Marvel Flipside

Bendis as a Poet

It looks like I'm winding up having a Tuesday - Friday posting pattern, and although captial-L Life is just as busy as ever, I'd like to try to keep it up. (Keeping in mind I do live overseas so there may be some time differences!)

One thing that has been getting a lot of controversy is Brian Micahel Bendis' Dark Avengers #13, art by Deodato and Beredo. I thought I would just take a moment to point out that, regardless of your personal opinion of this issue in particular or of the series/author in general, that Bendis is overall ... a poet.

By that I mean that Bendis is a craftsman of words. We can tell what is poetry and what isn't by the author's careful selection of words. No word is frivolous. As Mark Twain put it, "the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

I picture Bendis at his desk, leaning back in his office chair, perhaps tossing a ball up in the air to help the thoughts flow. He is talking out his big ideas, discussing their implications, hitting a few "oh, and isn't it cool that such and such!" moments along the way. He parks on one of those moments, breaks it down, and considers how a characters might genuinely react. That dialogue is parsed, tripped over, tested, spoken and then preserved in type. I can see many "Ah! If I leave out this word, or put this word like this..." He's after the feeling and impression and implications that such poetic decisions leave in their wake as they pass by the readers' eyes.  

Of course, whether or not you think he is a GOOD or a BAD poet . . .

Masters of Evil vs. the Avengers

FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS
Bad Boys!

It's a good time to be bad! It's Friday Night Fights!  

The Fight:

Masters of Evil vs. the Avengers
(or technically, Mister Hyde versus Jarvis)

as featured in Avengers #275 (1986) by Roger Stern, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer
and in The Avengers: Mansion Siege trade paperback

What's the story here?

Baron Zemo leads the largest collection of villains ever to that point to invade the Avengers' mansion headquarters and destroy Captain America and his hero team!

This storyline represents some of my first comics ever, and my first regular habit of buying the Avengers. I even got to write about why it's so great in the essays collected in Assembled! from White Rocket Books. I often miss the deadline for Friday Night Fights, but this series of "Villains Win!" is right up my alley, and I can't think of any storyline more indicative of this category than the incomparable Mansion Siege!      

Here's how it all goes down! (For those participating!)

    * Take a look at all of Fights participants, hosted by spacebooger.com!
    * Before Sunday at 11PM (EST), cast your vote for the best Friday Night Fights by posting a comment there! Voting is encouraged and will be open to all visitors and participants.
    * The winner of the round will be posted there on the following Tuesday with the Pre-Fight Rules for next time!

Flipside Handbook: Scarlet Witch

I really didn't mean to bring these two together. It just sort-of... happened! What does it say about these two that in many storylines, they always wind up a couple? It's the same old story, boy meets girl, boy helps girl become sorceress, girl betrays boy...

Flipside Handbook: Captain America

THE DESTINY FORETOLD

Deep in the heartland of America, before recorded history, a tribe of Peoples foretold the coming of a being of infinite power who would pose a tremendous threat to the entire world. For generations, the tribe began a secret program that combined mysticism with controlled breeding in an effort to produce one perfect warrior who would act as their protector--
Too bad no one asked Thomas Fireheart for his opinion.

Marvel Flipside: The End #3

*** MARVEL FLIPSIDE: THE END ***
Featuring: the Avengers

The Wizard, time-lost into the near future, lands on the steps to the Johann Schmidt Memorial Building, housing the United Nations of Earth assembly. His escorts, Forever Victory's Ruby Thursday and Blastaar, also keep confined the similarly time-lost Dr. Frightful, with the help of MODOK, of course. The heroes urgently meet Ultron, representing the Avengers-- they must get inside, and quickly! The Avengers' Kang, the Time-Master, could be the universe's only hope!

Avengers #25

Dave (Whirlwind) Cannon has a new dedication, trick skating for the upcoming X-Games. And the crowd enjoys his unique ways, until the Valkyrie appears. She is ready to escort his soul into death!

Avengers #24

The halls of Asgard ring with celebration! Royalty and dignitaries of the High World gather before Odin, who proclaims a new day is dawning-- a day that brings Asgardians and Olympians together in alliance. Hercules, representative of Olympus, gathers the accolades with pride and unreserved self-acceptance. And what better way to celebrate this day but with a glorious battle! HERCULES! Bring the gift of battle to Midgard, and choose your companion from among your new Asgardian allies!

Avengers #23

Far beneath the waves, in an undersea cavern of the Faceless Ones, the Lady Dorma rallies her mighty army of barbarians! She leads them in lamenting the Second Great Fall of Atlantis-- and heralds the coming of the Fall of the Age of Humans! She has plumbed the sea for all scraps of old magic, the same old magics that allow her to transform into the She-Beast. And here, she will find it! Here in the lair of the Faceless Ones lay magic that shall make the world tremble!

Avengers #22

Avenges Assemble! Princess Python has called this emergency meeting because there's a problem-- the Avengers aren't having any fun! They've all been hanging out at the Avengers Lodge, but everyone has been doing their own thing! Egghead's stuck in his lab, Kang is working out in the Play Room, Hulk is online all day, and Captain America is monitoring trouble calls. It's about time the Avengers .... step out!

Avengers #21

"Thou shall stay they hand, base villain!" The armored Black Knight swoops down upon an unsuspecting couple in London's Hyde Park. The woman screams, and 'Jonathan' stammers out a remark that it was "just a gum wrapper" he discarded. But the Black Knight sees it differently-- intoning that there must be punishment, as there must be upon evil-doers everywhere!