The iFanboy Letter Column – 09/04/2009

Friday means many things to many people. For some, Friday means it’s searching for the ultimate party where on the way, you and your friends get stuck in a 1980s movie-esque adventure. For others, Friday means it’s time to tape the show in front of a live studio audience.

At iFanboy, Friday means it’s letter column time.

You write. We answer. Very simple.

As always, if you want to have your e-mail read on the any of our shows or answered here, keep them coming — contact@ifanboy.com

 


I think most comics readers know about Magneto stripping the Adamantium from Wolverine’s bones. It was brutal, but challenging the Master of Magnetism, Wolvie had it coming. I was wondering if the X-Men’s Colossus ever suffered a similar pummeling from Magneto. I haven’t thought about Colossus much since Cassaday and Whedon left the Astonishing X-Men book, but I was curious if the big guy ever had a horrific encounter similar to Wolverine’s ordeal.

I love the show, and I can’t wait to read “The Hunter” on your recommendation.

Matt

You know, this question made me really think about all the previous stories and when/if Colossus and Magneto ever squared off. While it occurred in the Ultimate X-Men, I don’t believe Colossus and Magneto ever went toe to toe in Uncanny X-Men. Now of course I could be wrong, and I remember times where Magneto basically stopped Colossus in his tracks, and there was that period in the 90s when Colossus joined Magneto and his Acolytes, but Magento never stripped the metal off of Colossus as far as I know.

Now this could be for a variety of reasons. Obviously without a conflict for which to fight, Magneto would have no reason to hurt Colossus other than just being mean. When Wolverine had his Adamantium pulled out, he was about to kill Magneto, so it could be considered self defense. Another aspect could be the fact that Colossus’s metal body is made up of “organic metal,” so maybe there’s some property within that makes it less susceptible to magnetism. But ultimately, I think it boils down to the fact that if Magneto were to start to do anything to Colossus in his metal form, he’d simply revert to human form, wherein he’s very strong already, as occurred in Ultimate X-Men when Colossus switched to human form and punched Magneto in the gut.

That said, with the upcoming return of Magneto, perhaps this sort of conflict could occur in the future?

Ron Richards

 


I’ve gathered from your podcasts, videocasts, etc. that you folks are big fans of collected editions. Ron’s repeatedly said that he’s a sucker for upgrading to omnibuses, oversized hardcovers, Absolute Editions, and the like for books he already owns. However, I wanted to see what you thought about the concept of comic book binding. I’ve noticed on other comics podcasts (yes, Virginia, there are other podcasts!) that there seems to be an increasing trend towards having custom-made bound editions made for comics they’ve bought. Personally, I have begun to send off shipments in order to make custom bindings of comics that I’m pretty sure will never be collected or reprinted. I just wanted to know if you had ever considered this idea, and what your thoughts on it are.

 Russell S.

Other what now?  I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about, and for that matter, who in the great bloody Hell is Virginia, and what does she have to do with any of this?  Were I a man of honor, I would surely ignore this email and demand immediate and consummate satisfaction. Turns out, I’m not, so bully for you!

 

So, binding was your actual question, yes? As far as I know, not a one of us have had any books bound in the way you describe, such as the one offered here (where I can’t seem to find pricing). For my own part, I suppose I’m just not that interested, but I don’t have much of the collector/archivist in me. If there’s a book I really like, I might be a special omni, over, mega, definitive, absolute, balls out version, even if I own the issues, but mostly that’s for very special books, and it’s only if they’re actually for sale.

In fact, there are precious few titles that fall under that category. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen nearly all my favorite stories get collected together in either deluxe hardcover, or oversized versions. I’m talking about stories like Brubaker’s Captain America run, or Preacher, or Starman, or V for Vendetta. In the case that there’s a story that I really love that I haven’t been given the royal reprint treatment, and I have the issues, I suppose I’m happy with that. Take Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee’s Inhumans run. If there was an omnibus version of that, I’d sign up for that program, but I also really love the issues I have, which are among the few that I have bagged and boarded in the “special” box with my other favorite issues. They’re in there with my complete run of Astro City and my McFarlane The Amazing Spider-Man issues. And I like them like that. I like them as issues as they are, and don’t feel a need to change it.

Further, there is the feeling that the paper most of those issues are printed on isn’t the most durable available, and for some reason, I could see the pages tearing easier when bound permanently. Maybe I’m not in love with enough “never to be reprinted” stories, but I’m cool with the single issues of Miracleman I have. It is of course, how God intended them, is it not?

But that’s just me.

Josh Flanagan

 


What is the best girl superhero book? I tried Ms. Marvel, but after about a dozen issues I got bored. Red Sonja is too much blood and gore and, judging by the covers, some books are borderline porn. Smart, funny, heroic, and of course, color coordinated with the right shoes is what we need. The more I think about it, Maria Hill should have her own title.

And I hope the Marvel guys have not forgotten about Kitty inside that giant bullet.

Ken in Glen Alpine, NC

I am reading a few books with female protagonists and if I had to pick my three favorite they would be Supergirl, Detective Comics, and the one book that I think fits your criteria the best — Power Girl.

All three of these books portray strong, well rounded female characters who don’t seem to exist solely to titillate a mostly male fanbase. A lot of people have the misapprehension that Power Girl is a book and a character that embodies cheesecake but nothing could be further from the truth. Kara is smart and funny and heroic and color coordinates her outfits with her shoes and yes, she is sexy and has big boobs. But it’s not exploitative, it’s empowering. Whenever the subject of her overt sexuality has come up in the book, she is always — please excuse the pun — in the power position and it’s the drooling guys who are made to look foolish. The latest and best issue of the series so far (seen here on the right) had a great example of this when a group of inept guys attempted to hit on Kara and her friend at the movies.

I will take any opportunity to plug Power Girl because I think it’s a great book and I don’t want it to go away.

If Power Girl and Detective Comics and Supergirl and the like — Marvel Divas is another example — are the start of a trend toward female superheroes who are real people and sexy without being brightly colored sex dolls then I think that comics are heading in a good direction.

As for Kitty Pryde I’m sure that she will be back one day when the right story presents itself. I will be most interested to know how she survived inside that bullet without food and water and a toilet.

Conor Kilpatrick

Comments

  1. @Ron – *Annoying comic fan voice* Actually in that issue of Ultimate X-Men Colossus stayed in metal form the entire time making his gut punch all the more awesome. (It’s just one of my favorite moments from that series.)

  2. Josh is kind of punchy today, huh? Ken, if you’re not reading ‘Wolverine: First Class,’ I’d suggest checking it out.  It’s marketed as a Wolverine book but Kitty Pryde is equally if not more important to almost all the stories. 

     

     

  3. Dumb question maybe…why does Colossus need armor? Silly 90s outfit, used to love it but looking back, silly. 

  4. @Brianmaru: In the 90’s everything was armored. I think that’s why alot of marvel characters are taking the trend of being "smoothed out" via loss of armor etc. Like Wolverine’s shoulder plates being removed by Cassady in Astonishing.

    On another note I’ve began to rank the Powergirl covers on par with the Witchblade covers, not that’s a bad thing. I’d just have it in a black bag before leaving the store.

  5. I’m looking to custom bind some of my collections.  A local place was asking for $75 to do it though.  That’s crazy!  I’ll keep shopping around, if nothing comes up then I will go the online route.

    *puts on nerd hat* 

    And it would be impossible to strip the metal off Colossus.  It’s not some suit of armor or anything, his entire body becomes "organic metal."  So it is more likely that Magneto would tear off limbs and body parts if he were to go all crazy.  

  6. I think in Ultimate X-Men there was a fight where Magneto threw Colossus around. But don’t quote me on that.

    That would be very sick and graphic if he got his metal ripped off. It’s his skin! So if you rip it off your basically going to kill him. At least we’ll have something to put for memorial.

  7. I also will take any opportunity to plug Power Girl.

  8. Power Girl is awesome. If it contineus to be as good as last issue, it will be one of the best series ever.

  9. At the moment there are quite a number of good female superhero books. Like Conor says, I can’t recommend Power Girl and Supergirl Enough. Along with Detective I would also include Batgirl (which ships the same week as PG and SG). And while it’s not solely a female title, Pepper Potts and Maria Hill are getting a fair share of time in Invincible Iron Man. The group of "Inept Guys" as Conor terms (and it’s apropos) is a cameo appearance by the the male leads of the comedy show THE BIG BANG THEORY. I thought it was a nice nod to a show which is pretty good at being about geeks (and being accurate. They apparently had a Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson argument the week RIP Part 6 shipped).

    I always had a soft spot for Colossus’ Acolytes uniform. The armor is redundant, yeah, but Colossus has only had one good costume and a series of unfortunate ones, so I think I remember this one because he finally looked good in something other than a bathing suit. As for Colossus/Magneto there’s some truth to what Ron says about the "organic metal." Somewhere in the mid-90s they addressed it, and it comes down to there being enough ferrous metal in colossus’ body to be affected by magnets, but enough for a magnet to separate it from him body. Which is a fallacy, but what the hey.

  10. Hulk armor doesn’t make sense either.  It’s for show.

  11. "I’m cool with the single issues of Miracleman I have.  It is of course, how God intended them, is it not?"

    Not in 2010 my friend!  I’ll be getting the paperback re-prints!

  12. I am a book binder and do a bunch of my comics into hardcovers. There are a bunch of pictures up here

     

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukebunny/sets/72157600074452324/

     

    This is a really good comic book binding forum, lots of info and drool worthy pictures. 

     http://marvelmasterworksfansite.yuku.com/forums/2/t/Uncollected-Editions-The-Homegrown-Hardcovers-Binding-Forum.html

     

    I really enjoy the process of binding my stuff, but in the golden age of reprints, it seems like everything I decide to do gets nice special volumes right after I start mine (See Castle Waiting, American Flagg, Criminal etc. etc.) It allows you to put things together EXACTLY how you want though, which I find pretty valuable. 

  13. I remember seeing a place online (I think located in Texas) that binds for $15. Can anyone find me a link? Think I’m going to bind Dini’s Detective run.

  14. @miyamotofreak: librarybinding.com

  15. That’s Library Binding. They are quite good,something to keep in mind though, the $15 bind is the really basic, no frills option. If you want nicer lettering, head and tail bands, book ribbon etc. that all costs extra. Great option though!

     

    http://www.librarybinding.com/comic-books.php

     

  16. I think I read somewhere that Kitty doesn’t require food/water/bathroom (well, that wasn’t mentioned, but let’s just go w/ the trifecta, eh?) when in a phased state.

    My friend is soooo stupid ("How stupid is he?) that he believes, whole heartedly, that Colossus and Magneto are brothers. Now, that in and of itself isn’t so bad, everyone has misconceptions, and it’s just about a pair of fictional characters, so it’s not even something important. The thing is, he outright refuses to accept otherwise. I throw at him every reason why it makes no sense:
    (Magneto’s from one of the countries near Germany that was effected by the Holocaust [this was before Magneto Testement made it Poland] while Colossus is from Russia! Magneto is much, much older! Colossus already has a villian brother! And most of all, that would be the worst sibling rivalry ever!! "Give me that ball, Peter." "No, Magnus, I-" *MAGNETISM!*), even showed him these two, unconnected family trees, but the kid won’t listen to reason.
    This same guy also believes the following:
    -Batman kills Joker at the end if Killing Joke.
    -Daredevil freely kills villians.
    -Planet Hulk + World War Hulk is much better than Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men (we just had a book exchange).
    -Batman & Robin (the movie) was better than Dark Knight.
    -To cool down soup one must suck out the steam. He won’t blow on it, like a sane person, because as he puts "your breath is also hot."
    -Ab muscles grow OVER stomach fat (and yet he wants to be a personal trainer or gym coach).
    Obviously I should let it go, but it’s A) too funny and B) maddening that someone just shuns listening to reason. Sorry… I just had to vent.

  17. Personally, Library Binding makes no sense when you still have all the ads in place. Maybe this is just me, but a perk about having the nice collected edition of something is that it is free of ads.

  18. @RolandofGilead – I’ve hearda couple different arguments on that one…especially for older stuff,the ads are nostolgic for people, like a time capsule… you also get fun letter columns and such. Some people do some prep work and cut out the ads where they can. Lots of small publishers put their house ads all at the back now, so you can lose them with very little effort. Newer Marvel comics are a pain to deal with though…almost all of the ads appear on the back of a story page, and they break the flow every 2 or 3 pages…frustrating to read OR bind. I usually wait for the trades or HC’s of those. You can maybe tell I am a big packaging/book nerd? 🙂

  19. The packaging is damn important man! 😉 I’m a nerd about this stuff too.

  20. I’m trying to "plug" PowerGirl too!  She’s mine! Don’t even try to get in my way!!

    I haven’t checked out this new PowerGirl series yet so I guess I might as well just wait for the trade like I’m doing with Flash Rebirth because all the shops around here are sold out of the issues yet.  Supergirl & Detective have been great lately, especially Batwoman!  I would think to mention Gotham City Sirens, but most of those characters aren’t heroes.  Oh yeah, don’t forget about the new Batgirl which I haven’t dropped yet either!

  21. You can remove the ads when you bind. Not all of them but a very good amount.

  22. Liberty Belle and Star Girl in Johns’ JSA are very good female characters as well, even they are not front and center.

  23. While it isn’t necessarily a "girl superhero book" I’ve found Runaways to be one of the best sources for superhero-style stories with (multiple) female leads.

    Which also brings me to comment about collected editions. To me there’s nothing better than an 18-issue oversized hardcover like Runaways volume one. It’s practically a small omnibus!

  24. I think during the mutant massacre, when magneto was with the x-men he fixed colossus by repairing a tear in his chest…..

  25. Uncle Bob, in Russia, Power Girl Plugs you =p

  26. Great set of questions ; Colossus is my alltime Favorite Marvel Character!

    -In Uncanny X-Men #183 Pyro did heat up Colossus (in metal form) white hot and then Avanlanche dropped a tidal wave of earth and dirt thereby encassing him in  a cement/like trap.(yes I know it’s not the same as Magneto ripping his metal off, but it shows how his metal form can also be a detrement)

    -If I could get my favorite books bound for a decent price I’d do it in a heart beat. Of course, it would have to be a worthwhile series(not allready available) with good quality paper that would stand the test of time.Ex. my beautiful run of Silver Surfer by Ron LIM. That Infinity War trade has me drooling!

    -Yes, whatever happened to Kitty Pride. Someone needs to tackle that story and bring her back to the Marvel fold. Maybe the Nova Corps/Guardians of the Galaxy can track down that bullet and free her.Or maybe Galactus can save her as she promises to become his new herald(just random thoughts)

  27. I picked up Power Girl #4 based on Conor’s recommendation and wasn’t disappointed. Went out and picked up the back issues (which I just read this morning). Good stuff.

  28. I have bound a bunch of stuff as well and right now have a 3 volume comprehensive Green Lantern Vol 4/Green Lantern Corps (from Rebirth – end of Agent Orange/Emerald Eclipse) prepped and ready to go. I think this is a fun way to get a lot of single issues out of the box and onto the shelf and to put it together in the exact order you would like. See Final Crisis and Morrison’s suggested reading order as a good example of something that maybe better bound than the trade that was actually published.

  29. Oh yeah, and here is a link to the boards I visit to plan and discuss binding projects. Check out the Gallery Thread: http://www.thecomicforums.com/forum2//index.php?s=fa4c39fdbdc171537d411c25a6e22554&showforum=163

  30. How has no one mentioned Garth Ennis’s "The Pro" as a strong female character?

  31. @akamuu: THE PRO isn’t a current on-going series, which is what the letter writer is looking for.

  32. "Take a Chance"? I think that’s currently on-going, don’t quote me on that though I’ve been more wrong than a weatherman.

  33. @Conor: I missed the part of the letter.  Sorry.

  34. Though, now that I think about it, Empowered is a great ongoing series which has a lead who is getting stronger as the story progresses.  And the female characters in Ennis’s The Boys, especially Maeve and Starlight.  Also, Buffy The Vampire Slayer?  She’s super, and heroic.

     

    Man, I tried desperately to think of a Marvel title with strong women right now, but aside from Emma Frost, every female Marvel character I can think of is defined by their "kryptonite: Storm’s claustrophobia, Rogue’s inability to control her powers (which she may be getting under control now), The Scarlet Witch’s insanity.  It’s a shame She-Hulk got cancelled.  

  35. @akamuu  We need a Mockingbird title!

  36. There’s a big seller.

  37. I’d read a Jeff Lemire "To Kill a Mockingbird" adaptation with Nobody-esque retro cover mockups like "Atticus Finch: Peoples’ Champion" and "Escape the Clutches of Boo Radley." 

  38. @Paul – don’t forget –  Chiffarobes – The Forgotten Dresser. 

  39. "I will be most interested to know how she survived inside that bullet without food and water and a toilet."

    In order to survive, I wonder if she can eat her own…umm…oh God why do I think about these things?

  40. Ken, Maria’s getting lots of page time in Invincible Iron Man and so is Pepper Potts who is now a full fledged superhero in her own right. Check those out!

  41. I sometimes like to talk about things I enjoy without sitting down to do a business analysis of whether anybody wants to buy it.  I’ll use smilies next time.

  42. Thanks Conor. You, Uncle Bob, Zombox, and thehorseman have sold me. I’m adding Power Girl to my pull list. And I’m right with you JumpingJupiter. The way they are featuring Maria In Iron Man is why I think she might do well in her own book.