No Update Today, Sorry : /

I started a new job earlier this month and gone out of town a few times so it has really messed with my schedule, so I apologize for not getting a real update in this week. There is a very good chance I will be seeing the Iron Man movie this Friday, so if that happens I will have a review posted next Monday, promise.

Armor Design

Since I was out of town most of last week I didnt get a chance to get a good entry in, so I'm going to post an armor design I did about seven or eight years ago.

For lack of a better name, we'll just call it the Chaos armor. As you can tell at first glance it was influenced by the Heroes Reborn Prometheum armor with the smoke stacks and the leg attachments and also the modular armor with the more streamlined look and lack of mouth. Though it may look like I went purely for aesthetics, the big parts do have functions.

The armor is meant to be modular, able to swap out systems like boots and gauntlets, plus the shoulder armor and back pack could be removed for different units.

The leg attachments as you can see have straps to hold them on, they are actually battery units for extra power. Think of them as bigger versions of the disks the Classic armor had on the hips. They were completely optional and could be discarded with ease.

Much the same manner was the backpack, which was also a power generator and had its own thrusters for extra speed.

The shoulders (whose design actually came form the Wing Zero Gundam mecha) are three separate thermocouple units for extra energy conversion. While in flight the two lower segments lift up into the top one for greater aerodynamic stability.

The uni-beam, well that was pure aesthetics there. I was going for something different and thought the straps would look good there. The gauntlets have overhangs above the hands and elbows for protection, plus giving en elbow would hurt a lot more with that thing.

But yeah, that's an old design I came up with but always liked. Not every one's cup of tea I know, and admittedly I would do some things different now, but all in all I am proud of the design.

Best Iron Man villains

Just like every other hero, Iron Man has his share of villains, some one shot guys and some who have been around as long as he has. Of course some stick out more than others, and to no surprise they last the longest because they tend to be the most original and interesting. So which do I feel these are? Well, I give you what I believe to be Iron Man’s best villains.




5) Crimson Dynamo

I wanted to put him as the first because the Dynamo always represented Tony if he was born in Russia, plus at the time with the Cold War that meant a lot more. It was two men whose only real difference was that they grew up on the other side of the world. Unfortunately the problem with the Dynamo was the guy in the armor kept changing, so it became more a suit than anything. I guess you can call it the Tin Man: the character lacked a heart. His latest appearance was little more than a joke, wearing armor like the original and getting beat with no real effort. The Dynamo really needs to get an established wearer so it can be used to full potential. Still he has managed to continually be interesting, so he makes the list.


4) Justin Hammer

Tony with no morals is probably a good way to explain Hammer. He was driven by money and power and didn’t care who he stepped on to get it. Of course, he didn’t get where he was by being stupid and every time he looked down for good something he did in the past blew up in Tony’s face and he was back in it. Until that whole Bad Blood thing, but of course in comics, is anyone ever truly dead?


3) Titanium Man

The T-Man always represented a bit of a step up from Iron Man, a David vs Goliath if you will. Plus he represented somewhat of a great fear at the time: an unstoppable Russian weapon. He was loyal to a fault and would never give up. Even after Tony had upgraded his armor multiple times, the T-Man was still a match in the same armor he wore. It says something when after beating the T-Man with the classic armor, the far superior Modular armor was having trouble taking him down. It shows how powerful the Titanium Man truly was, and it was only death that really stopped him.


2) Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger)

Stane was Tony’s most crafty and intelligent enemy, and in ways actually smarter than him. Stane avoided direct conflict seeking instead to stay behind the scenes and ruin Tony emotionally, taking away his company and driving him to alcoholism. Tony was at his worst when Stane wanted him. But in the end Stane underestimated Tony, thinking Tony was broken for good and he had won, Stark came back with the Silver Centurion armor and not only outfought Stane in his Iron Monger but out-thought him. Everything Stane threw at him Tony waded through with little problem. Unwilling to give Tony the final victory Stane took his own life. Of all the Iron man villains, none have ever managed to make Tony steep so low.


1) Mandarin

It’s really hard to put Mandarin anywhere but the top spot. Not only is he the most intriguing, but he is the only villain who continually evolves. After every battle the Mandarin comes back with a changed philosophy and strategy, and sometimes new powers. He has done everything from creating his own armor to trying to control Fing Fang Foom and Ultimo. He always has a new scheme vastly different from the last, and he has the intelligence to use his supreme powers. The only thing I don’t like is that he is almost always been physically frail, so the battle between him and Iron Man is usually the Mandarin dodging repulsors. But still, what the Mandarin brings more than offsets that. Intelligent, resourceful and driven the Mandarin time and again has proven to be Stark’s greatest enemy.

Review: Age of Apocalypse

I’ve decided to take the time to review one of the major alternate realities in the Marvel Universe: The Age of Apocalypse. For those that don’t know this was an alternate timeline created within the mainstream Marvel Universe by the death Charles Xavier (this alternate timeline was portrayed in the regular monthly titles). An attempt to kill Magneto in the past to prevent him from being a mutant terrorist is disrupted when Xavier jumps in to save him, dying in his place. Mutants are not as unified by Xavier’s ideals and the rift between mutants and humans grows which Apocalypse takes full advantage of, resulting in his conquering of the United States in a dark and apocalyptic (no pun intended) setting where humans are slaughtered like cattle and Europe is the only free place for humans left after the destruction of much of the rest of the world.

What I liked most is really how dark this series was. More graphic and realistic in the sense that no one was safe, anyone could dies and heroes didn’t always win, AoA as it is referred to had a completely different feel to it than mainstream Marvel. There were few happy moments, even in victories and everyone was constantly divided not only with others but with themselves. The feeling at times is a bit akin to the Terminator future: dark, desolate and violent with only glimmers of hope where war is constant.

Also many characters were flip flopped, such as Cyclops and Havok both being agents of Apocalypse and Magneto being the last thing standing in front of Apocalypse’s rule of the Earth. It was interesting to see such established characters in a new light, and what it would be like if someone like Magneto was a force of good rather than evil. It’s really something us as readers always wondered: “what if this character was on the other side” and this series answers some of those. Though you could normally see hints of the characters regular personas for the most part the characters were a fair amount different not only because they had switched allegiances, but also because the world they lived in was so much harsher (a bit of a spoiler, do we honestly ever think Night Crawler would deliver a killing blow to a bad guy with no remorse?).

The art too I thought was very good. Led by artists like Ian Churchill, Steve Epting, Salvador Larrocca and Adam and Andy Kubert just to name some, I would say the art was all in all fantastic for the series. I know we all have our own tastes and not everyone can be impressed, but all things considered I can’t see people not liking the art. If you're a fan of detail heavy art, this is definitely for you.

The one thing I didn’t like about this series was the end. What happened wasn’t bad, but how fast it happened was. It seemed like all of a sudden things came to a head all too quick and people started dying left and right. It really should have been drawn out over another month at least to really get a good fulfilling ending in. This was also a bit of a problem for the whole series. It jumped around a lot, often months or sometimes years passing between issues. Though I realize they didn’t want to drag this on forever, at points you really feel gypped of a good story.

All in all this was a very good series. It is more adult oriented and mature and the writers get the despair and darkness of the world across very good. I picked up the series in the four volume trade paper backs and thoroughly enjoyed everyone, included the special “Chosen” issue where you see Apocalypse’s profiles on the more prominent characters of the series. If you got some spare cash (about $25 US for each) I suggest this series.