Showing posts with label Legends of Tomorrow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legends of Tomorrow. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #6: Metal Men!


I really don't care about the Metal Men part of this comic book.

Could it be true? Could it be that we...were too free?! Before I get on with my point, let me just start by saying I'm not suggesting we should corral stupid people and butcher them for their meat! I mean, that's probably going too far. But maybe we should consider demoting them to the level of urban wildlife, on par with squirrels, raccoons, and opossum? If a stupid person tries to make conversation with me in public, shouldn't I be allowed to swat them away with a broom while yelling, "Shoo! Shoo!" or "Oh my god it probably has rabies!"? I don't know how we can test the intelligence of everybody in the country to see who gets what rights but I think I have an idea! We seem to be okay with enacting laws that make it more difficult to vote, right? So how about each ballot comes inside a puzzle box that must be solved before the vote can be cast! This will limit the amount of dumb people who get to ruin a pretty good system. It might also accidentally send a few people to hell but I think Americans have shown that they'd totally be okay with that.

At first I thought maybe the voting booths could be inside of garbage cans to test people's intelligence but then we'd have a spate of raccoons voting. They might even win some districts. Before you know it, we'd have a bowl of cat food for president and a bird bath for vice-president. I mean, we sort of had that from 2001 to 2008, so I think the country would survive.

That's probably a good enough segue to begin discussing the Metal Men. I mean, I did mention garbage cans.

This issue begins with Chemo attacking the Metal Men and their new friends, the Other Metal Men.


This was written before the U.S. election. So I think there's a new bar for a worst day ever.

The Narrator of this comic book refers to the Metal Men as "our heroes." They're not my heroes! The Metal Men are the kind of characters people like when they're kids and then continue to like into adulthood simply for nostalgic reasons. I never liked them as a kid and so I'm not saddled with the nostalgia of having spent lonely Saturdays reading Metal Men comic books nursing the fat lip I got from trying to make a friend. Now that I'm almost mature, I certainly have no taste for these silly creatures. Although I do like Doc Magnus. He's sophisticated. He smokes a pipe and enjoys butt stuff! I don't do one of those things but I still admire him! He's so grown up and mature!

So the Metal Men (Not My Heroes!) are now battling Chemo. Do they always battle Chemo? Doesn't Chemo just look like a big container of Mountain Dew that was shaken too hard and possibly pissed in?


You can probably guess how I read this the first time.

Chemo burps green chowder all over the street as Doc Magnus and Doc Lace (who is also probably into butt stuff and smoking things) argue. Doc is all, "Did you do this?!" And Doc is all, "I did not!" And then Doc is all, "We should have this conversation later when our lives are not threatened!" And Doc is all, "Yeah!" And then Doc is all, "But did you do this?!" I don't have to explicate that anymore, do I? You can see why it's hilarious, right?

I just realized that this Doc Magnus is a younger, less dapper version of himself. Instead of smoking a pipe, he wears goggles. So I still only do one of the things this Doc Magnus does!

Chemo kills Silicon because nobody cared about a Metal Man made out of Silicon! It's possible Len Wein could have made one that people cared about. He could have worn a bow tie while trying to catch the eye of some angels to get his start-up going! He could have been all, "I'm an up and coming young go-getter who won't take no for an answer! I'm also willing to screw over my friends and associates to get an investment for my app! And when I say 'my app,' I mean the app I conned a bunch of other people into making who were all paid by the hour and didn't get a stake in the final product because it was my intellectual idea! And when I say 'my intellectual idea,' I mean the idea of my friends who didn't understand contract law and lost all of their rights to the project!" Man, I'm glad Silicon is dead! He was a total douche!

And then, in the middle of the battle, I find myself shocked. I'm not easily shocked either! That previous panel I scanned could have had a printing error that printed the way I read it anyway and I would have shrugged and gotten on with my life. But in the middle of the battle against Chemo, I find myself aghast! Agog! Amazed at what I'm seeing! And, if I'm honest, a little bit turned on!


Does Lead always masturbate during battle?

Before anybody decides they're going to explain what the picture above really is, just fucking relax and take a breath. Enjoy the absurdity of my fucking commentaries and stop trying to make sure everybody knows exactly what the fuck is going on at all times. You're being a patronizing twat. I commented on the cover of Scooby Apocalypse #4, "I think Shaggy's cock is hanging out." I said this because the artist drew Scooby's tongue exactly where Shaggy's cock would be if it were sticking out of his zipper. And the tongue looked exactly like a flaccid, uncircumcised cock! But some idiotic shit had to reply, "That's Scooby's tongue." Yeah, no shit, fucktwit! Relax! Chill out! Let people say things that are stupid and hilarious and make you see the world differently than maybe you might have seen it before. Especially when all that person seems to see are dicks.

Mother Machine reveals herself (I mean, re-reveals herself since I think, last issue, she already declared she needed to take action herself) and explains her plans to the reader. This is all because she wants a Responsometer! She describes a Responsometer as "a baseball-sized computer that allows the Metal Men to act independently of the Internet." That's what makes the Responsometer so special? That it works without being linked to the Internet?! That's hardly special! I thought what made the Responsometer so special was that it gave the robots sentience and emotions and that it also fits smoothly up one's rear end.

Back to the fight, Iron is rusted completely and dies. That's okay though because he can be rebooted later. It's also okay because I don't care about any of the Metal Men! They're a lot like Cyborg and Red Tornado and Robotman in that they usually wind up getting destroyed in the climactic battle. But their essence lives on in like a hard drive or tape cassette or something. So it doesn't really matter what happens to their bodies.

Platinum is killed and I sort of feel bad about that because I always liked the way she tried to fuck Superman in the old comic books I used to read on Saturday afternoons! And then Lithium dies as well. Now who's going to help lift everybody's spirits when the battle is over?!

After the military officer claims responsibility for this whole fiasco (it's always the military's fault! Just after the butler!), Gold declares that the Metal Men and the Other Metal Men must work together to stop Chemo. Hey! What a great idea! A team of heroes acting in concert and with a plan! I mean, the plan will probably be "Everybody rush Chemo at once!" which they did try earlier (although Lead stood by jerking off). But this is the end of the last issue! So it's different now! It'll work this time! Probably!

Aluminum dies almost immediately. Probably because everybody was pronouncing his name the American way and he was all, "But it's Al-loo-min-ium! It's All-loo-AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!" After Al, it's Gold's turn to die!


"--art, Lisa!"

Mercury dies immediately after Gold dies winning the bet that his last words would be a totally hilarious impersonation. I'm beginning to suspect that all of the Metal Men are going to die so that Mother Machine can pop in, take the Responsometer out of Chemo, and fuck off to wherever she's been hiding since she destroyed the Blackhawks.

Mother Machine isn't allowed to be the hero because Tin needs to be the hero. The most useless Metal Men of them all! Somehow none of the other metals were strong enough to pierce Chemo's outer shell. But Tin turns himself into a javelin and shoots straight through Chemo, removing the Responsometer as he passes through Chemo! Wow! I only thought tin was good for storing beans and wrapping up sandwiches for picnics before being replaced by aluminum!

Doc Magnus picks up Chemo's Responsometer and is about to do what he always does with Responsometers before he's interrupted.


Doc, you should probably wash Chemo off of that before you shove it up there.

Mother Machine is sucked into Chemo's Responsometer because that's how they work? Or something? Doc Magnus decides it's safe to just give the Mother Machine Responsometer to the military and head home. That should work out well! Once he's home, he revives his Metal Men the way he always does after they're slaughtered in the final battle. He's not able to save most of the Other Metal Men. He only manages to keep Copper which is probably a good thing since the Metal Men had way too many dicks in it already. That's the good news! The bad news is that he decided to change their looks. He calls an upgrade but I call it Yeeeeeuuuuccch!


Mostly I hate this new look. But I do like the addition of a huge red penis to Gold.

The Review!
Why the fuck does DC keep thinking characters need cosmetic updates? I suppose I agree with them when they accidentally change a look for the better. But what is this unholy design they've chosen for the Metal Men? Somebody get Ann Nocenti on the phone so she can learn the actual definition of Uncanny Valley now! No wait! Don't rouse her! Let her sleep the sleep of the ages in whatever cave she's slouched on back to! Didn't they change the look of the Metal Men in the early 90s? In that mini-series with the shiny metallic cover on the first issue! I just read it in the last couple of years and I remember nothing about it! Why do I even bother doing things with my life when I can't retain any memory of the events?! I should just sit in front of the television playing Overwatch!

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #6: Sugar & Spike!


Sugar & Spike have the same amount of pages in this book as Firestorm. This cover is bullshit.

Everybody should be happy now that we're living in Trumpland! In Trumpland, nobody is ever allowed to make you feel stupid or else you'll get a fist in the face, buddy! Finally, the violent and dumb are perfectly normal citizens! And don't think you can get away with pretending you didn't know you were making somebody feel dumb! Don't you dare read a book that doesn't have "Choose Your Own Adventure" on the cover in public because that would make so many people feel stupid! And only use the same vocabulary that Trump uses. You know, short, easily learned words. The kinds of words they use as examples for parts of speech in Mad Libs. Some words that are okay to use in Trumpland: Sad! Unfair! The Best! Mad! Dog! Cat! Banana! You know what? I'd stay away from using "banana" because it just has too many syllables. You should also put "really" in front of words you want to emphasize instead of using the words that already exist that mean the easy word but to a greater degree. So don't say ecstatic! Say really, really, really happy! And don't say indefinable. Say really, really, really not a best word! And don't say female orgasm because no man in Trumpland has ever pleasured a woman in his life! Sure, a lot of them have pleasured themselves inside a woman. But the woman was probably making a grocery list in her head during it.

I'm going to love living in Trumpland! Nobody can argue with me ever again because facts don't exist! We all just get to believe what we want to believe and feel really fucking good about ourselves! Although I have a feeling a lot of people probably suspect that they're not as smart or right as they pretend to think they are. Losers!

Anyway, I wonder if Sugar & Spike would help supervillains or morally bankrupt space assassins from Czarnia with their past indiscretions? Because I'm pretty sure Lobo probably wouldn't mind Sugar & Spike locating and destroying the video of his wedding with Bueno Excellente.


Perhaps "indiscretion" isn't the right word for what happened here. I think there's a harsher, more repugnant word for it. And one that Lobo doesn't have to be ashamed of at all. What happened to him wasn't his fault! I mean, it kind of was his fault a little bit. Mostly because he became popular enough for Garth Ennis to want to humiliate him.

Sugar & Spike are now the proud owners of the Museum of Humiliating Comic Book Story Arcs. I suppose it's more accurate to say that they're oddities since that's what the comic book calls them. Also, they have displays like Cheeks the Toy Wonder and when did he ever humiliate anybody? I don't think Ambush Bug was ever embarrassed about having him as a sidekick. I have a Cheeks the Toy Wonder project for DC Comics that I'll never get around to writing because why would DC Comics ever want me to write anything for them? Especially unsolicited! Also I have no wish to write comic books. I'd probably write half of the first story and get bored with it. But I'm not going to say any more about it because I don't want some hack like Cullen Bunn stealing my idea!

While unpacking the new displays, Sugar and Spike and Lee Carver (the guy who founded the museum) are visited by Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad. But not the dorks from the eighties or nineties or other decades that are more cool than the older decades. No, these are the original super duper dorks from whatever decade they were invented! I think. I wasn't born then so how would I know exactly when these particular versions of the characters are from?!

The three original Legionnaires want to hire Sugar and Spike for a job! I mean, of course that's what they want. That's the whole point of this comic book. If they had wanted to have sex with them, this review would just be full of orgy pictures and semen stains.

While the job is being discussed, more Legionnaires arrive! This time, it's Lightning Lad, Brainiac Five, and Supergirl! Is Supergirl a member of the Legion of Super-heroes? Probably a complimentary member, or whatever word I actually meant to use that's different than complimentary. Who can be bothered to know things? I'm living in a Post-Trump World! Unless it's just a Trump World. Does it matter? Nobody can correct me in Trumpland because facts don't matter! All opinions are equal! I'm going to get a job building rockets!

These new Legionnaires appear in a Time Bubble instead of a Time Closet. That means they're more moderner! This is going to turn into one of those crazy time travel situations, isn't it?! Sugar realizes things are about to get stupid too and decides she's had enough for the day.


Shower?! Now we're talking! Pants off!

As you might have been able to tell, if you're an astute reader (and who isn't in Trumpland?!), the reason I scanned the panel where Sugar says she's going to take a shower is because there are no panels of the actual shower. Would you like me to draw one for you?


Pretty good for using a touch pad and not being totally familiar with a naked female body! Right?

After her shower, Sugar discovers she's part of a time paradox. It's a good thing time paradoxes don't actually exist or she'd be in trouble! How do I know they don't exist? Well, have you ever encountered one?! See? That's also my proof of the non-existence of God! And fish tacos without cabbage in them.

I almost typed "And fish tacos without cabbage in" but I don't think it's acceptable to speak like a Britisher in Trumpland. You have to go to Farage Island for that! Never heard of Farage Island? Maybe you know it as Cuntsville?

Supergirl and Sugar rush off to STAR Labs to grab the whatzit that'll stop the time paradox from happening, even though it never really happened. Because it's not a thing! And this story proves it! Because all of these Legionnaires come from all sorts of futures to stop the time paradox which is stopped by Sugar's retrieval of the whatzit which means the time paradox never happened! Not that it would have happened anyway, time being what it is! Sugar could have just taken a much longer shower and everything would have resolved nicely because time paradoxes can't exist! That's why the word paradox is in there! I know this is Trumpland but sometimes you're going to have to use a fucking dictionary!

The Review!
I definitely wouldn't mind the occasional one-shot Sugar & Spike comic book after this. I'm not sure I'd want to read a monthly Giffen title because his dialogue is too confusing and I generally have to read his books two or three times before I ask somebody to help me figure it out. But I adore the concept of this series. It's also quite brave! Giffen is taking stories that are so obviously out of continuity that he'd be a fool to admit that they are continuity! Good thing he's such a fool then, right?

Monday, November 21, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #6: Metamorpho!


I wonder if Metamorpho ever stabs himself in the face while sleeping. Wait. Does Metamorpho sleep?

Typical political discourse:

"Bush is terrible for all of these reasons!"
"Oh yeah? What about Clinton?!"

"Obama is terrible for all of these reasons."
"Here are facts as to why those reasons are wrong."

"Trump is terrible for all of these reasons!"
"Oh yeah? What about Clinton?!"

How a person doesn't realize they're on the losing side of every argument when their entire rebuttal is a deflection, I'll never know. I'll never know because I don't talk to those people if I can help it. Usually if I'm having a conversation with somebody and they say something stupid, I just wander off. I do occasionally answer their questions on Tumblr but only if I think I'm being witty. That means I always answer them because I always think I'm being witty, much to the chagrin of everybody who knows me.

I just used the word "occasionally" even though I can never spell it. You see, one time I read a way to remember how to spell necessary and I always wind up applying the method to occasionally! The secret to spelling necessary is that a shirt has one 'n'eck, one 'c'ollar, and two 's'leeves. At least that's how I remember the saying even if it sounds stupid now that I type it out. Anyway, occasionally has all of those letters too! So I always wind up spelling it ocassionally on the first attempt! Thank God for Spellcheck! And I mean that literally because you know whoever invented Spellcheck got the idea from God because God was all, "Eeny meeny miney moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if you catch it, let it go. My 'mother' told me to pick the very best one and I pick you to be blessed!"

Last issue, things were happening in this story that I don't really remember. I reread my commentary to refresh my memory but that was nearly a week ago and I can't be bothered to reread it again! I think Java had just shot Metamorpho with one of those weapons that seem to be everywhere in the DC Universe. You know the kind! It's the kind that steals the power from the hero. Here's how the antagonists always seem to get their hands on one of them.

Writer: "Metamorpho sure has a lot of powers! How can anybody ever defeat him?!"
Editor: "I don't know. Can I have a bite of your salami sandwich?"
Writer: "Get out of here! I'm trying to work!"
Editor: "Brrrrt! Fry raid!"
Writer: "What the hell?! You said you didn't want anything when I went out! Get the fuck off of my lunch!"
Editor: "Whatever. You have that script idea yet?"
Writer: "I don't know! How about the bad guy just has a weapon that takes away Rex's powers?"
Editor: "Great! Perfect! Oh, hey, you're out of soda."
Writer: "FUCK!"

That dialogue was going to be completely different and then I made one of the characters an editor and thought, "Editors are jerks! I'd better make this realistic!"

This issue begins with Java defeating Neith and all of her warrior buddies while also disabling Metamorpho with his Lazy Writing Gun. I guess Cavemen are just naturally better fighters than people who have trained for battle their whole lives. I suppose I don't know that much about Java's life before he was thawed out. Maybe he was a champion Cave Fighter? That's like a cage fighter but with one letter changed to make it into a pun that needed to have an explanation or it would just look like I was calling him a guy who fights in caves like a caveman probably would!


I guess this is now Rex's natural form. Too bad. I thought without powers, he might revert to human and we'd get a glimpse of his penis.

Java says what all the idiots in the world couldn't say so they decided to destroy the world instead with their stupid power of democracy: "I'm tired of you looking down at me, thinking you're better than me!" If you've ever had that same thought, you're probably one of those idiots. When somebody expresses a truth and acts confident in that truth because science and evidence are behind them, they aren't even thinking about making you feel stupid. They're just living in reality. I can see how you might begin to feel put upon if your beliefs don't line up with reality. I can see how you might want to begin believing that facts are just opinions and have equal weight. I can see those things but they don't make you any less ignorant when you deny reality for your own desperate attempt to selfishly maintain your world of make-believe. Especially when that make believe world is full of hate. Here's a quick quiz to find out if you're a terrible person: are you angry at whole groups of people you don't know and do you think you're a good person? If you answered yes to both of those, you're the worst person. For transparency's sake, I answered yes to both questions. My whole groups of people I'm angry at are stupid people.

The best part about being vaguely rude and dismissive and insulting to people on the Internet is that I'm not specifically calling anybody out. But people will read this, self-identify with the terrible portrait I've painted with my words, get offended, and then type a rude message to me. I'll usually respond in some flippant way while thinking, "Thanks for identifying yourself, asshole!" But then I'll realize they sent the message anonymously. At that point I'll shake my fist impotently in the air and scream, "You win again, Internet!"

Sapphire arrives to tranquilize Java and say "Thanks but no thanks." Which I think is as bad as saying "Sorry not sorry" except that it really isn't somehow. People who say "sorry not sorry" should be euthanized. I totally stand by that statement no matter how much it makes me sound like Hitler! Besides, I'm pretty sure he popularized the phrase in response to you know what.

By tranquilizing Java, Sapphire has proven to Rex that she actually does want to help and that she isn't a pawn of Simon Stagg at all! Or maybe she was just a little bit but now she's smartened up and gotten with the program and drank the non-branded flavored sugar water drink! Rex decides to trust her, especially since she's the only other character still conscious and he needs somebody to have a conversation with while he saves the day, otherwise the rest of this issue will be super boring. At least up until Kanjar Ro attacks! He must have gotten away earlier for a reason, right?


I first read this as "Tranquilizers, fleshlights...I'm a regular Walmart" and thought, "Wow. Walmart has really changed!"

Rex and Sapphire flirt even worse than I flirt with people. Rex is all, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" And Sapphrie is all, "I lost your diamond testicle!" And Rex is all, "I don't have any more of those!" After typing that, I've changed my mind. That's much better than the way I flirt with people. Usually I look them in the eye and say, "I have a few minutes for nonthreatening sexual contact that should distract you from the thought of death for a little while." I just realized I should have been a teenage goth! I probably would have gotten laid like crazy with that line!

Oh! I just want to talk about the whole "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" bit for a second! I know I've mentioned it before but who is reading this right now who also read whatever commentary I last discussed it in, right? Jesus isn't suggesting that somebody might exist who has never sinned. I mean, that seems obvious but you never know what some Christians might think based on all of the weird shit some of them believe. What he's suggesting is the exact opposite. He's suggesting that nobody exists who has never sinned. And that's the whole point! We are all sinners and we've all been given second (or more!) chances. We must always be given another chance to repent and become better people. Nobody should be condemned to death on one sin without any chance at redemption. It's pretty much what Gandalf said to Frodo (unless it was Bilbo!) when discussing Gollum's fate. That makes sense since Gandalf was basically the Jesus of The Lord of the Rings. What with his magic powers and his coming back from death and his being friends with giant eagles.

The flirting is a success! It's so good that Sapphire decides she'll kiss a mineral shaped like a human even though it currently can't make any kind of penis-like protrusion because Rex lost his powers. While they're kissing, Kanjar Ro kicks them in the faces! Now Rex will have to battle Kanjar Ro without his powers! Which, I guess, just evens up the fight because what the fuck can Kanjar Ro do? I mean aside from the pretty cool double kick to both of their faces as they were kissing. That alone could make him one of my favorite supervillains of all time! I mean, it could if not for how utterly boring and terrible he is in every other way.

Kanjar Ro's attack causes the Orb of Ra to crack and since Rex is currently getting his face smashed into the floor, Sapphire has to risk her life to save the day. She scoops it up and sticks it on a place that looks like maybe that's where it goes, I guess? When she does, there's a blast of energy that turns her into Unity. Unity is basically the Orb of Ra possessing Sapphire's body. So when it describes itself as "Unity", what it really means is a union of the Orb of Ra's mind with Sapphire's amazing butt. But it can still feel her feelings and it is, of course, perplexed by the emotion of love. Being an orb, I suppose it wouldn't have known what love was previously. I mean, as long as it had never met Doctor Magnus, that is.

Unity tells Rex that she can't have sex with him because it would kill him and Rex is all, "I'll take my chances!" But instead, she flies away because DC hates love, I guess.

The issue ends with the planet Dawhatever saved, Sapphire subsumed by some monstrous entity that doesn't give a shit about love, and Metamorpho discovering the passion of having a nemesis! Basically, this story puts Metamorpho's world back to where it was before New 52 destroyed it. Or maybe it resets it to pre-Crisis days? Zero Hour? Whatever. I suppose it's just a new version of the same old shit. I don't ever remember Sapphire being some creature called Unity but then I've never read every single Metamorpho comic in existence. So it might be new. Or it might be one of those things old-timers read and were all, "Yes! Unity! Never my favorite but I remember her! Or it! Or whatever! I wish I could have a bowel movement!"

The Review!
Was it good? I don't know! Some stars out of another arbitrary number of stars! Let he who is without sins cast the first review!

Friday, November 18, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #6: Firestorm!


This was my favorite song and dance number from last year's Gay Grammys. Was that redundant?

A friend posted a thing on Facebook about how the electoral college makes a person's vote in Wyoming more valuable than a person's vote in California. One of their friends responded, "So.......You support mob rule?" And the person wasn't being funny at all! Do they not understand how democracy works?! Democracy is mob rule! Except with courts to tell the mob they're being assholes. And then those assholes tell the courts to go fuck themselves because they're against the will of the mob! Then everything breaks down and the barbarians come!

Plus there's probably something to say about the tyranny of minorities and majorities and how some stupid piece of paper that holds people in its thrall somehow keeps any of those things from happening through pure belief in its power. Or something.

That has nothing to do with Firestorm. It might have something to do with The Metal Men though! Especially the way Doc Magnus rules the roost like some common fascist dictator with a penchant for shoving things in his ass. That was probably redundant (as is my joke about something being redundant. Nothing more redundant than that! Although if you didn't appreciate it, you can print it out and shove it up your ass like some fascist dictator attending the Gay Grammys).

My back still hurts and I haven't been to the comic book store yet. This week is the first week in nearly five years that I won't be picking up every DC comic. I've cut down the list so I can have more time to read things that I want to read. And also to play more Overwatch. Probably a little more of one than the other. Just pretend the more heavily weighted one is the more intellectual of the two options. It's not but, for my brain's self-esteem's sake, please pretend with me. I keep telling my brain that if it gets better at playing Winston, I'll let it reread the entire works of Shakespeare. It's trying so hard to figure out that damn monkey now!

The Firestorm Commentary!
This issue begins with something happening that probably could have used some kind of Content Warning.


Judging by the exaggerated expressions of shock, something sexual has to be taking place.

The Professor's advice is to do something. Jason Rausch's advice is actual helpful advice that could save Firestorm's bunghole virginity for Jason to get at later. I mean it could save Firestorm's life. I think we all know which two halves of Firestorm are destined to merge forever. That old white fart is no help to anybody. He probably doesn't even know how to erotically manipulate a prostate.

Multiplex's Quantum Field Generator continues to distort reality in the way a Quantum Field Generator never actually would. I mean, I know I don't have any idea what a Quantum Field Generator is, or what it might actually do. But I'm certain in the exact way I'm certain that God doesn't exist that it would not create monster flies, Cybornetic beings, and spider dinosaurs. Those of you who believe in God are probably thinking, "What's so improbable about spider dinosaurs?!"

Here's an additional fact about my atheism: not believing in God doesn't mean I think I know how everything came about, or how it's always existed, or never existed and then suddenly did exist. I'm comfortable not needing to make up a reason for my own existence, or a nonsensical starting point for everything. I just know that the answer to it all is not a magical man in the sky who hates homosexuality. Come to think of it, it's also not a magical woman in the sky who hates homosexuality. It's also not a magical non-gendered immortal and omnipotent being who neither loves nor hates homosexuality. And it definitely isn't any being of any kind who loves homosexuality! Unless the creator of the universe is Firestorm! Oh man! That would be a great revelation to the character. Firestorm is God! Or at least he's made in God's image. God is probably a merger of all of the Gods ever worshiped. Of course, the Christian God is the body. I mean, duh!

Firestorm's current dilemma is that General Eiling is going to bomb Multiplex's Quantum Field Generator which would be a huge disaster for obvious reasons. I mean, the reasons aren't really obvious but that's what happens when you base the conflict on some technobabble that nobody could possibly understand. The writer gets to tell the audience that something super bad is going to happen and the audience just has to accept it. In comic books, it's always easy to use quantum bullshit or nanotechfucktology because nobody reading comic books is smart enough to argue against it.

Professor Stein continues to be no help while Jason does all the heavy lifting, telepathically linked to Firestorm. Hopefully everybody realizes that Ronnie and Jason are meant to be Firestorm. I mean fuck buddies. No wait. I had it right the first time. And the second time too!


Ronnie's first coach sounds like a cliché spouting jackass.

You think I'm done with that whole "Was that redundant?" thing yet? Well I'm not! That last caption was probably redundant!

I should probably accept that a Quantum Field Generator is simply Gerry Conway's version of the Hitchhiker's Improbability Drive. That might not have made sense but at least it was clever!

While Jason takes care of General Eiling's bombers through technological shenanigannery, Firestorm attempts to close in on the Quantum Field Generator so Professor Stein can identify the off switch. But Ronnie's having trouble because getting through the reality distortion field is like "swatting wasps in a hurricane--they just keep coming!" First off, I think if you're in a hurricane and you're swatting wasps, you've probably lost your mind. First off, why are you still in a hurricane? You should have fucking evacuated instead of causing future problems for first responders when they have to pull your corpse out of a palm tree. And second of all, why the fuck are you swatting at wasps?! Jesus Christ! Those things will fuck you up! Forget the hurricane! There's never a good time to fucking swat at wasps, you idiot! I have lost all faith in Firestorm. This is what happens when you teach your young men in nothing but sports platitudes.

Because there are so many Multiplexes, Ronnie decides to unFirestorm. So instead of hundreds against one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe, it'll be hundreds against an old man and a high school quarterback. Great plan! I mean, seriously, great plan because it works! Ronnie blocks all of the Multiplexes as Professor Stein runs up to the machine and flips the off switch. Seriously. I was making a joke earlier about the off switch but the machine really has an off switch. Luckily, Dr. Cunningham, the woman Multiplex was holding hostage and apparently doesn't know how to flip switches, is able to point at the off switch so Professor Mantin Steinman could man man man man man man.

Ronnie and Stein return to Firestorm and he tries to rescue Multiplex and Dr. Cunningham. But Multiplex wriggles out of his glove and goes, "Ha ha! I have escaped!" Then he's bombed into smithereens by General Eiling's bombers and Jason Rausch laughs and laughs and laughs! Ha ha! The bad guy sure got his!

Back at school, Jason confronts the girl he's supposed to be fucking because she's the odd, weird, smart girl. Except she doesn't know he's gay. Also she slipped some Rohypnol in a soda she gave him so that he'd fuck up his interview for the company she's also trying to get an internship at.


Oh sure! A good person would just allow a somebody to go around putting dangerous drugs in other student's drinks! Don't alert anybody to her criminal behavior! Snitches get stitches, bitches!

The story ends with Jason Rausch still not allowed to be part of Firestorm. But he is offered a place on the team using the telepathic helmet! So instead of one stupid disembodied head floating around Firestorm's face, there will be two! Oh joy! They just doubled down on the worst part about this entire comic book (aside from the lack of gay sex)!

The Review!
This book isn't going to get on The Rankings because it's four books in one that I'm splitting into different reviews. Besides, it's over now! And if you didn't read it as Legends of Tomorrow, you'll probably get to read it as a trade paperback soon. I know the Sugar and Spike one is available! And it's totally worth reading because it humiliates DC's big three heroes! This one isn't really worth picking up because it doesn't delve into the homosexual relationship between Ronnie and Jason. Or if it does, it gets really creepy because now Martin Stein is in some kind of homosexual May-December romance with Ronnie. It's so gross!

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #5


Who glances at the cover of a $7.99 comic book and exclaims, "What?! Sugar and Spike! I have to blow my paycheck on this!"

I just need to get through this issue as quickly as possible. These four full issue compilations are breaking me! It's too much to comment on at one time! I suppose I could do each issue separately but then I'd just get depressed seeing this comic book on top of my stack for days as I work through every story. Instead, it's just getting quick reviews of each issue. Hey DC Comics?! I have a good idea! How about keeping the page count of every comic you sell down around twelve! That way I can do these commentaries much quicker and Jim Lee will be telling the truth when he says he can finish the art on a full comic in one month!

That wasn't fair to Jim Lee. He is currently doing twenty-four pages of art per month since Suicide Squad is biweekly. But have you seen his art in those? It's worse than it usually is! So many scribbles on everybody's faces! And he really could use some practice drawing fat people. You know how people say fat is beautiful just to sound like a kind and caring person who obviously isn't in touch with reality, or at least the aesthetic senses of people in the 21st Century? You know it's not true because 99% of all comic book artists couldn't draw a fat person at gunpoint. I don't mean the fat person would be drawn with a gun to their head! I mean the artist, being threatened with a gun to their head, couldn't draw a fat person well. Because they have no interest in drawing fat people. Because nobody has any interest in looking at fat people while reading a comic book. Remember how good Dial H was? Remember how it was cancelled after only twelve issues even though it was one of the best New 52 books? It starred a fat guy. So all of you who didn't support it? Fat shaming assholes. Probably.

I'm going to change the subject before I hurt my own feelings some more and make myself cry. I don't want to get tears in my gallon of ice cream. Although that's probably a favorite hipster flavor: Bone Marrow and Tears Ice Cream.

The Firestorm Review!
In this issue, Ronnie almost tells Jason that he loves him. He comes as close as the high school quarterback can come without completely destroying his reputation, since everybody knows the high school quarterback can't be a huge poofster. Who would fuck all of the cheerleaders?! It's an alternate reality too inconceivable to ponder for long. Anyway, Ronnie tells Jason that he needs him because Stein is old enough to be his dad. In other words, Firestorming it up with an old man is disgusting and Ronnie just wishes he could merge with Jason again. That's the main story. In the side story, Multiplex has turned on his Quantum Field Generator which, for most writers, is just another excuse for adding dinosaurs and monsters to the script. Because everybody knows that "quantum" is another word for "magic" since no writer wants to really research quantum physics and no reader would be able to understand the story if the writer truly understood quantum physics anyway! So instead, it's just a buzzword to make a lot of cool chaos that will lead to the end of the world because obviously, duh!

The Rankings!
You know what? I don't really need to add this book to my rankings. It's a relic from an old DC Universe and doesn't deserve to be in my Rebirth rankings. Even if those rankings contain a bunch of books that aren't Rebirth books, like Scooby Apocalypse and The Sheriff of Babylon.

The Metamorpho Review!
Sapphire's betrayal of Metamorpho last issue came from that place where people with good intentions get manipulated by evil people into doing bad things because it will supposedly make the world better. But the Orb of Ra tells Sapphire she's an idiot and she thinks, "Oh, I'm an idiot!" So she changes her mind about taking the Orb of Ra to her father. But she doesn't change her mind fast enough! Isn't that always the way?! Now she's lost Rex's trust and he leaves her to die alone for some reason. While Sapphire waits to die, she sees Java has come to this world too. She decides to follow him so she can warn Rex. But she doesn't follow him fast enough! Isn't that always the way?! So instead of warning Rex, she doesn't warn Rex at all! Java shoots Rex with his Metamorpho Power Stealing Gun while everybody stands around shocked. It's like they don't know that this is the final cliffhanger of the story! That's always when things look the worst! Except for Sapphire's ass. It still looks really good.

The Sugar & Spike Review!
Spike tells the story about how he and Sugar got into the business of dealing with super heroes embarrassing problems cropping up from the past. By the end of the issue, they own the Museum of Super Hero Oddities. They even have some choice pieces to add to it!


Cheeks!

The Metal Men Review!
The Metal Men have a bit of a dust up with the New Metal Men until the Metal Women get tired of their swinging dicks and put a stop to it. After that, Chemo shows up to destroy everybody! Also, Mother Machine decides she's tired of working from behind the scenes and unplugs herself so she can go do some real damage. She's a bit cocky. She may have been able to defeat The Blackhawks but the Metal Men are...well, they really aren't that much different, really. Kind of the same team make-up, y'know? She'll probably win. Mostly because Chemo should do the real work and kill about nine or ten of them before Mother Machine shows up.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #4


I'm more like a Legend of Yesterday. It was for about three months in the summer of 2014. I either peaked right about here! Unless my peak was where I put Aubrey Plaza's face on top of Wonder Woman's in all of the scans.

The First Bit!
• I haven't been reading the last three issues of this because the last three issues of Legends of Tomorrow is technically the last twelve issues. That's a lot of issues to read just to clear three comic books from the stack! But I guess I need to face my demons head on! Today it will be this comic book; tomorrow it will be my spiraling alcoholism.

• That was a lie. I don't really drink that often. I think I have the Asian Flush because occasionally I'll have about one sip of alcohol and have a serious allergic reaction that destroys my sinuses and head for the next day or so. But even then, I still take my chances at times! My real problem is video games. I can't seem to play enough Overwatch these days. And I finally figured out a way to make replaying the SSI Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons games I purchased cheaply off of GOG.com interesting! I'm going to play through them all as just one mage. Not even a duel classed mage! Just a lone, stupid, chaotic evil mage named Hateful Barb. She doesn't take shit from anybody and murders any NPC when given the option to attack. She also dies a lot because she has almost no hit points and really just one tactic in battle: be invisible and cast Fireball. Sometimes she'll cast Stinking Cloud first to give herself a little time to Fireball. I would say her other tactic is "Don't get hit" but that's not something she's in control of. You can tell by how many times I have to keep reloading after she's slaughtered immediately upon encountering the next batch of five hundred orcs and kobolds.

The Firestorm Commentary!
• The issue begins with Firestorm being zapped in some kind of static field matrix field of static. He looks to be screaming in pain, as is Martin Stein's nearby floating head. I've never liked DC's decision to go with an on-panel (or, the case of the cartoon, on-screen) floating head to represent the person inside of the other person part of Firestorm. I would rather just have a voice inside one of those jagged speech bubbles that represents a voice from afar. I suppose back when Firestorm was created, DC Comics understood that most kids reading their comic books were stupid fucks who wouldn't understand what was going on without the floating head. But if the kids were really that stupid (they were! I base that on the fact that DC Comics didn't go out of business long ago. Their stories were awful!), didn't they just believe Firestorm was a man with his head on fire who was followed around by a scary disembodied head?

• General Eiling is torturing Firestorm because that's his entire purpose in the DC Universe. Whenever a character appears and says something like, "I'm totally a good guy but I'm so going to make that Firestorm my bitch!", you can bet it's General Eiling! He says it's his duty to torture Firestorm because Firestorm "may well be" an enemy of the United States. For military thinking, that seems about par for the course (which is "3" because I'm equating golf with the United States and the intelligence level of most of the people in this country would mean I obviously meant "miniature golf"). I wonder if the United States of America will ever learn that most people make better decisions when they don't base them on their own fears. Remember that time that famous American said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself? How do people not understand that he was talking about exactly the kind of problems that have plagued the United States since September 11th, 2001? More to the point, it's caused the kind of helicopter parenting that makes people feel justified for calling child services on a parent who once glanced in the opposite direction of their child while at the park. So dangerous!

• I'm going to be doing this commentary all day if I keep up this kind of pace. I'm still on page one of eighty! I'll probably burn out in the middle of the Metamorpho story which means the Sugar & Spike and Metal Men commentaries will have about two comments each.


How cute! Look at Major Force having a thought that he wasn't told to think!

• General Eiling gives a valid reason for torturing Firestorm: the Nuclear Man was created by a guy who was an associate of another guy who was a total jerk. I want to jokingly say "Seems plausible!" except that this is exactly the kind of bullshit reasons for keeping suspected terrorists in custody. Or should I say captivity? You know how people always defend harsh laws and violent police actions with shit like "Why are you worried if you aren't doing anything wrong?" Well apparently people have to worry because somebody they associate with might be doing something wrong! And how am I supposed to know what everybody I'm ever in contact with is doing?!

• Would everybody who has ever commented on this blog please send me a list of all the terrible shit you've ever done so I can report you immediately? I do not want to end up being tortured because I've been associated with you! Jerks!


Yeah! How dare you be concerned about the innocence of a person I'm torturing who may or may not be anything I think they are! The torture will put all of our doubts to rest! Probably! I mean, why would anybody say anything untrue simply to stop being tortured?! Probably cowards who have something to hide, that's who!

• I'm hungry for ice cream and it's 5:26 in the morning.

• Do these bullet points make my commentaries easier to read? Instead of an insurmountable, nearly endless wall of text, you get nice little bite-sized morsels! It's like you can pick and choose which ones you want to read! It's not like there's any real linear progression to them anyway.

• Major Force walks out so he can keep his honor and integrity. Although, I mean, do you really get to say you kept your integrity intact when you refused to participate in torture but then simply went across the street to eat at Popeye's and forgot all about the victim? I think Major Force might need to step up his actions a little bit or I'm still going to refer to him as an accessory.

• During the torture of Ronald Raymond (who--let's face it--is used to being in a tortured environment. His mom is a racist who feeds him dog dick dinners), Martin Stein continues to get off on their disgusting May-September romance. He's all, "Ronald! We have to split apart! My nuclear bond is about to compress! UNH! If it continues, the results could be catastrophic! Have you ever gotten semen in your eyes?! So gross!"

• Meanwhile, Jason, along with his beard, his dad, and Ronnie's mom, are searching for Firestorm.


Christ! Calm down, you racist jerk! When did he become your son's keeper? Maybe you're just upset because you're a bad mother who lost track of her little Ronnie Hitler Raymond.

• While exploring Martin Stein's lab, Jason finds the helmet Martin puts on that allows him to get inside Ronnie and Jason's heads when they're all up inside each other's Firestorm Matrices. He's so perverted and gross.

• Jason puts on the helmet himself and cries out in shock and sadness as he experiences Martin Stein's catastrophic "nuclear bond compression."

• Jason and his crew decide to rescue Firestorm from the military themselves. How do they suppose they're going to break into a military installation to rescue somebody without getting themselves killed?! The U.S. Military should sue 80s movies for making everybody think the security of military installations was so horrible that any child could find a way to sneak into one.

• Meanwhile, Multiplex is trying to find a way to make all of his duplicates into individuals. I still don't understand why he wants to do that. If I stumbled into some kind of cosmic accident which resulted in a second, fully autonomous me? I'd kill him. No second thoughts. Who knows what kind of embarrassing, and possibly illegal, things he'd reveal?!

• Multiplex explains to some physicist named Marla that he wants to resolve his potential self. Marla makes sure to repeat it later so the reader can be all, "Oh yeah! It sounds more like an explanation after I've heard it two or three more times!" Danton also explains how "infinite potential isn't enough." No shit, Danton. If it were, none of us would ever do anything! I'd sit in a dark room all day thinking, "I can do so many things! SO MANY! Oh man! This is great! So many things I could be doing which I'm not doing! It's wonderful!"

• General Eiling continues to put Firestorm under ever increasing amounts of pressure until he goes critical. You know, nuclear! That's when the tech who Eiling browbeat into increasing the upper limits of the torture is all, "I told you so! I fucking told you!", right before he's going to be obliterated by the nuclear explosion. I don't blame him. Those are probably some pretty satisfying last words.

• Major Force returns with greasy fingers and barbecue sauce all over the front of his spandex. He may have pussed out when it came to saving an innocent life from being tortured but he's still a hero! Or as much of a hero as he can be after allowing torture to continue even after he witnessed it. So now he's going to save the facility by punching Firestorm until he's not going critical anymore. Probably. I can't think of any other way DC Comics solves problems in their stories.

• Using the Martin Stein Mental Creeper Helmet, Jason discovers that Firestorm is about to blow! The only way to stop it is to shut down power to the military installation. Luckily, he and his crew are right next to a transformer supplying power to the facility! All they have to do is destroy it by crashing their car into it!


No, Jason, you literally don't have to do this. It only takes one person to drive a car into a transformer. Unless your father needs somebody to read the map and change radio stations, I guess.

• Jason and his dad both dive out of the car as it careens into the transformer. Why even put his dad in that situation?! You know how difficult it must be to open a car door on the opposite side of your only arm so that you can dive out of the car that you're steering with that arm?! Fucking Ronnie's mother should have driven that car and remained in it as it exploded. Why isn't she putting her life at risk to save her son?! Some mama bear she turned out to be, the lousy dog dick eater.

• Firestorm escapes and Major Force lets him go. Instead, he turns on General Eiling and relieves him of command. That's more like it! A person always thinks better after getting a couple Popeye's biscuits in them.

The Firestorm Ranking!
No change. Can we get a Firestorm story that doesn't involve General Eiling trying to turn Firestorm into a weapon for the United States, or one where he goes after Firestorm as a danger to the security of the United States? I liked the one that seemed like it was going to be a gay romance! It was one of the few new changes of The New 52 and it just went nowhere. I bet it's because Gail Simone was all, "We are definitely going to have Ronnie and Jason sucking dick on-panel." And everybody else on the book was all, "Um, no?" But I was reading it and I saw where it was headed and I was all, "Oh yeah!" But then Gail was off the book and it never happened except in my dreams.

The Metamorpho Commentary!
• I was being optimistic thinking I'd keep the same pace all the way through half of the Metamorpho story! I'm already winding down and chomping at the bit to play Overwatch! And eat ice cream! And cry about the overwhelming futility of it all! Although the ice cream might make me feel good enough to skip the crying.

• I only remember two things about the Metamorpho story. The first is that Metamorpho and Sapphire are on an ancient planet where the original Egyptians came from. The second is that Sapphire has a great ass. Hopefully there aren't any more plot points in the twenty page story so I won't have anything to discuss. Aside from Sapphire's ass.

• Oh yeah! Kanjar Ro is the villain. He's after the power of Ra, probably so he can use it to make Hal Jordan look like a fool.

• Metamorpho is the Chosen One on this planet. It must be primitive if it still thinks plots revolving around "Chosen Ones" are still interesting. Metamorpho explains to Neith, the leader, how he's hoping to change back into his old self. And Neith is all, "But why would you want to change?! Did the patriarchy make you feel bad about yourself?! You're perfect the way you are! Is me telling you that you're perfect just as oppressive as the patriarchy telling you that you have many flaws?! Am I part of the problem?! Um, what I meant to say is that anything you believe is cool and anything you do to your own body is great and every single one of your opinions, even though I just said you're perfect the way you think you want to be, are completely gross and problematic to somebody so probably just shutting the fuck up and listening is what you should do. Although who should you be listening to? Why do some people get to speak and aren't told to shut up? I guess they're the brave ones! Today, they may have people gathered about like baby birds slurping down their wisdom (it's wisdom because everybody listening already agrees with it)! Tomorrow, somebody will rise up and point out how the brave one said something that was easily misinterpreted by the baby birds as gross and will be torn to shreds!" Unless she just tells Metamorpho he's currently cool the way he is and if he wants to change, it just seems maybe he should consider the reasons why he wants to change so that he's not doing it for the Patriarchy aaaaaand I was just interrupted by the Non-Certified Spouse and lost my stream of consciousness spiel that wasn't really going anywhere anyway so whatever.

• Rex tells Sapphire she's pretty and Sapphire tells Rex that maybe he'll be pretty again one day? Pretty much the opposite of what Neith just told him. Rex walks away, leaving Sapphire to gaze into the diamond testicle Rex gave her last issue.

• Simon Stagg has sent Java to find Rex, kill him, and retrieve Sapphire and the Orb of Ra. Java has been given a gun that will make Rex inert for thirty minutes. It's the only way a caveman can defeat a metamorphoid. Maybe the gun will turn Rex human for thirty minutes. That will allow Rex and Sapphire to totally do it like thirty times. Then Rex can send Simon a card that reads, "Thank you for the means to bang your daughter! She says I'm way better than a caveman!"

• Metamorpho eventually comes to the tower containing the Orb of Ra. They have a bit of a chat about destiny which is basically meaningless. People with good lives will often point out how many specific things needed to happen for them to have wound up exactly where they are in their life. It's such an obvious statement that I hate to think of it as philosophical. They never seem to realize that if they had made other decisions which wound up building a positive life for them, they would be saying the same fucking thing in that other timeline. Things happen and decisions are made and life winds up being whatever it winds up being. Is that destiny? Does it fucking matter? Although it's particularly vexing in Rex's case since the Orb of Ra hints around that Rex's entire life has been manipulated so that he can become the Chosen One and rescue the Orb of Ra. I might be a little bit pissed about that! Because now, I could look back at never telling Marilyn Mendoza how I felt about her as not my own regret! Now I have to look at it as some vast conspiracy that kept me and Marilyn Mendoza apart! I'm already shaking my fist about it!

• Metamorpho removes the Orb of Ra from the tower and is instantly ambushed by Kanjar Ro. Dammit, Rex! This is exactly the kind of thing the Orb of Ra was trying to avoid by manipulating you into being its Chosen One!

• Sapphire runs from the battle with the Orb of Ra and immediately phones her father to tell him that she has the Orb. Why that little hussy! I was so dazzled by her perfect ass that I didn't realize she was playing Rex the whole time!

The Metamorpho Ranking!
No change. Throughout that whole story, not one decent panel of Sapphire Stagg's ass. I'm so disappointed. Maybe Lord Google can help me find a good shot of it! Hmm, "Sapphire Stagg" and "ass" doesn't really help. Maybe "Sapphire Stagg" and "rule 34"! No, it didn't help. But Lord Google did turn up this thing that I saw so now you get to see it too.




The Sugar & Spike Commentary!
• In this story, Sugar & Spike are on the trail of Itty, Green Lantern's alien sidekick friend. At least I hope it was a friend. It's possible he kept it around for sexual reasons. I don't mean to suggest he was fucking it! But it's possibly Itty had an essential role in Hal Jordan's love life. And now he wants Itty back!

• Green Lantern believes he saw Itty in a picture of exhibits at the Metahuman Museum of Oddities. That's great! Because now Keith Giffen gets to write in a bunch of crazy shit DC Comics came up with over the years that he's been obsessed with since his first Ambush Bug mini-series! And probably earlier! Like when he was a kid that nobody liked and he stayed in his room all day reading comic books instead of being thrown into dumpsters.


I'm not great with Silver and Golden Age goofiness but I still recognize some of this shit. Crazy Quilt. Brother Power the Geek. L-Ron. The Red Tornado, original version. Kite-man. Vibe, maybe? Shining Knight? The Penguin's Walrus Sex Costume with the hole in the ass?

• The Trickster is also in a case on the next page. He's probably planning a robbery!

• While Sugar talks to the curator, the guy who used to be Lamplighter, a Green Lantern foe, Spike stumbles upon a display of the original Green Team. That's cute since the new Green Team had a museum much like this one! In fact, they had Brother Power the Geek in theirs too!

• I think Spike is embarrassed to be in the Museum because he knows he should probably be one of the exhibits.

• Anyway, the Toy Girl from Superman Island arrives with another Itty and things happen and it turns out this is the son (or daughter? I forget) of the original Itty which has 33 other siblings and that's the end of the mystery because I need that fucking tub of ice cream already! It's now 8:26 in the morning! It's been three hours since I first thought about having ice cream! Also, I've been reading this comic book for three hours! Also playing a little Pool of Radiance here and there. And, of course, I'm writing this on the Internet so there's that constant distraction!

The Sugar & Spike Ranking!
No change. It was cute. That's about it. I'm tired and need sugar! Metal Men will have to wait.

The Metal Men Commentary!
• They go on an adventure or some such shit.

• During that adventure, Cliff Steele poses as a lawyer. I don't think he's actually a lawyer. Is he?

• Also, the government creates a new batch of Metal Men. This group also only has one female. And they're all boring. "I'm Aluminium! The best thing I can think to say about myself is that I'm the third most abundant element!" "I'm Lithium! I'm used in batteries!" "I'm Silicon! I'm boring as hell too in that my best feature is my abundance! Second overall in the element category!" "I'm Zirconium! 'Nuff said! Total bore!" "I"m Copper! I fuck like there's no tomorrow!"

• Okay, so maybe Copper isn't as boring as the others. Also one is called Magnesium but he was too boring to mention.

• Since the New Metal Men have Copper, Lithium, and Magnesium, I would have liked them to also have Nitrogen, Nickel, Uranium and Sulfur! Then they could line up and spell "CuNNiLiMgUS".

• The Metal Men discover Nameless is actually The Calculator and they apprehend him. But instead of being able to hand him over to the military, the military decides to test their Metal Men against Magnus's Metal Men. I hope they defeat Lithium and Magnesium by just throwing water on them and watching them burn to death.

The Metal Men Ranking!
No change. It was better than previous episodes. I think. It's hard to tell being the fourth story in a book containing four regular sized comic books. Usually when I sit down to read some comics, I get through two before I get anxious to do something else. By the time I'm on my fourth comic in one sitting? I'm ready to blow my fucking brains out. Judging by how I didn't do that, this story must have been halfway decent.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #3


Gross. Mercury is like a goldfish dragging a turd around the bowl.

The Review!
Legends of Tomorrow is a throwback to DC's old super-sized anthology series. I guess DC is hoping fans of Firestorm, The Metal Men, or Metamorpho are willing to pay this kind of money to support a book with their favorite character in it. I am a fan of the idea although I think DC made a slight misstep. While this book works and the stories being told are probably better than average (or just average which in today's mainstream comic book climate sometimes seems better than average), I think they could really use one solid lead story featuring a character DC knows will sell. Yes, I'm actually proposing they shove a Harley Quinn story in this thing. Or, at least, this would have been the perfect vehicle for The Gang of Harleys story. I wonder how many more copies this would sell if they replaced one of the current stories with a Lobo story? And I'm not talking about Twat Lobo! I mean an old school, Alan Grantesque (or Keith Giffenesque, I suppose) Lobo story! I also think at least one of the four stories should always be a single issue story whose lead character gets rotated out for a different character each month. Just that kind of variety alone would probably bring in more people willing to give each month a new shot.

The Bullet Points!
This book is too long for a normal commentary! It gets bullet points or else I won't have time to eat today. Not that I need food! Thanks to a year of mourning and not caring about anything, I think I have enough Oreo energy inside of me to last a decade!

• Speaking of mourning, the grave of my cat and used-to-be-best-friend-until-he-ditched-me-for-the-comfort-of-eternal-nonexistence is in my backyard. I've turned Judas's grave into a statuary garden with a big wooden fish and a peace symbol made from beer caps inset into concrete and an angel from my Grandmother's house and a spooky human head and a rock with the Cheshire Cat on top of it and a Sailor Moon figure and a Sailor Mercury figure and a Chibi-Moon figure. Last weekend, the property manager sent a crew of assholes to do some yard work around the place. I would have sent professional landscapers but I guess assholes are cheaper. After they were done, I went outside to find all of the statues piled up in the center of the space as if a poltergeist had taken up residence there. Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury were nowhere to be found but judging by the dismembered pieces of Chibi-Moon I discovered, it didn't take Columbo to figure out what happened to them. Who the fuck does yard work and decides not to give any fucks about what is obviously a purposeful installation and not just a load of garbage lying in the dirt? Besides, I keep Judy's grave nice and neat, so they didn't even need to bother with that patch of ground! Luckily for them, I find it more amusing than anger-inducing that such unrepentant douchéstorks live in this world and just replaced the lost figures with another Sailor Moon figure, a Xena Warrior Princess figure, and Jigglypuff. I should probably dig around for more figures in preparation for next time!

Firestorm!
• When we last left Firestorm, I was thinking, "I don't care about Firestorm. Why did I pay $8 for this book?"

• Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond are once again Firestorm. Fans of old things and nothing changing cheer while they pull their cocks and vaginas and lighter-fluid-covered crosses out in preparation for the return of their apparent savior, White Wally West.

• The Firestorm story is called "United We Fall" because isn't that clever. See how they turned the old adage inside out? You know what else I'd like to see turned inside out? A clown.

• The story begins with Firestorm battling Major Force. Major Force is a hero only by the most technical of definitions and only if you're an American and only if you're a warmonger. That sentence was a sentence I could never get away with if I changed Major Force to anybody in the military, even if the sentence would still be true.

• General Eiling wants to turn Firestorm into a weapon under his control so he made up some bullshit reason to bring Firestorm in. And since Firestorm knows it's bullshit and refuses to comply, Firestorm will now be arrested for the most bullshit reason of all: resisting arrest. That's just something some genius "peace" officer came up with to give them a reason for beating the shit out of anybody who doesn't respect them any time they want.

• Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond learn to trust each other quickly because nobody wants to keep buying $8 anthology books to see them bicker month after month. Plus we've seen this before many times. If DC has decided they want old fashioned Firestorm back together for some reason, it's best to just get it over with quickly.

• Multiplex has decided that retaining a vendetta against Midnighter is bad for his peace of mind, so he's now venturing forth on a new project! That project is to break quantum entanglement so that every aspect of himself is a pure, unadulterated individual. That seems like a really stupid fucking idea. But then Multiplex seems like a shortsighted idiot, mostly based on his need to attack Midnighter more than once.


The Hollywood Theatre is not in downtown Portland. It's on the east side of the river, dumb dumbs.

• I used to actively avoid any movie at the Hollywood Theatre if I could help it (it plays independent and obscure films, so it can't totally be avoided if you're interested in movies that don't just string fifty scenes of explosions and bullets together) because it was always so fucking cold. I saw I Don't Know Jack there years ago, and handful of other movies since then. Just last year, I went back to see that documentary made by the brother of that guy in The National and the place has been completely refurbished. No more cold stone concrete floors and breezy everythings! Plus they have a pie window now! Although you have to pay for them. You can't just sneak up and steal them as they cool on the sill.

• Firestorm is captured by Eiling and Major Force. I guess this wasn't yet the issue where things turn around and the hero wins. Maybe next time?

Metamorpho!
• Last issue, Metamorpho and Sapphire Stagg were transported to another planet (or time (or dimension (or plane of existence))). This is a fitting thing to happen in a Metamorpho story because he's fucking weird. It's not a fitting thing to happen in an Aquaman story. I mean, I guess it's okay in an Aquaman story because everybody has huge boners and engorged labias over Ancient Astronauts. So why can't the people of Atlantis also be aliens from another planet! It totally makes sense! I mean, if you believe in fictional things and in things that make less sense than rational explanations of those things.

• This story is called "Brave New World." Sometimes, I fantasize about going back in time to stand over Shakespeare's shoulder as he writes The Tempest and say things like, "You sure you want to use that phrase? 'Brave New World'? Maybe something less likely that people will glom onto in the future? How about 'Check this shit and the weird people in it!'? No? Hey! Bill! You know how you're spending all this time agonizing over word choices and characterizations and stage directions? Guess what will be way more fucking popular than anything you ever write? Guess what more people will parody than your Romeo and Juliet balcony scene? You're totally going to lose your shit over this. Ready? 'Got milk.' Seriously. 'Got milk.' People go fucking nuts over that! Twenty years and people still fucking change the 'milk' part to whatever they're doing and believing they're fucking comedic geniuses! Sorry to bring you down, Bill. I like your shit. Keep up the good work!"

• I fucking hate people who add shit to Wikipedia. I looked up the "got milk?" campaign just to see how old it was. And just because I love to wind myself up and ensure that one day I'll die of a stroke, I scrolled down to read the "Parody and References" section. At first I thought, "Well, there's not enough room on the internet for that shit!" But there were only four examples, probably because "got milk?" isn't usually parodied in Anime. But the last entry by some thick-skulled moron who thinks every fucking thing that they remember while baking themselves on the couch is important was this: "In the Daria episode 'Psycho Thereapy', Jake Morgendorffer, when his efforts to get a glass of milk are thwarted by his wife Helen, roars, 'Got milk? Not Jakey! Dammit!'." What the fuck?! Who fucking cares! Imagine if everybody who ever saw or heard one of these "got milk?" references added them to this page, it would be bigger than the rest of the Internet together! How about I add this blurb: "On the freeway between Snoqualmie and North Bend is a restaurant called 'Got Rice' which is a subtle reference to the 'got milk?' campaign."

• Metamorpho and Sapphire meet the Ancient Astronauts who became the Egyptians. I think. I mean, they're awfully Caucasian looking to be descended from Ancient Egyptian Astronauts. Except the one guy who isn't! So maybe I'm wrong. Except Rex mentions they sound like they're speaking Ancient Egyptian. So maybe I'm right!

• How does Rex know what Ancient Egyptian sounds like?

• Kanjar Ro and his men follow Rex and Saph through the interdimensional planetary otherworldly transport. Remember how they want to use Metamorpho and the Orb of Ra for fuel?


• Saph's ass is my new favorite character.

• Metamorpho is, of course, the Chosen One. I would have chosen Sapph's ass but then I'm a feminist.

• Metamorpho and Sapphire learn that the Egyptians were indeed Ancient Astronauts led by a madman named Dagan Ra. Their first reaction isn't, "Well, that's nuts since everything was already so self-explanatory via all the evidence found by archaeologists." Instead it was, "Oh yeah! Totally. That makes sense! The other stuff we thought about the Egyptians was obviously pure hoodoo nutso nonsense!"

• To thank Sapphire for helping him and believing in him and caring about him and having such a smoking hot booty, Rex makes a diamond from his left testicle and gives it to her. She loves it!

• The story ends with Rex, Saph, and their new friend, Princess Neith, adventuring to find the Orb of Ra. I mean, it ends with a bigger cliffhanger than that, of course! But unless I scan the final page, telling you they encountered a Wolvengot isn't really going to mean anything.

Sugar and Spike!
• Now it's time for my favorite part of this anthology! Although I will say a rare positive thing about Legends of Tomorrow: it's telling stories with beginnings, middles, and ends! I appreciate when writers have a point to their stories and it helps if they know their story will have a definite end. Legends of Tomorrow doesn't feel like the kind of book that is just going to keep on and on with the four different sets of characters they're currently using. Either it'll end when all these stories are told, or it'll keep going with a new character whenever one of the current stories ends. I prefer that kind of comic book than one where the writer just keeps writing and writing and writing and thinking up new stories while sort of forgetting what the old story was to go in a new direction that completely contradicts the old story. I don't have any particular Scott Lobdell in mind when I say that.

• In this issue of Sugar and Spike, Private Investigations (Metahumans a specialty), Wonder Woman needs some help sorting a possible embarrassing situation from her past that she wouldn't want to resurface and ruin her credibility. I can't wait to find out which Golden Age story this is about! According to the cover, she's looking for an annulment from Mr. Monster!


• I think this is another one of those secret messages to me! Hi Giffen! Hi!

• The only real issue I have with Giffen's Sugar and Spike stories is that they rely pretty heavily on a great big wink from Giffen regarding the original Golden Age stories (okay, some Silver Age too, maybe?) they're based on. The story relies on the reader knowing about Batman's weird fucking costumes he's worn in the past, or that Superman once made an island in his own image, or that Wonder Woman almost married a monster. Sure, you can read it without knowing DC once told these stories. But I think much of the fun of the series is that Sugar and Spike are dealing with stupid shit that has been relegated to the dustbin of DC Comics history. But that's also what I truly love about them. Before this, when has anybody written a story that flatly states Wonder Woman's near marriage to Mister Monster is fucking canon? Even if all of the other versions of herself were at the wedding!

The Metal Men!
• The Metal Men story begins with the biggest impossibility I've seen in a DC story in a long time. No, not Robotman being a human brain in a robot. No, not the Metal Men being intelligent metal that can change into any shape at all and do pretty much anything the writer wants them to. No, the impossibility is how The Metal Men pick up actual news reports on an analog television set without an HD Adapter. I suppose the part where I said the Metal Men can become anything trumps my complaint since Tin must have simply turned into rabbit ears and an HD Adapter.

• The short amount of television they pick up is about Red Tornado going nuts at Six Flags. I don't mean he's eating tons of elephant ears and corn dogs and riding coasters until he pukes. I mean he's threatening to kill everybody. Probably because he got drunk at one of the adult food stands.

• The Metal Men borrow one of Niles Caulder's flying inventions and leave the most interesting character in this story behind. I guess Cliff Steele doesn't mind since he's more of a reluctant hero. But I'm sure going to miss him! Now the rest of the story is just going to be inane nonsense bandied about by the stupid Metal Men.

• Red Tornado isn't in control of his actions. His destruction is due to a guy named Nameless! He's a clever re-imagining of the real life hacker group, Anonymous! That was a free fact for stupid people.

• The Metal Men, having empathy for another robot, defeat Red Tornado without tearing him limb from limb like usually happens.

• The story ends with the United States Army surrounding the Metal Men to take them back into custody. They should have said, "You're going to capture us? You and the United States Army and what army?!"

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #2


This thing is thick like a proper magazine.

The Review!
This is a weird book. What is DC thinking publishing a magazine like this? Who besides me is going to keep buying a book that costs eight dollars and might only have one character they're interested in? Are fans of Firestorm, Metamorpho, and The Metal Men big enough fans to pay that price for one regular sized story about the character they love? Maybe with an eight dollar cover price, DC can afford to put out a book like this even when it doesn't sell many units. Even though I'm a huge Metamorpho fan and I love the concept of Giffen's New 52 Sugar and Spike, I'm still disappointed with this book. I was really hoping for a format that brings at least two new characters to the table each month. But we're headed into the third month with the exact same lineup! If I'm going to read some kind of throwback super-sized anthology series for more than one dollar, I at least want some fucking variety! Or maybe just fucking! I'll forgive everything if Rex and Sapphire have a sex scene next issue. Although I'll also accept a sex scene between Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rausch. And maybe Sugar and Spike. And definitely Platinum and Superman! Or--and this is my last exception to the Rex/Saph fuckfest--a full page panel of Doc Magnus shoving Responsometers up his ass. Do you want my eight dollars or not, DC Comics?!

The Commentary!
It's fat books like these that take up all of my time and energy so I'm not going to digress much with this one. This one is going to be bullet points all the way down!

• The Firestorm issue begins with Martin Stein forbidding Jason and Ronald from engaging in homosexual sex. He explains that it's unhealthy for them and their community. What an ignorant bigot! He's as bad as Ronnie's mom!

• Jason and Ronnie discover that their beard is gay. Great! Now maybe they can accept their obscene desires for one another! I don't mean that gay love is obscene. I just mean Ronnie and Jason are into some weird Matrix Merging Firestorm shit.


• Jason blows his internship interview because he decides to reenact that urban legend about Rod Stewart. You know the one involving the stomach pump! Being younger, you may have heard it about Bon Jovi, or maybe one of the Backstreet Boys. I wonder if it's been resurrected about Drake yet. He seems the type that people would believe would collapse at a concert with his stomach full of semen.

• Because Jason's stomach is full of Ronnie's cream filling, he can't become Firestorm anymore. Martin Stein was against two teenage boys having sex so he takes away Jason's power. Instead he gives it to himself because I guess he's a member of NAMBLA where it's okay for a teenage boy to consent to sex as long as it's with a grown man.

• I'm disappointed that this might be the end of Jason Rausch and Ronnie Raymond's love story! Now I've got to read about an icky old pervert scientist slobbering all over the high school quarterback? No thanks!

• The issue ends with General Eiling sending Major Force to take care of Multiplex and probably Firestorm too.

• The Metamorpho story begins with Rex Mason calling Java a super derogatory word for a caveman! It's the M-word, if you're not sure which word I'm talking about. If you're still not sure, don't fucking blame me. I'm not the one that decided adults should speak to other adults like they're speaking to children because a bunch of people are afraid of language. You'll just have to be perplexed because nobody is going to trick me into saying "Monkey"!

• By tricking Java (which is easy because he's such a stupid M-word), Rex escapes from Simon Stagg's clutches. Sapphire decides to escape along with him. Probably because of his titanium cock.

• The Yeti story is true.

• Kanjar Ro has come to Earth to retrieve the power source he loaned Simon Stagg. It may or may not be the Orb of Ra. If it is, I'm guessing it should actually be called the Orb of Ro.

• The power source is actually Metamorpho. Kanjar Ro wants to pour him in his ship's gas tank.

• Rex and Sapphire return the Orb of Ra to its original resting place in the pyramid in Egypt and are taken back in time with the other Outsiders. I mean, um, they're transported to another planet. Probably the one where the ancient aliens who built the pyramids are from!

• Do you realize there are people in this world who both believe the pyramids were built by ancient aliens and believe we never actually went to the moon. Pretty much anybody who calls into Coast to Coast AM or is named Clyde Lewis believe everything that is opposite what anybody of any kind of authority believe. So a scientist says something? Bullshit! He's got an agenda! An expert on ancient architecture explains in a rational way how ancient civilizations built things? Bullshit! She's got an agenda! Anybody says anything that doesn't have anything to do with the paranormal or aliens or hoodoo? Bullshit! It's a great big disinformative lie to obfuscate, inveigle, and deceive.

• The next story is the Sugar and Spike story! It's the one I've been waiting for because I love the premise! Two detectives run a business doing jobs for superheroes to clean up possibly embarrassing (and probably Golden Age) past situations in their lives.


• Come on! How can you not love this concept?! Plus it's reintegrating all of that lost Preboot history! You thought the story about Superman creating an island that looked like himself where he hid all of his Kryptonite was obliterated from the canon?! WRONG, MOTHERFUCKER! And if that story is still true, why can't they all still be true! ALL OF THEM! EVERY SINGLE STUPID FUCKING ONE! YES!

• Sugar and Spike is Keith Giffen's next Ambush Bug and Cheeks the Toy Wonder. Frankly, this idea is genius and I don't think I could ever get enough of it.

• Superman Island has been taken over by a young girl and her evil robot toys. And Sugar and Spike's weapons only shoot tranq darts which probably don't affect robots.


• See?

• Sugar and Spike defeat the toys, get the Kryptonite, and escape from Superman Island. But not before they've made a mortal enemy of the robot toys boss, Toywoman!

• The Metal Men are the last story and I've said everything there is to say about them like how they all want to fuck Superman and how Doctor Magnus keeps the Responsometers up his ass and how Mercury covers every field of battle in toxic waste. I think I'll just end my bullet points here. Unless, of course, somebody gets fucked by a Metal Man.


• Or if a fantastic guest star manages to worm his way into the story!

• Red Tornado also guest stars as a villain since he was hacked by the bad guy. Which I probably didn't need to state because isn't Red Tornado constantly getting hacked by the bad guy? It doesn't really matter since he's going to end this story with his limbs torn off. Just like always! Only losers like Red Tornado!

• No offense meant, The Angry Hero!

Monday, March 28, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow #1


This would be a cool looking book if it weren't marred by the Batman vs Superman advert at the top (which I cropped out!).

Rating: 26 out of 51 DC Comics? I guess? It's hard to recommend a comic book that costs eight dollars just for one story. But at least the one story I highly recommend in this book is the one story that nobody is purchasing it to read: the Sugar and Spike story! So if somebody is interested in this book because of Metamorpho or Firestorm or the Metal Men, they're going to get an enjoyable bonus story! And the other stories are competent enough to satisfy fans of the characters. I just don't think this book is worth the price if you aren't fans of any of the characters on the cover. Is this format DC's new way of introducing possibly monthly comic books? Are they going to weigh the responses from fans on Sugar and Spike or Firestorm to gauge interest in a monthly? I personally like the format because I don't mind spending eight dollars (six with my local comic book shop discount!) for an anthology title. I am disappointed that more of the characters aren't changing next issue (or any of them, possibly!). I really thought this was going to be a bunch of one and done stories.

• This is a really long comic book which would usually take me a really long time to read. But now I'm utilizing bullet points! So instead of dozens and dozens of long-winded paragraphs of digression after digression, I can get lots and lots of ideas out in record time! That might not be a positive.

• Who at DC Comics thought Sugar and Spike needed retooling? I bet it was Geoff Johns.

• The first story is about Firestorm which means it's going to be professional grade slash fiction! I'm getting my dick out right now!

• Ronnie and Jason are still sharing their lives as Firestorm. Martin Stein is their mentor. All of the other Nuclear Men from the horribly titled The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men have died because they didn't have what it takes to merge long term. I guess they weren't romantic enough.

• Ronnie's racist, dog-dick eating mom makes an appearance! Yay! Although I don't think she's as racist as when I first began claiming she was. I mean, she's probably just as not racist as then! I don't think that dating Jason's dad proves she isn't racist because she might just like guys with amputated limbs.


• Jason and Ronnie are still using the same beard.

• Jason's big academic rival is a cute little egghead named Littman. That's probably her last name. I would so have had a crush on her in high school. But she would probably be dating some super cool guy taking drama who would later reveal he's gay. Even if she wasn't dating anybody, it wouldn't matter. I would never have attempted to speak to her and probably just stared at her in the library during lunch.

• Jason is having issues with entering the Slash Fiction Matrix. Now whenever he goes to enter Ronnie, he gets dizzy and sick to his stomach.

• Ronnie and Jason must not be too experienced with intimate matters because after they merge for a bit, they warn Martin Stein that they're going to explode. Yeah, boys. That's supposed to happen! Then you just grab a towel and clean up.

• The Firestorm story is going to be continued. Next up: Metamorpho!

• It's about time Metamorpho appears in the New 52. Aside from his cameos in Batman Incorporated which wasn't entirely a New 52 comic book so it doesn't count. Although how much does this comic book count since no matter what DC Comics says, Rebirth is definitely going to be a reboot. Not the typical reboot! I think they're just going to restructure the New 52 characters so that they incorporate a bunch of their Preboot history.

• The Metamorpho story is also just the first of a multi-part story. Couldn't DC find a writer who could compress each story into twenty pages? I want a Legends of Tomorrow book that is all different legends every month! I'm starting to think this is just a trick to make me pay eight dollars for a monthly Metamorpho book with a bunch of back-up stories I don't want to read!

• Also starring in Metamorpho's comic book are Simon Stagg, Sapphire Stagg, and Java. I wonder how many times Java has been reported to HR for harassing Sapphire? Not that he knows any better! He's just a caveman! They didn't have sexual harassment in his time. According to every sexual harassment video I've had to sit through at various jobs, sexual harassment wasn't discovered until the eighties. Until then, it was simply known as being a secretary.


• Sapphire has all the right Daddy Issues to become a star in the DC You!

• Kanjar Ro has decided to come to Earth to do some Flea Marketing.

• Sapphire begins Florence Nightingaling all over Rex Mason. Java gets jealous and decides it's time to kill Mason before Sapphire can fuck him. I mean free him!

• I should probably retire the joke where I mistakenly type 'fuck' instead of the word I was really going to fuck.

• Speaking of jokes that have been used way too many times, the next story is by Keith Giffen! It's the Sugar and Spike story. I hope their first mystery is called The Case of The Fatal Face Fuck.

• Sugar and Spike engage in that kind of repartee that Giffen makes all of his characters engage in. You know the kind. One person says a thing which the reader has no context for. Then the next person responds to the thing and the reader still has no context. Then the first person says another thing that confuses the reader. Then the other person says another thing that makes no sense. They do this for a number of panels until the reader finally catches on to what they're talking about and starts the story over from the beginning.

• I can't quite remember all of Keith Giffen's work since The New 52 began so I'm just going to sound confident and hope that what I'm about to say is true: this is Keith Giffen's best work since The New 52 began. It's irreverent and paced well and funny. Maybe not in the "ha ha ha my guts hurt and I just pissed myself" funny way that 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown is funny. It's more of a kind of Portlandia funny where you watch it and go "That's clever" or "Oh yeah, I've seen white people do that" or "Christ, this show is so on the nose that it's attracting the kind of people it's making fun of to my fucking city!"

• The gist of the story is that Sugar and Spike are detectives who clean up embarrassing pasts of super-heroes. Alfred hires them to take back all of Batman's lamest Batsuits which Killer Moth somehow acquired and has been snacking on. This is a good bridging story for what I figured Rebirth was going to do! This is one-handed, New 52 Alfred dealing with a bunch of crap from Batman's Preboot history. See? Rebirth!

• The final story is about the Metal Men and I'm just going to end this commentary here and read the story. I'll only be back if there is a panel of Will Magnus with a Responsometer up his ass.

• I'm back! I'm sorry to say that it isn't for the aforementioned reason I gave for my eventual return. Instead I'd just like to say something I'm sure I've said before, along with thousands of DC Comics' fans over time: why the fuck would Doctor Magnus make one of his Metal Men out of mercury?! Every time the Metal Men fight, the whole battlefield has to be thoroughly cleaned by a hazmat team!

• The city is currently being attacked by Missile Men and protesters have taken the time to make signs and gather at the edge of town to protest against robots. Christ, Len! You can't even wait until a proper moment in the story to remind the readers that the populace hates the heroes?!


• I'm fairly certain Iron just climbed into Gold's penis. And it gave Tin an erection.

• I guess I should apologize to Len Wein now. It looks like the protesters have been protesting for three weeks. And the reason the Missile Men were dropped on the city under protest is because that's where the government robot lab is located. I guess I jumped the gun yet again! Stupid stories that eventually make sense making me look like a fool.

• Some guy named Nameless can hack into anything in the world except the Metal Men. Which is why he wants the Metal Men so badly he's willing to screw with every military project he can until he's given access to them. But the military knows how to beat him: destroy the Metal Men once and for all! Ha ha!

• The Metal Men's story continues next issue. Does that mean Sugar and Spike get another story too? Or are they the only ones being replaced next time?