s mind tests and have been locked away to strip Sentinels for parts. Among them are Masque, Feral, Artie and Leech, a pre-horseman Caliban, Sauron, Maggot, Chamber, and one of Sinister’s Nasty Boys, the purple one.

Guys, when you read a book in 2015 that has Maggot and a Nasty Boy in it, you know the Dream of the ’90s is alive.

But the best cameo in this book – and there may be more this issue than in the first one – is the 1992 X-Men arcade game, which Jubilee kills time playing while she waits for the rest of the team. The arcade game debuted the same year as the cartoon but featured a decidedly more ’80s team of X-Men, including Nightcrawler, Colossus, and, much to Jubilee’s consternation, Dazzler.

Finally, a stray thought: Where’s Morph? He’s gotta show up at some point, right?

 

Thors #2

Story: Jason Aaron

Art: Chris Sprouse, Goran Sudzuka, Karl Story, and Marte Gracia

Someone is killing all of Battleworld’s Jane Fosters, and now there’s one less Thor to find out who.

The second issue of Thors opens with a call for vengeance, as Doom’s hammer-wielding police force spreads out and roughs up every Hulk, zombie, Ultron and Morbius who might have an inkling as to why Beta Ray Thor was killed and by whom.

Meanwhile, Thorlief Golmen, aka the Ultimate Thor, continues his investigation into the Foster murders, only to discover a fellow Thor – make that ex-fellow Thor – has been collecting evidence of his own.

There’s no way to tell for sure whether this de-powered, ax-wielding, one-armed Thor is the 616 Odinson. He claims to know things the other Thors don’t – as Loki did in the previous issue – but he reveals little before sinking back into the shadows.

The end of the issue reveals a new body – this time not a Jane Foster – and a new suspect. Well, new for Thorlief, anyway. Whatever’s going on, it may be connected to the truth about Battleworld, how much of which people know varies by book, domain and creative team. But it’s definitely way too soon to tell, and kudos to Jason Aaron, Chris Sprouse, et al, for keeping us in the dark while keeping us entertained with this Asgardian police procedural.

MODOK: Assassin #3

Story: Christopher Yost

Art: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallot and Rachelle Rosenberg

There’s violence, there’s ultraviolence and there’s this issue of MODOK: Assassin, in which practically anybody who’s ever killed somebody in the Marvel Universe is sent after MODOK and his crush, Angela-Thor.

Who’s everybody? Well, there’s the Scarlet Spider, the Grim Reaper, Jack-O-Lantern, Boomerang, Screaming Mimi, Bushwacker, the Ghost, Hit Monkey, Black Widow, the Punisher, Typhoid Mary, Wolverine, Sabretooth, the Kingpin, the Shroud, Viper, a resurrected Doctor Octopus (remember when he died in the first issue?), and, finally, the Mindless Ones: empty, demonic beings who generally serve Dormammu.

Many of these characters die in the most grisly ways possible: Decapitation via chainsaw, psychic energy blast, having their head crushed in the bare hands of a Thor, getting run over, impalement, getting sliced in half from head to crotch, etc. Flying eyeballs, freshly loosed from their sockets, are not an uncommon sight. There hasn’t been a celebration of cartoon violence this loud and proud since the Itchy and Scratchy shorts on The Simpsons. The only reason this isn’t a MAX title is because nobody’s cursing or having sex. Seriously, good on you, Amilcar Pinna.

Apart from all this psychotic glee, however, there’s still a mystery to solve. Someone back at Thor HQ finally realized one of their own is missing (ironically, it’s Beta Ray Thor, who, if you’ve been reading Thors, or even the review of Thors above this, you know has been killed). Angela-Thor has been de-hammered and cloaked so, while MODOK can see her (and continually comment on her beauty and the way she wields a sword), he can’t “see” her with any sort of tracking device, and the Thors also can’t get a read on her using any of their science or magic. Clearly, someone wants her out of the picture, likely the same person who sent the Mindless Ones after her at the end of this issue.

Next issue, I fully expect a higher body count, more mayhem and, maybe, some light plot resolution.

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #3

Story: Cullen Bunn

Art: Matteo Lolli and Ruth Redmond

Part of what has made Deadpool Deadpool more and more over the years is the fact that, while he’s an unhinged psychopath with no qualms about murdering for fun and profit, he still knows how to make a heroic sacrifice.

That side of the character is front and center in this revisionist take on the original Secret Wars. Last issue, he gave up his cool lenticular shield to help Reed Richards rescue the heroes from the mountain they were trapped under. This issue he sacrifices his good looks, and his feelings for the alien healer Zsaji, to resurrect the other heroes. Doubtless DP is not done sacrificing yet, especially with one more issue to go and the fact remaining that nobody will actually remember him being there.

But if Deadpool is good, he’s chaotic good at best. And according to this issue, he maaaaaay have had a hand in creating Venom. When the heroes find the Star Trek-like replicator machine that makes new outfits, Wade gets his mitts on the black alien-symbiote costume before Spider-Man. (His review: “Could use a few more pouches.” Amen, brother.) But when he feels the symbiote feeding off his thoughts, he promptly removes the costume and passes the savings on to Spidey. Though not before a dress-up montage that shows him looking like everyone from Captain America to Cruella de Vil.

By the end of the issue, Dr. Doom has defeated the Beyonder and taken his power for himself (sound familiar?), and Deadpool tries to reason with him, newly handsome person to newly handsome person. One guess how that goes.

Greetings from Battleworld HALFTIME REPORT

Today marks the release of issue 4 of Secret Wars, which means we’re halfway through Marvel’s multiverse-reshaping epic. Seems like a good time to take stock of what’s come so far. And so far, most of what Matt and I have read has been thoroughly enjoyable. With that in mind, here’s a power-ranking of the Secret Wars titles to date.

X-Men ’92 (Dan): An amazingly faithful extension of the old Saturday morning cartoon show, and the best of the books by my accounting, though admittedly it’s among the least involved in the larger Secret Wars story. I would love love LOVE if this series carried on into All-New, All-Different Marvel.

Thors (Dan): This book about Battleworld’s hammer-wielding enforcers of the will of Doom is a spot-on police procedural, right down to the angry captain, the forensics nerd and the drunk racist cop. Who killed all those Jane Fosters? I can’t wait to find out.

Secret Wars (Dan): The first issue of the main book felt more like what should have been the last issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run, but it redeemed itself quite nicely with issues 2 and 3, exploring and explaining the mysteries of Battleworld. One of my favorite Secret Wars moments comes in issue 3, when 616 Reed Richards learns the universe was saved by Dr. Doom, who is Battleworld’s god. Imagine what happens when he finds out what became of the rest of his family.

Future Imperfect (Matt): It's not like most of these regions of Battleworld are cheery, but Dystopia, home of the Maestro, might be the darkest. In a world populated by Peter David characters, always a good sign, we see a cunning evil Hulk getting ready to wipe out the resistance to his reign, but even evil Hulks can't smash everything easily, especially when the ever-lovin' blue eyed Thing standing against him. Peter David at his best.

Giant Size Little Marvels: A Vs. X (Matt): I love all ages comics. I love Skottie Young's art. So a story where kids versions of the X-Men and Avengers duke it out in cute and wacky hi jinks is a perfect fit. It's charming, funny, and yet still finds a way to reference the overall Secret Wars more than some of the more traditional tie-ins.

MODOK: Assassin (Dan): What’s yellow and pink and red all over? This fun, violent series from Chris Yost and Amilcar Pinna featuring America’s favorite big-headed Metal Organism Designed Only for Killing and his new crush, Angela.

A-Force (Dan): #INeedFeminism because watching She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dazzler and a bunch of Marvel’s other greatest female heroes – in their best outfits, no less – punching megalodons is awesome. Glad to hear G. Willow Wilson and Jorge Molina will be continuing this series into the fall.

Secret Wars 2099 (Matt): Peter David once again goes back to his previous work, only this time with a twist. Sure, Spider-Man 2099 is here, but he doesn't have powers and is an evil corporate douchebag in this realm. What he does get to do is introduce a whole new team of Avengers 2099, all of whom are tools of evil corporation Alchemax. And the Defenders 2099, who it looks like are about to throw down with the Avengers. Oh, and Hercules is there, who I miss after the end of his Van Lente/Pak series. 

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Dan): Dan Slott continues his run on Spider-Man by giving longtime readers what they’ve long been denied – the reunion of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson – but then having Peter quit being Spider-Man after his family is threatened. Watching Peter give zero f---s about a supervillain defeating the Avengers and taking over New York City was among the great end-of-first-issue shockers of the early Secret Wars issues.

Infinity Gauntlet (Matt): The original Infinity Gauntlet was a broad, huge, cosmic epic. This new series is instead an intimate story about a family lost in a Battleworld kingdom overrun by Annihilation Wave bugs. It's a well characterized story about survival, with hints so far of greater cosmic implications. And Thanos, which is always a plus.

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars (Dan): Marvel rewrites history by letting Wade Wilson come out and play during the original 1984 Secret Wars. Now if I only I could find his Mattel action figure mint-in-packaging with the lenticular shield.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos (Dan): Deadpool may be dead, but his demon-succubus wife, Shiklah, is alive and well and doing her darnedest to thwart armored-poseur Dracula and his legion of monsters, including a diabetic symbiote-covered minotaur.

Inferno (Dan): You want an old-school X-Men story, you got an old-school X-Men story! Colossus, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Illyana, Madelyn Pryor, Boom-Boom: The gang’s all here.

Runaways (Matt): When Dr. Doom likes an idea he likes, he takes it, so Runaways is set at the Von Doom School for gifted youngsters, and features a ragtag group of teen characters from throughout Marvel histotu, including Molly Hayes of the original Runaways Team, a bunch of mutants like Jubilee and Pixie, and Amadeus Cho as The Breakfast Club of Battleworld. 

Where Monsters Dwell (Matt): A solid Garth Ennis joint with dinosaurs, World War I pilots, and plenty of moral ambiguity. However, as we're ranking Secret Wars tie-ins, and this book has gone half its run without mentioning anything to do with the crossover, I can't rank it higher.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 8

X-Men ’92 #1

Story: Chris Sims and Chad Bowers

Art: Scott Koblish and Matt Milla

I’ve liked a lot of the titles connected to Secret Wars so far: the main book, Thors, MODOK: Assassin, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars, to name a few.

I LOVE this series.

Granted, as someone who came of age in the 1990s, I’m the target market for this book, which is based on the Fox Saturday morning cartoon that ran from 1992-97.

Everything about X-Men ’92 captures the show’s essence perfectly: The lack of color gradients, Cyclops’ abject refusal to have fun, Wolverine’s action-hero one-liners, Gambit’s creepy Cajun come-ons, Rogue’s Southern charm, Storm’s need to enter into histrionics every time she uses her powers, Beast’s insistence on quoting Shakespeare, the way telepaths use their powers and then scream and pass out, Jubilee’s front-and-center status, the use of lesser X-characters as background decoration, the never-evolving Sentinels, the meddling of Basic Standards and Practices, etc. There’s also laser tag.

It helps that the book is written by a guy who spent months cataloging the show’s every eccentricity for an online audience. It helps even more that the book is drawn by an artist known for illustrating flashback issues of Deadpool in Marvel’s past house styles.

Fitting, given all that, that the book’s antagonist is perhaps the most decidedly un-’90s X-villain: Cassandra Nova, created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely at the dawn of the following decade. Nova’s cartoon-verse origin is not the same as Morrison’s, but equally as convoluted: She’s a clone of Charles Xavier created by Apocalypse that ends up serving as a vessel for the Shadow King. And she wants to force peace through mind-control. “The era of the extreme is over,” she says, in dialogue that could not be veiled more thinly. “The world that’s coming deserves a better class of mutant, one that isn’t burdened by all those pouches filled with aggression and inner turmoil.”

How does all this tie in to Secret Wars? Westchester is its own domain of Battleworld, ruled by Baron Kelly, aka Sen. Robert Kelly (aaka President Kelly in the cartoon), who wears a cloak over his suit and flies around on a chariot pulled by Warwolves from the early issues of Excalibur. That’s about it, really.

Easter egg: Look for cameos by Rachel Edidin and Miles Stokes, the hosts of the excellent and authoritative Rachel & Miles X-plain the X-Men podcast. Sims is a friend of and past guest on the show, and I could hear his pleased-with-himself fanboy giggle in my head as I read this book.

In fact, for more ’90s X-Men fun, check out the second most recent episode of X-plain the X-Men, in which the hosts play a tabletop game based on the cartoon, voices and all.

 MODOK: Assassin #2

Story: Christopher Yost

Art: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallott, Ed Tadeo and Rachelle Rosenberg

MODOK is the best at what he does, until he finds a woman who can give his swelled head a [redacted for poor joke quality].

The second issue of the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing’s adventures in Killville is a protracted misunderstanding/fight scene, as the Angela-Thor that fell into his domain at the end of the first issue comes to and the first thing she sees is one of Jack Kirby’s most famous grotesqueries.

And that grotesquery is in love. So much so that he can barely focus to counter Angela’s thrusts and parries with his arsenal of guns, bombs and chainsaws. It’s adorable really, especially when the creative team plays up the fact that his little T-Rex hands can’t reach his nose to wipe the blood off it or help him get up under his own power, like a homicidal turtle stuck on its back.

Meantime, the three leaders of the Assassins Guild – Wilson Fisk, Viper and the Shroud – are investigating Bullseye’s murder, and all the evidence points to ol’ bighead.

As the book closes, there are new mysteries to be solved. What has made Angela-Thor unworthy of wielding her hammer? And how will she and MODOK fare against the murderer’s row of, well, murderers the Assassins Guild is about to send their way? Stay tuned.

Infinity Gauntlet #2
Story: Dustin Weaver & Gerry Duggan
Art: Dustin Weaver

Even on a world overrun by giant bugs, family is important. After last issue's harrowing escape from Annihilation bugs, series narrator Anwen has been reunited with her mother, Eve, and they have found the rest of their family. Not having time to mourn her grandfather, who gave his life to save her, Anwen is immediately given a Nova uniform and pressed into service by her mother, along with the rest of her family. I like that, despite being overjoyed that they're together again, Menzin, Anwen's dad, doesn't immediately think this is a good idea, giving his daughters suits of alien armor and preparing to fight the bugs. Of course, with how dangerous the world is, it winds up having to be that way, and Fayne, Anwen's little sister, and their dog Zigzag, also get Nova uniforms and are ready as the bugs attack. Things seem to be going badly until Eve finds out her daughter has found the Mind Stone (something I still have a hard time typing. They're the Infinity Gems to me and always will be), which she uses to wipe out the bugs that are attacking. It's clear that the war has had an impact on Eve, and that the stones are what she came back to Earth for. She's glad to have the one stone, but isn't as happy to find the Nova base has been destroyed and the Stone they already had is gone from the Nova Gauntlet. Here's one of those things that has become sort of canon in recent years and I want to address. There's a good explanation as to why a Nova Gauntlet needed to be created to harness the gems for a normal mortal, but I find it odd that many recent writers make the Infinity Gauntlet an artifact of its own, when it was originally just the glove Thanos was wearing as he gathered the gems. Back to the actual issue, with the main story of the family over for the issue, we get to see the other players in this cosmic drama. We see who stole the Stone, and it's not Thanos. It's Star-Lord and Gamora, both of whom are considerably more mercenary than we are used to seeing them. And after a jump into the future where we see Thanos fighting Anwen, we return to the present with the future Thanos to see him meet his present self, and Thanos learns the last person you should trust is Thanos, even if that's you. Infinity Gauntlet continues to be a well rendered character piece, sort of a cosmic Walking Dead, with gorgeous art from Dustin Weaver. This issue starts moving the plot out of just a family drama into something more cosmic, and I hope that the character driven aspect doesn't get lost as the cosmic amps up.

Where Monsters Dwell #2
Story: Garth Ennis
Art: Russel Braun

You know that story where two very different people come together in hardship and find some common ground to succeed? The modern version of which comes from the novel/movie The African Queen and is a plot device done a million times in mainstream comics? Yeah, this doesn't seem to be shaping up to be that. Stuck together in a land that time forgot, Where Monsters Dwell protagonists airman Karl Kaufmann (The Phantom Eagle) and lady who I'm pretty sure is a spy or secret agent of some kind Clementine Franklin-Cox hate each other. HATE. And for good reason. Kaufmann is a sleaze. Not a Han Solo charming rogue, but an honest to God crappy person. He flat out says he came back from war expecting people to worship him, but women who didn't drop to their knees to do that him make sick. And when he propositions Clementine and she spurns him, he says that if things got complicated, she could always get an abortion. Garth Ennis tends to write characters in moral shades of grey to pitch black, with little to no white, and boy howdy if he wants us to hope the dinosaurs eat Kaufmann, he's succeeding. I can't say Ennis is failing at characterization, because we see Kaufmann as exactly what he is. I do want to know more Clementine, as I'm still not exactly sure what her game is. Last issue, I thought she planned to go to this dinosaur land, but it's now clear she didn't, so I'm not sure what her deal is. I do have to say, though, that Russel Braun is the star of this show. Between his drawings of natives, of the jungles, of crocodiles, and of dinosaurs (particularly a gorgeous T-Rex devouring said natives), you are completely drawn into this world. And as with the previous issue, there is no indication whatsoever that this takes place on Battleworld or has anything to do with Secret Wars, so if you're feeling a little Battleworld fatigue, this might be a place to stop by and rest before re-entering a world of Doom.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 4

Hello all, Matt here, and welcome to our first official Greetings from Battleworld, weekly Secret Wars reviews. Dan wanted to focus on Secret Wars reviews for a while, and so we figured, instead of cramming them in with Monday's reviews, we'd give you two days of reviews a week for a while. Each week, Dan and I will hit the highlights from Battleworld. This week, we start with two from Dan, MODOK: Assassin and Inferno, and then two from me, Infinity Gauntlet and Where Monsters Dwell. This isn't going to be comprehensive, since Marvel is releasing six to ten Secret Wars titles a week, and will probably range from two to five a week of the best books Marvel will be doing. Enjoy!

MODOK: Assassin #1

Story: Christopher Yost

Art: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallot and Rachelle Rosenberg

The gleeful assassin is by no means a new character type – see the Joker, Bullseye, Deadpool, et al – but the gleeful assassin who’s part robot and can transform the chair that supports his giant noggin into a sweet purple roadster, well, that’s certainly one way to turn a convention on its, um, giant noggin.

MODOK: Assassin is part-noir, part spiritual fill-in for the dearly departed Deadpool. Our hero, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, cruises the streets of the Battleworld domain of Killville, taking out targets on the orders of the Assassins Guild and largely anyone else he feels like, occasionally running afoul of the domain’s ruler, the Dr. Strange villain Baron Mordo.

As is a running theme of many of the Secret Wars books, characters concern themselves with cross-border breaches that could earn the wrath of God Emporer Doom (GED for short), and the issue ends with the appearance of a thing that’s familiar to the reader but not to the protagonist, specifically a Thor that appears to be Angela.

Writer Chris Yost starts the body count ticking early in this series, killing off three major Marvel characters – one on orders, one out of spite, and one just for funsies. Yost also does a great job drawing a map for the reader, as MODOK narrates his way across Killville and describes the surrounding territories, including the Monarchy of M, 2099 (“a city drowning in temporal stupidity”), and a territory lousy with Sentinels. Oh, MODOK kills some of those, too.

Amilcar Pinna gets MODOK’s proportions perfectly, from the enormity of his head to the dangliness of his arms and legs to the cartoonlike assortment of bladed and missile-launching weapons protruding from his body. It’s a violent book, but it’s a fun book. And while it doesn’t feel like required reading for Secret Wars, it’s a great palate-cleanser for the weight of Hickman and Ribic’s main book.

Inferno #1

Story: Dennis Hopeless

Art: Javier Garron

Inferno feels less like a Secret Wars book and more like a What If or one of DC’s Convergence titles. It’s one of a few books that visit classic X-Men storylines (See also X-Tinction Agenda, Old Man Logan, Years of Future Past, Age of Apocalypse, House of M) and show geezers like me the X-Men as we remember them, with a little twisting of the timeline for good measure.

In this story, Manhattan fell to the demons of Limbo, despite the X-Men’s best efforts. Once a year, Cyclops – the domain’s baron – permits Colossus to lead a raid on the Empire State Building in an attempt to retrieve his sister, Illyana, who has been fully consumed by her demon Darkchild persona. Once a year, he fails, and any X-Men who go with him die or are crippled.

It’s a pretty grimdark premise, but what makes this book work is watching the X-Men interact like the world isn’t burning all around them. Colossus finds love and support in Domino and friendship in characters like Nightcrawler and Boom-Boom. They quip (Kurt, to a demon: “My name is Kurt Wagner. You remind me of my father. Prepare to die”). They take out lesser X-villains like Pyro and Omega Red. We even get to see a variation on the old X-Club science team, with Beast, Forge and Dr. Nemesis.

And yeah, then there’s some more injuries and deaths and stuff, but it’s an alternate-reality X-story, so is that really a surprise?

Where Monsters Dwell #1
Story: Garth Ennis
Art: Russel Braun

I didn't expect to see a comic from the team that brought us most of the back half of The Boys doing a crossover comic for Marvel at any point, well, ever. Garth Ennis has in the past shown little but contempt for the tropes of mainstream superheroes in general, and his crossover issues of titles he's written have shown their share of irreverence. That's why it should surprise no one that this comic has absolutely nothing to do with Secret Wars. Other than being set on Battleworld, which isn't mentioned or referenced in anything but the text page at the beginning of the issue, this could be a post World War I monster/weird war comic that takes place in the regular Marvel Universe or be creator owned if Ennis wanted to change some names. That's not a dig; it's a statement of fact. As a matter of fact, the comic is a lot of fun.

The opening scene is there not for plot but for pure character, to establish just what kind of a sleaze our lead, Karl Kaufmann (The Phantom Eagle, a pre-existing, if obscure, Marvel character), is; he has gotten the princess of a tribe pregnant and, after swearing he'll talk to her father, flies off. When he arrives back at his airfield, it's even more clear as he is not only broke and clearly running out of credit with people who he's friendly with, but he has a guy called, "No-Balls" (A Garth Ennis character if I've ever heard one), after him because he's responsible for his nominative condition. And when he's seemingly able to con the seemingly naive Clementine Franklin-Cox into paying him to fly her to meet the ship she needs to make, well, it's a way to escape No-Balls and his men. Only Clementine is nowhere near as naive as she seems, and pretty soon there are pterosaurs flying by, machine guns being fired, planes crashing, and more dinosaurs.

Russell Braun draws the heck out of both the WWI era planes and the dinosaurs, and my only complaint is that there weren't more dinosaurs, something I think will be remedied in upcoming issues.

Garth Ennis writes in a couple of different modes, and while this starts out of the gate as pure fun Ennis, like his Marvel Knights Punisher and some of the more off-the-wall issues of Hitman or The Boys, never get too complacent in that; Ennis can turn on a dime and bring the emotional resonance. And that would be great, but I just want more dinosaurs.

Infinity Gauntlet #1
Story: Dustin Weaver and Gerry Duggan
Art: Dustin Weaver

If you're going into the first issue of The Infinity Gauntlet expecting god-like characters and the main cosmic heroes of the original epic, which I have written about a time or two, I'd suggest you reset your expectations before you read this issue. While Thanos has a couple cameos in here, this is not a comic that follows up the original series. As a matter of fact, it seems to follow up Annihilation more than Infinity Gauntlet, as this region of Battleworld is overrun by the bugs of the Annihilation Wave. We don't have a lot of details about what happened, but it's clear the Nova Corps called Earth for backup against the Wave and lost. Now, our lead are a family trying to survive in a world where man is no longer the alpha predator. The issue, narrated by a young woman named Anwen, follows her, her father, her sister, and her grandfather, as well as their dog, as they make their way through this world. We find out her mother was a Nova recruit who never made it back from the battle with the bugs. It's great character work, as we get to know each of these characters in a few short pages, and care about them when the bugs find them. Weaver's art is astounding; I liked his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but he's grown in leaps and bound between then and now. The issue ends with a reunion and a tease of exactly what the Infinity Gauntlet and gens have to do with the story. While this is clearly a first issue with a good amount of set-up, it's handled well, and any comic that can introduce that many new characters and get you invested is one worth checking out.

5 Reasons You Should Care about … MODOK

He’s a giant head in a chair with tiny, dangly arms and legs and psychic powers, in a design that could have only been created by Jack Kirby, and he’s about to kill a lot of people.

Among this week’s new Secret Wars tie-in series is MODOK: Assassin by Chris Yost and Amilcar Pinna, in which the titular Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing will prove why he’s the top assassin in the Battleworld domain of Killville. This comes after a turn running with SHIELD agents in the most recent Secret Avengers series.

“For a guy who was designed only for killing, who has he really killed?” Yost asked CBR.

Here’s the skinny on old fathead, a Lee/Kirby joint who first appeared in 1967’s Tales of Suspense 93:

1) He was once a maaaaan. A MAAAAAN: MODOK started out as an AIM scientist named George Tarleton. The scienterrorists mutated Tarleton into a living computer so they could better understand the Cosmic Cube (or Tesseract, for those more familiar with the Marvel movies). Their Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing turns on his masters, becoming a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

2) He gave the world Deathbird: During an arc in the original 1978 Ms. Marvel series, MODOK hires an assassin named Deathbird to take out Carol Danvers. Writer Chris Claremont would later port Deathbird into his most well-known title, Uncanny X-Men, making her the Shi’ar empress Lilandra’s power-mad sister. MODOK would also have a hand in the creation of the Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk, aka Gen. Thunderbolt Ross and his daughter, Betty.

3) He’s died: Dissatisfied with their homicidal supercomputer, AIM had the Serpent Society take MODOK out. A rogue AIM scientist played Weekend at Bernie’s with MODOK’s body for a time, but the body was destroyed in a fuel explosion amid a fight with Iron Man. AIM later resurrected MODOK when it needed help constructing another Cosmic Cube. And during the “World War Hulks” storyline, Amadeus Cho, given the power to warp reality within a small radius of himself, reverted MODOK back to his original, human form.

4) There are many kinds of MODOKs:

a.       For starters, there’s Ms. MODOK, a scientist MODOK turned into the female version of himself until she convinced him to transform her back.

b.      A second female MODOK was believed to be patterned after Hank Pym’s first wife and was originally named SODAM (Specialized Organism Designed for Aggressive Maneuvers) but was later renamed MODAM (Mental Organism etc.)

c.       There’s the cluster of cloned MODOK brains acting as one sentient supercomputer, one of which crowned itself MODOK Superior and surrounded himself with smaller pawn versions of himself.

d.      A Mobile Organism Designed Only for Talking appeared in a Howard the Duck series.

e.      A splinter cell of AIM created the Mobile Organism Designed Only for Genocide, which Iron Man dispatched handily during Matt Fraction’s run on the hero.

f.        For the kids, there’s the Mental Organism Designed Only for Conquest that appeared in Marvel Adventures: The Avengers.

g.       An Ultimate Universe version of MODOK lived inside the head of a cyborg version of Captain America villain Dr. Faustus.

h.      The brilliant and hysterical Warren Ellis series Nextwave: Agents of HATE features an infant MODOK that was the product of lovemaking between MODOK and MODAM, so pleasant dreams with that mental image. The series also featured four versions of MODOK patterned after Elvis Presley.

i.         The Marvel/DC mashup Amalgam Comics combined MODOK with Green Lantern villain Hector Hammond, another big-headed foe, to create HECTOR, the Highly Evolved Creature Totally Oriented on Revenge.

j.        The Mental Organism Designed Only for Roller Derby, or MODORD, appears in a Dazzler story from 2011 that is now my life’s mission to track down.

5) He’s played the good guy. MODOK has, in the past, cooperated with the government if it allowed him to retake control of AIM or get revenge on his enemies. A cluster of MODOKs also saved Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) from being disincorporated, and MODOK was on the team of Ales Kot and Michael Walsh’s just-wrapped arc of Secret Avengers, alongside Nick Fury Jr., Maria Hill, Phil Coulson, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Spider-Woman.

Read this: The most recent volume of Secret Avengers by Kot and Walsh (issues 1-15). For a MODOK-led heist caper, check out 2007’s five-issue Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11, by Fred Van Lente and Francis Portella.

Watch that: Marvel’s kid-tested, father-approved Super Hero Squad show, which ran from 2009 to 2011 and featured MODOK (the K is for Kicking butt) as one of the main henchmen of Doctor Doom. Specifically, watch the episode “Mental Organism Designed Only for Kisses,” in which, through botched sorcery by the Enchantress, MODOK and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) fall in love and make googly eyes at each other through a montage set to fake ’60s pop music. It’s pretty great.