To say I’m not a fan of what Michael Bay has done with the Transformers is… honestly the biggest understatement of the month. None of us at Nerd & Tie are really fans anyway, so here’s what I would recommend looking at instead!
And yeah, I know I didn’t mention anything Beast Wars/Machines. That’s for another video, I promise.
A few days ago Indonesian comic readers started pointing out that some controversial political messages had been inserted into an issue of X-Men Gold. Well, calling the messages “controversial” is kind of understating it, but “super bigoted” didn’t quite flow in the headline.
Artist Ardian Syaf inserted into the issue two small references which likely went far over the heads of the American editors of the comic — on one page Colossus wears a shirt saying “QS 5:51” and on another page the number “212” is prominently displayed on a building.
You may not know what either of those things mean, but once you do, you’ll see why it’s such a big deal. Continue reading Marvel Disciplines ‘X-Men Gold’ Artist After Inserting Controversial Political Messages Into Art
Comic writer Gerard Jones has been arrested for allegedly uploading pornographic images of children to Youtube. According to SFGate:
He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of possession of child pornography, production of child pornography, sending harmful material to a minor and distribution of child pornography, police said.
The uploaded YouTube videos depicted a child performing sexual acts on an adult, police said. And other videos uncovered inside Jones’ home showed adults performing sexual acts on children as young as 1-year-old, police said.
Jones has worked on titles for both DC and Marvel, and co-created the character ‘Prime’ for Malibu comics. Jones is also known for writing the English language translations for the Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball manga for Viz. He also wrote the well regarded comics history book Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book and Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence.
The arrest occurred on December 29th, and Jones entered a plea of not guilty this last Thursday. Honestly, this is all pretty messed up.
Via SFGate
Fans of the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters may not get to see our heroines back up on the big screen any time soon, but that doesn’t mean Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann, and Patty Tolan won’t be having additional adventures. In fact, in March of 2017, they’ll be teaming up with the original Ghostbusters Peter, Ray, Egan and Winston in the pages of IDW’s Ghostbusters 101 comic.
The comic will see the original Ghostbusters universe merge with the alternate reality of the 2016 film. As described by IDW:
Shortly after the classic Ghostbusters decide to get back to their roots of teaching the next generation of ‘busters, an inter-dimensional mishap merges together their universe with that of the new crew of paranormal police. Now, with the fate of two dimensions in the balance (maybe more?!), can these distinctly different teams come together to repel the greatest supernatural challenge any of them have ever faced? They’re going to have to find a way if there’s any hope for survival. Prepare for mass hysteria of the dogs and cats living together variety, because this time everyone… ANSWERS THE CALL!
This isn’t the first inter-dimensional team up in the Ghostbusters comics, as the 1984 crew teamed up with their “Real” cartoon counterparts in 2015 (though that didn’t involve universes literally merging). Whether Ghostbusters 101 will be as good as that crossover remains to be seen as well.
But hey, more Holtzmann is more Holtzmann, right?
Via ComicsAlliance
One of the major plotlines since the introduction of the woman currently wielding Mjolnir has been figuring out who exactly she was. Marvel will, of course, be providing that answer in tomorrow’s Thor #8 — but since review copies go out early, we actually have that answer now.
And I’m going to tell you.
Well, I mean, only if you want spoilers. If not, and you’d rather wait until tomorrow, you should probably stop reading right about now. Continue reading The Identity of the Woman ‘Thor’ Has Been Revealed
DC has decided that modern perceptions of Batman aren’t grimdark enough, so they’ve decided to go back to the well and have Frank Miller write another Dark Knight installment.
While the original Dark Knight Returns is a classic, the follow up Miller wrote in the early 2000s was mediocre at best. And what do they plan on calling this unnecessary sequel? The Dark Knight III: The Master Race.
Seriously. That’s what it’s called.
Honest to god, you can’t make this stuff up.
Brian Azzarello will cowrite the series, and no artist has been announced yet. The first issue should hit shelves in the fall of this year.
Via AV Club
Literally (and I mean for decades) there have been ongoing theories that original member of the X-Men Bobby Drake (aka “Iceman”) is, in fact, not straight. Fans have asked whether the character is bisexual or gay for so long, it made it into an episode of Family Guy. Well, tomorrow’s issue of “All-New X-Men” will put the issue to rest.
Iceman is gay.
The news came out as pages of the comic leaked online:
After decades of being coy about it, Iceman is finally, canonically gay. Congratulations @BRIANMBENDIS and @Marvel. pic.twitter.com/JZFF4k7xyT
— Anthony Oliveira (@oliveiranth) April 21, 2015
Personally, I see this as a good thing. I mean, we all sort of knew it already anyway.
Via io9
After several weeks of rumors that DC’s Justice League film might cast Michelle Rodriguez as a Green Lantern, TMZ caught up with her to ask about these rumors Rodriguez proceeded to shove her foot in her mouth.
“I think it’s so stupid… this whole minorities in Hollywood thing, it’s so stupid. It’s like, stop stealing all the white people’s superheroes. Make up your own.”
Rodriguez would later clarify that she felt would rather creators make new characters rather than changing the backgrounds of existing characters, but here’s the thing, they’re fictional characters. The backgrounds of these characters are changing and being re-written all the time, even if their sex, race or sexual orientation isn’t being changed. These characters don’t have to be one race, or sex or anything else, because like any mythological character, there is never one definitive version.
I think the only thing more disturbing than Rodriguez outlook is how many comic reading racists have already rallied behind her.
via: Comic Book Resources
So Marvel revealed that in it’s upcoming “Secret Wars” event (not to be confused with the previous “Secret Wars” event from decades past) we’ll see the Marvel Universe collide with Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. The two will collapse into “Battleworld” — which is about as dumb a name as I can think of, but that’s not really the point.
While some have declared it a reboot, Marvel does maintain that the classic 616 history will still have happened. They aren’t erasing history — just creating something new.
The question really is, when this even is over, will the universes return to the status quo or will they be permanently be changed? Years ago, Marvel reset the X-men franchise in its “Age of Apocalypse” storyline — but that “new reality” got set back to normal (which everyone knew it would, since only the X-Books got changed). It’s entirely possible Marvel could go this route — where we have a lot of hype, but everything goes back to normal.
Or we could see the Marvel equivalent to DC’s New 52. Which would be awful.
Likely we’ll arrive somewhere in the middle, but I’m not super excited. I’m all about gradual, character driven change – not cataclysmic universal upheaval…
…but that’s just me.
Via io9
In 2006 the most ridiculous storyline to ever grace the pages of Spider-Man comics culminated in the retconning away of Peter Parker’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson. Well, okay, Aunt May’s death getting retconned to an actress hired to pretend to be Aunt May was pretty awful too, but “One More Day” was worse.
Anyway, there’s a chance reality might go back to normal, as a new teaser image for Summer 2015 features Peter, Mary Jane and a young girl (likely May Parker) with the words “Renew Your Vows.”
And if this means there’s even a slight chance that they’re reversing the effects of “One More Day,” I might be finally excited about a Spider-Man book again.
Via CBR
