Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Unprepared

Here at the Absorbascon, we try to provide relief from the emphermeral controversies of the fanoverse by sticking to higher priorities.

When other blogs were discussing the death of Hawkeye, the Absorbascon discussed Night Girl's hair. When Dave's Long Box focused on Power Girl's boobs, the Absorbascon focused on her boots. When the internet debated Batman versus Green Lantern, the Absorbascon concentrated on Batman versus God and Green Lantern versus a ceiling tile.

In so, in anticipation of the discussion over the amazing revelations in this week's Villains United and Infinite Crisis, the Absorbascon will focus on--

ah, the heck with it.

Thanks to Devon, who erreth not, over at Seven Hells, I was mentally prepared for the final page of Infinite Crisis.

But I was not prepared for the mind-boggling revelations in Villians United, most of which I hadn't heard anyone theorize, yet all of which make so much sense.

  • The Calculator versus Oracle
  • The new Virtuoso
  • Deadshot versus Deathstroke
  • The amazing Mister Terrible (my new favorite villain after only one panel).
  • Ragdoll versus Ragdoll.
  • Knockout's revelation.
  • Luthor versus .... heh heh heh.
  • Parademon's gambit.
  • Catman versus Green Arrow.
  • Diana's declaration.
  • Dr. Polaris versus the Human Bomb.
  • Batman's REALLY RUDE comment.
  • Mongul versus Batman.
  • The Riddler and the Fisherman with the Red Panzer and Murmur.
  • Dr. Light versus the Ray.
  • The Human Bomb versus Bizarro.
  • OMAC versus the Rat-Catcher.
  • Nightwing's good luck.
  • Everyone versus Uncle Sam
  • The Psychopirate versus Damage.

It's a bad day to be in the DC Universe.

But it's a great day to be reading about it...

27 comments:

  1. TRICKSY!

    FALSE!

    :)

    Gail

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  2. I can't wait to get off work and go read them.

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  3. No! Not the Rat-Catcher!

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  4. False?

    MOI?!?!

    Gail, you take that back!

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  5. Oops.
    I forgot to put my name. That was my Rat-Catcher comment.
    Also, it was the Human Bomb versus Dr. Polaris, I thought.

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  6. Hey, Robbie,don't jump to conclusions!

    Maybe Rat-Catcher won.



    You'll have to buy the book to find out.

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  7. IC#1: long on the inspirationals, heavy on the bullshit. I came to actively resent this issue as I was reading it, despite the fact that legitimately exciting stuff was happening, because the subtext of the entire thing was "Look at how these heroes bicker and argue - look how they've become so dark and foul! Only the spirit of a bygone age can save them now!" This line being fed to us, of course, by the same team of writers and editors that made all these characters so laughably dysfunctional in the first place.

    And (SPOILERY SPOILER) does anyone NOT think this series won't end with all the people on the last page Dying Heroically? And if so, what exactly is the point of bringing them back, when they effectively died heroically at the end of the first Crisis? Do I even need to buy the rest of this series, or can I just chop up and remix the old Wolfman/Perez version?

    Incidentally, when A.M. rears his ugly head, let the record show I so called it.

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  8. Hey, so did I call it on the offing of the Freedom Fighters or what? Although there's supposed to be a new FF series coming out post-IC, so who knows?

    And yeah, Batman's comment was awful. ALL of their comments to each other were. That final scene with each other was painful.

    OK, so what was the death toll from VU and Crisis this week (ie. body seen, no hints they might be alive)?

    Pariah
    Parademon
    Ratcatcher
    Black Condor II
    Phantom Lady II
    Dr. Polaris
    The Human Bomb
    Uncle Sam

    Possibly Dead, or quite Wounded
    Cheshire
    Guy in White Coat caught in Virtuoso's blast
    Bolt
    Killer Shark
    Guy who looks like Yellowjacket
    Ragdoll
    Talia Al Guhl
    Weather Wizard
    Amazo
    Scarcrow
    Ibac
    Giganta
    Damage

    Did I miss anyone?

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  9. For some reason, Bizzaro beating someone to death really disturbed me. He's supposed to be a comedy character, isn't he?

    What's next? The Bat-Mite raping Robin while Batman's on the moon?

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  10. Now that's something Dorkin inexplicably left out of World's Funnest...

    I can't believe it's already Thursday morning and So So Silver Age hasn't run with this breaking Knockout development yet... maybe on hmm-hmm-mumble Friday..

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  11. "Guy in White Coat caught in Virtuoso's blast" = Amos Fortune

    "Guy who looks like Yellowjacket"= the Bug-Eyed Bandit

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  12. I bow before your DC knowledge Scipio. I didn't know who they were either.

    I already miss Gail's VU series. Missed her on Action too. Loved Infinite Crisis though. It was a good week.

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  13. Thanks Scipio! You rock!

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  14. While I'm at it, let me make the additional, more specific prediction that when the Anti-Monitor shows up, Johns will use him to do for the DCU what the giant yellow space tapeworm did for Hal Jordan. "You were never REALLY 'dark' - you were just possessed by a bad guy!"

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  15. I've long been in a state of mild annoyance about the current Bizarro character. On a thematic level - yeah, he *should* be mostly a comedic character, but they've not infrequently portrayed him otherwise - and often as a rather nasty creature, as opposed to, say, a Frankenstein's Monster type.

    The other irksome thing to me is treating him not as an "imperfect duplicate," but as Opposite Man, whose every utterance has to be parsed to its binary opposite. It just seems to me almost as big a misunderstanding of the character as Elaine's on *Seinfeld* (who asked Jerry "So, is Bizarro black? Does he live underwater?")

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  16. Crazy idea guys... let's just let them tell their story to completion, THEN decide if it's any good or not!

    Oh wait, this is the internet, isn't it?

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  17. By the way Scip, wasn't that Psycho Pirate vs. The Ray? Zoom did Damage in I think...

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  18. By the way Scip, wasn't that Psycho Pirate vs. The Ray? Zoom did Damage in I think...

    Heaven forbid we should judge a periodical on a periodical basis.

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  19. I think that Deadshot's survival of VU 6 means that the standard has to be that if you don't actually see something impale them through-and-through or hear the skull caving in, you'd better assume the character survives...

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  20. Deadshot DOES wear Kevlar, just throwing that out there.

    Gail

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  21. Sure, but Deathstroke knows Deadshot wears Kevlar and wouldn't have any good reason not to use Teflon/Armorpiercing or go for headshots...


    (Unless the two were working together, of course...)

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  22. But Luthor could have taken everyone out while he was president with a few well placed nukes. (See what happens when you think about it too much?) Just read and have fun.

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  23. "let's just let them tell their story to completion, THEN decide if it's any good or not"

    "To completion"? And when is this oh-so-infinite crisis going to be complete, exactly? Identity Crisis lead into Countdown which lead into four mini series and a JLA arc and a Superman/Wonder Woman crossover and a hundred tie-in issues which lead into this, which leads into "One Year Later" and "52." Are you so naive as to actually believe that any of this will end so long as people are buying this stuff?

    There's also something to be said for a comic being a good read in and of itself, regardless of how it fits into a companywide "event." This is an alien concept to modern-day comic fans, I know, but try to stretch your imagination a little.

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  24. Elephantine Room;

    Judging from every comment you've ever made here, you don't seem to enjoy comics at all.

    I suggest switching to something else.

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  25. Aw, I thought that was Deathbolt's head getting squished. I hate that guy.

    Bolt I just don't care about, but Deathbolt is a schmuck.

    Oh, and Scipio: right on about Batman being waaaay too rude to Superman. Funny how he didn't apologize to Clark, but immediately apologized(!) for his "Hal went nuts and killed a bunch of people" comment over in JLA.

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  26. Scipio: judging from your posts, you're either a multiple personality case or several different people with the same Blogger account. I try not to judge just by posts.

    I like comics very much - just the good ones, though. I'll let you know if any turn up in this Crisis 2 business.

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  27. I agree that the Bizarro v. Human Bomb thing was disturbing. Particularly when they show a full scene (partially obscured) where HB is largely decapitated. Yuck.
    One thing we need to understand is that Uncle Sam need not be dead, even though he was face-down in the water at the end. The theory, never proven, that he is somehow the "spirit of America" gives one hope that he may be unconscious but not dead.
    And the argument between the Big Three after the throwdown with Mongul was just terrific. These are definitely not your father's Superfriends!

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