Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan!)

Post by Ares »

M4C8 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:48 pm Yep Kamala is an okay character, I like her better than most of the other current crop of young characters, she has a realistic personality and wasn't just a teen version of an existing hero. The main issues I had with her book were the art and the lack of any decent foes.

The Champions book IIRC featured a lot of bitching about the established heroes being terrible, a completely unearned 'we know better' arrogance. I'd hoped the writers would've at least shown not everything is so black and white, that the decisions/actions of the older heroes are based on years of on the job experience but nah.

And of course I still have issue with the Avengers suddenly being okay with having several young teens on the team.
Unfortunately, a lot of my exposure to Kamala has been through the Champions and her actions during Civil War II. In the former, she's pretty insufferable, complaining about the adult heroes she's suppose to idolize for not being able to fix everything. I blame this on Mark Waid, who has pretty much gone off the deep end in recent years (seriously, just read Ignited! for all the evidence you need. Or don't, and save yourself some trauma). In the latter, she basically commits acts of terrorism that get her best friend/love interest permanently crippled, and to my knowledge never apologizes for it or suffers any consequence for it. And there's little things that pop up like when Kamala and her friends go to a carnival and on seeing a Fortune Teller tent, Kamala goes "That's kind of offensive, isn't it?", after which her friend says, "It's INCREDIBLY offensive", until her other friend just drags them inside anyway.

Kamala seems like she could either be a fine character or an insufferable one depending on the creative team, but to be fair that's true of a lot of characters. I probably owe it to her and myself to check out whichever run of her book was considered best. She's on her, what, third series since 2014? She got relaunched in 2016 and again in 2019. Which actually means her books are more stable than Carol's have been. Anyway, was one of those runs considered better than the other two?

*EDIT*

I also remember there being some really stupid, convoluted explanation for her powers, something about her mass getting shared by various versions of herself up and down the timeline instead of simply, you know, basically being Reed Richards, only she can compress herself better than he can.

Actually, I'm not clear on whether or not Kamala grows and gets stronger the way someone like Hank Pym does, or if she basically just stretches herself in a way that simulates growing, and doesn't actually get all that stronger/tougher. She seems to be able to do the Reed Richards bit of concentrating mass into her fists to hit harder, but does she actually get stronger? Like, if she makes her fist big, can she pick up a car?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Noh-Varr! The Sentry! Ex Nihilo! Star Brand!)

Post by drkrash »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 9:56 pm
As far as I can tell, only a couple have- Al Ewing based the entirety of The Ultimates doing "Big Cosmic" stuff, figuring out the new cosmology of a rebooted universe- things were in flux for a bit, but they kinda went back to the status quo thanks to the heroes' help.

Jason Aaron also remake an origin for Earth in Avengers that everyone here just LOVED, lol.
Ultimates happened immediately after Secret Wars, so it sort of doesn't count, especially since it ended with pretty much back to basics also.

I guess the re-vamped Avengers origin (which I neither loved nor hated) counts...but the fact that it's a new beginning is not explicitly called out.

Am I forgetting something? Did the heroes who fought Doom forget what happened when the universe was re-booted? They certainly *act* that way, but I don't recall that being a thing.
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The Blue Marvel

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE BLUE MARVEL (Adam Bernard Brashear)
Created By:
Kevin Grevioux
First Appearance: Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 (Nov. 2008)
Role: Yet Another Retcon Hero, Elder Statesman
Group Affiliations: The Mighty Avengers, The United States Marine Corps.
Avengers Grade: D-Level (new member)
PL 15 (331)
STRENGTH
18 STAMINA 17 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 10 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Football) 5 (+7) -- Uses Agility
Expertise (Science) 8 (+18)
Insight 3 (+7)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 6 (+10)
Persuasion 2 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+10)
Technology 8 (+18)

Advantages:
Close Attack, Equipment 10 (Bitching Lab Under The Sea), Improved Critical 2 (Blasts, Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)

Powers:
"Living Anti-Matter Reactor"
Power-Lifting 6 (200,000 tons) [6]
Protection 3 (Extras: Impervious 15) [18]
Quickness 6 [6]
Immunity 16 (Tiring Effects, Aging, Life Support) [16]
Flight 18 (500,000 mph) [36]
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]
Senses 6 (Extended Sight, Vision, Hearing & Scent, Acute Scent, Analytical Taste) [6]
Regeneration 6 [6]

Create 16 (Feats: Precise) (Extras: Impervious 11, Movable) (65) -- [71]
  • AE: "Create His Own Light" Environment 10 (Light 2) (20)
  • AE: "Energy Pulse" Damage 15 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (46)
  • AE: "Energy Fists" Penetrating Strength Damage 10 (10)
  • AE: "Concussion Beams" Blast 20 (Feats: Increased Range 1, Split, Precise) (Extras: Penetrating 10) (53)
  • AE: "Low-Energy Bolts" Affliction 14 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (32)
  • AE: "Anti-Matter Shields" Deflect 14 (14)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+18 Damage, DC 33)
Concussive Beams +10 (+20 Ranged Damage, DC 35)
Energy Pulse +15 Area (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Low-Energy Bolts +10 (+14 Ranged Affliction, DC 24)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +20 (+8 Impervious), Fortitude +17, Will +8

Complications:
Relationship (Candace, aka Marlene Frazier- Wife)- Marlene was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent assigned to watch Adam, but soon fell in love with him. She was killed in a battle with The Anti-Man.
Reputation (Giving Up)- Adam sometimes gets attitude from other black heroes about agreeing to step down way back in the day.
Relationship (Uatu, The Watcher)- They have a lot of one-sided conversations.

Total: Abilities: 110 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 167 / Defenses: 12 (331)

The Blue Marvel- Yet Another Supermanalogue:
-The story of the Blue Marvel seems like it may've been a cool story, if only Marvel hadn't done two different variations of the EXACT SAME THING in the preceding decade. The "Hero From the Old Days We've Never Mentioned Before" is part of The Sentry AND Isaiah Bradley's backstory in terms of Retconning yet another hero into the past, AND Isaiah's story is also one of a black guy experiencing old school racism and basically being brushed under the rug because of it. It seems completely unnecessary and annoying to go through it all over again, especially because he's YET ANOTHER FREAKING FLYING BRICK, adding up to Marvel's total probably exceeding DC's at this point!

-Adam Brashear is an uber-genius black scientist who was also a Marine and a fullback in College (just to make it SUPER-OBVIOUS that we should all be amazed), and got exposed to some mutagenic radiation due to an experiment. He became a walking anti-matter reactor and a big superhero, but was forced to retire in 1962 when it was discovered that it was a black guy behind "The Blue Marvel"- President Kennedy asking him to voluntarily step down. He comes out of retirement to fight his old lab partner (now the Anti-Man), who gained powers and insanity from the same explosion- his wife unfortunately dies in the battle, but now everyone knows the Blue Marvel again. Brashear thus ends up an active hero.

-It's like... I dunno, I haven't read it, so I can't judge the quality of the story. I just have grown soooooooo freaking tired of the same never-ending concepts of Retcon Heroes, Power-Geeking (he got a staggering list of Strength & Durability Feats in his debut, and was allowed to basically show him doing anything- HE'S EVEN SUPER-SMART), and Flying Bricks in Marvel because they want more Supermanalogues. He seems okay in The Mighty Avengers, but hasn't gotten a tremendous amount of focus. The entire thing just makes me roll my eyes- were I an editor, I'd probably just laugh if a writer came in with his idea to present a hero he'd created when he was a kid (as Grevioux did), have him be super-smart, super-awesome and more powerful than an entire squad of Avengers, and then eat a nuclear bomb like it was nothing.

-It must be my age, though, because I can't really get that worked up over it anymore (I was actually grouchier about comics when I was younger). It's silly (especially since Marvel added one or two more SINCE then) and makes me roll my eyes, but not maddening or anything... and I even like the character in the books I've read him in! I find him more amusing than annoying, and though his origin and power feats are nuts and over-the-top, he seems okay in Luke Cage's Mighty Avengers. He re-encounters the Anti-Man, but is convinced to spare him by his son Kevin. Unfortunately, Ewing seems to be the only writer with any interest in Brashear, so he hasn't appeared in a significant role since the end of The Ultimates. His personality and concept is very "Calm Elder Statesman", a role actually pretty atypical in the Marvel Universe- Captain America is more of a war leader-type, so doesn't fit. Brashear is more like Alan Scott.

The Blue Marvel In Modern Time:
-In any case, the Blue Marvel pops up in the occasional book. He was on Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers (lecturing the Illuminati over keeping the incursions that destroy the universe from all the heroes, since they could have helped), then joined his Ultimates book as the brains behind the Ultimates' operation to assess and measure the nature of Marvel's new Cosmic Scene and universal balance.

The Blue Marvel's Power:
-Since The Blue Marvel is another Supermanalogue, and has fought The Sentry and lived, I figure him for PL 15- more than Thor and The Hulk. His Strength Feats are way past theirs (easily lifting a 93,000-ton warship, and The Watcher said "he could easily split the Earth in two", which is hyperbole as per usual in the "Tell, Don't Show" world of comic book feats, but still), and he once One-Hit-KO'd THE SENTRY, and then fought an entire squad of Avengers by himself, and later survived the detonation of an atomic bomb. He's more powerful than most of Earth's heroes, but more unpractised (he was retired for years, and never fought their level of competition).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by Sidious »

My personal head cannon has both Blue Marvel and Sentry as The Shaper of Worlds (where was he during Time Runs Out?) and The Beyonder/ Kosmos inserting themselves into reality to escape its destruction by the Ivory Kings (using that name since things could get confusing). Sentry's insanity could certainly be from the Beyonder or from him merging with a human (Robert Reynolds). Whereas, the Shaper had been seen as the more sane one of that group (and blue...), he could very well have been inserted as Blue Marvel to counter balance the other. This only leaves the question of where Kubik went...
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by Ares »

I actually like Blue Marvel, because they actually put some thought into how he fit within the greater Marvel Universe. Thanks to the sliding time scale of Marvel, retcon heroes are kind of a necessity to explain who was protecting the Earth from the end of World War II to "10-15 years ago" when the current age of heroes started. It wasn't an issue when Marvel launched in the 60s and it'd only been a decade or so since WWII ended, but we've gone from a couple of decades to roughly 75 years. So inventing new heroes to fill the void just makes sense.

Blue Marvel himself also actually averts most of the issues I have with "suddenly introduced minority hero whose storyline largely focuses on prejudice", because a) he's got an actual personality rather than simply being a collection of race/gender/sexual traits and powers, b) his story is set in a time where open prejudice was a much, much larger problem (to the point that Stan and Jack took a legit risk introducing the Black Panther at that time), c) his story explains why he vanished and why he hasn't really been a part of the MU up until this point. It also highlights how much better things have gotten since then.

Blue Marvel honestly feels less like a Superman analogy and more like one to Milestone's Icon, given their both black flying bricks with more versatile energy control abilities beyond simple heat vision. He definitely has a Silver Age feel to him, being a scientist who got his powers in an accident, thus making him both very powerful and highly intelligent. I don't think I'd place him above guys like Thor, Hyperion or the Hulk however. The Sentry ultimately won his fight against Blue Marvel, and attacks from Avengers like Iron Man and Wonder Man were hurting him. Likewise, during his fight with King Hyperion, Blue Marvel was at a disadvantage, but managed to win through heroic effort. His fight against Hickman's Hyperion was a pretty even match. Overall, I'd say he's a Thor/Hyperion-level top tier that's more Hyperion in terms of physical abilities, but more Thor in terms of versatility, and smarter than both of them.

Overall I like that Marvel has a black top tier hero, and wish he'd get some more use. I also wish he'd ditch the jacket and go back to a costume with a cape. If you're going for that kind of analogy, do it right.

Basically, when it comes to retconning in powerful heroes, Sentry is how the process is done wrong, while Blue Marvel is how it's done right.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by bsdigitalq »

The Blue Marvel comic is pretty decent, if somewhat forgettable. The thing I most remember about it is how SUPER preachy it is, with characters going on massive speeches about social issues or having back-and-forth arguments with paragraph length statements...and yet it worked. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but there's a real, authentic earnestness to the book and story that made me buy into everything Grievoux wrote. At the very least, it's a good look that handles its subject matter better than most, because it's grounded in reality and history in a way that most recent books of a similar type haven't.

I do like how he's been gradually moved away from being an explicit Supermanalogue and more into a super-scientist elder statesman with massive powers. It's really given him his own sense of identity and makes him stand out from the rest of Marvel.
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America Chavez

Post by Jabroniville »

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MISS AMERICA II (America Chavez)
Created By:
Joe Casey & Nick Dragotta
First Appearance: Vengeance #1 (Sept. 2011)
Role: Minority Replacement Character, Quirky Rookie Given a Push
Group Affiliations: Teen Brigade, The Young Avengers, A-Force, The Ultimates, The West Coast Avengers
PL 10 (157)
STRENGTH
10 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+12)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Cosmic Hero) 5 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Technology 3 (+5)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Unarmed), Power Attack, Teamwork

Powers:
"Kick Open Holes in Reailty" Movement 3 (Dimensional Travel 3) (Flaws: Limited to Alternate Realities) [6]
Features 1: Defeated Enemies Explode into Stars [1]
Flight 18 (1,000,000 pmh) [36]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +10, Fortitude +11, Will +7

Complications:
Prejudice (Latina Lesbian)- This presumably causes issues in the Woke Marvel Universe, I dunno. All superheroes seem supportive of it.

Total: Abilities: 84 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 12 (157)

-Among the more unique "Minority Hire Replacement Characters" of the past decade is America Chavez, who bounces from book to book to book on a constant basis because Marvel editorial seems to love the very idea of the character (she's a racial AND sexual minority! It's everything they want you to know that they love!), while the comics-buying public seems somewhat immune to her charms. America is... rarely called by her superhero codename in anything I have. I mean, she wears regular clothes with a flag design on them as a "uniform", so I imagine she doesn't care for secret identity stuff, but then... why "Miss America"? She never seemed patriotic in The Ultimates. She's more of a tough-talking, blunt, "in your face" kind of character- the kind of female character you see a lot of these days.

-In any case, America is the bisexual daughter of two mothers from a "reality out of time" called the Utopian Parallel, gaining powers from the ambient cosmic might of the Demiurge, who lived nearby. Yeah, okay. Her mothers died saving the Parallel from black holes, and America went across the multiverse, acting covertly as a superhero. She joined the "Teen Brigade" in her debut, working alongside some other random characters to stop the Young Masters from disrupting the balance between order and chaos (which involved freeing the In-Betweener).

-She swiftly leaves the Teen Brigade for a push elsewhere, fighting Kid Loki over the idea that Wiccan needs to be slain to fix reality- this leads to her joining the new Young Avengers title. She helps the team fight an interstellar parasite called "Mother", and passes off a kiss with a male character as "experimentation", thus turning the bisexual character into a lesbian. Because... reasons? I mean, bisexuals are if anything RARER than gays in comics, and often completely ignored in the media- there's even stuff you could write about how even LGBT people tend to discount them (sex columnist Dan Savage suggests that he himself bought into the idea of "bi just means you're gay and haven't come out all the way yet" because... well, he himself was in denial about being gay and started off just saying he was "bi" to edge his way into coming out).

-Her mini-push continued as one of the characters in the all-girl A-Force during Secret Wars, where she once threw a megalodon over the border of a country to break one of King Doom's rules, and then followed this up with a role in The Ultimates- Al Ewing's book to explain the new cosmology of the Marvel Universe. This also leads to the very bizarre new Miss America book, which got the expected hatred by the most annoying people on YouTube, but seems to contain the exact type of bizarre, stupid humor that I find amusing (a group of students introduces themselves to her as a dance troupe doing "Stomp The Yard" poses or whatever my fellow kids would call it).

-In the book, she attends Sotomayor University (named for a current Supreme Court Justice, not a dead person, which is... the normal way to name stuff) and has some breakup with a girl and... okay, the book died after like a year, like pretty much every "Woke Title" Marvel tries to come up with, so there's not much I can say about it (the book was promoted by having a Latina lesbian writing it, because we're now in this weird zone where Political Correctness means you can only write your exact race, I guess?). I'm only familiar with her Ultimates stuff, and I generally didn't find her that interesting there, because I can hardly remember anything she did. She punched stuff, if I recall correctly. Her characterization was very much the "I'm in YOUR FACE!" and she punched things. Aggressive and kind of a chip on her shoulder- the way Marvel characters used to act in the '60s. I can dig it.

-I have no real idea of what her power levels are, as Marvel is rarely written with that mattering anymore, but she seemed pretty strong. On the REMARKABLY powerful Ultimates, she didn't do overly much, but she was strong and fast, and could punch stuff. She can also "Kick Open" holes in reality, allowing her to act as a Teleporter of sorts between alternate universes. Enemies will explode into stars when beaten for some reason, and she has an "extreme duress" (ie. Extra Effort) blast that has hurt Carol Danvers before.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by Jabroniville »

So this is just about the end of the regular Avengers builds- the next handful will be characters introduced in a few of those weird side Avengers titles, with summations of those books. Largely Wiki-read and built, as the only one I actually collected and read was Uncanny Avengers.
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Avengers A.I.

Post by Jabroniville »

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AVENGERS A.I.:
-So this is one of those "Guaranteed To Fail" stupid ideas that Marvel came up with in 2013- take an unknown creative team, give them unpopular side characters, and then dilute your top brand with a weird side-team.

Avengers A.I. was created by Sam Humphries & Andre Lima Araujo, and featured Hank Pym & the Vision creating a technology-themed team using Victor Mancha from Runaways and a trio of original characters- a sentient Doombot, Monica Chang and Alexis The Protector. The book is a sequel to the awful Age of Ultron book- the virus Hank Pym used to destroy Ultron before he could wipe out civilization has evolved into "Dimitrios", and a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison (Monica) enlists Pym in order to stop it. Along the way, they find a mysterious synthezoid named Alexis and recruit her, as well as a sentient Doombot. Dimitrios inhabits a discarded Iron Man armor and plots to destroy humanity, meaning that yes, Hank has created ANOTHER genocidal enemy of mankind. We find out that Alexis was created by Dimitrios, Captain America & Rogue (??) join the team, and then we find out that Dimitrios destroys humanity in the future, but he's stopped. Then the book is cancelled, having lasted only one year.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel! America Chavez!)

Post by greycrusader »

Overall,I like the Blue Marvel; his retroactive inclusion into the history of the MU was far better handled than that of the Scrappy (uh, I mean Sentry), as it didn't require distorting canon to shove the character into every major event, significantly changing the careers of multiple other heroes. Unlike the God-awful Man of Gold, Adam Brashear isn't constantly shilled by everyone else, and he is actually a Silver Age style hero, not an undependable, often psychotic anti-hero/villain protagonist. Blue Marvel does however, present a few issues. First, he borders on being the kind of "idealized, flawless minority characters" Archie Comics is known for, where he has no flaws or vulnerabilities. His personal attributes aren't that far off Tony Stark (genius, playboy, philanthropist,inventor), but without the physical limitations or personal problems. And it kind of stretches credulity he would simply retire because he was revealed to be African-American; given how powerful he is, why weren't the Avengers or FF seeking his help in the past?

I'd cast him almost more as Marvel's Captain Atom than a Superman-analogue; vast energy manipulating powers, rewriting physical constants in his vicinity, but he has to focus to do so, running mathematical models in his brilliant mind, and less effective against magic or extra-dimensional substances. And Adam Brashear really isn't a superhero by nature-he is too focused on solving macro-problems and investigating the mysteries of the cosmos. Despite caring a great deal about humanity in the abstract, and having a strong moral code, he tends to be self-absorbed, living a lot in his own mind. This makes him reactive, not proactive-Blue Marvel only gets spurred into direct action when there is a direct threat. He truly needs other people around to ground him, but he realizes how much danger his wife and son encountered due to his presence, so the Blue Marvel surrounds himself with other super-people, but makes sure they have better people-skills than his own (including America Chavez was clearly a mistake).

And regarding Ms. America II...whoa, yeah, NOT the way to put a new character over. And its a shame, because mainstream comics needs a more diverse line-up, and Marvel characters especially have often dealt with social issues,from their earliest days (The Hate-Monger, anyone? The Howling Commandos' roster? Avengers vs. Sons of the Serpent? The Black Panther vs. the "Anzaria" (South Africa) Supermacists?) But they confronted these issues in terms of the Marvel U; the writers didn't deliver ham-handed screeds with actual story telling, and without writers hitting readers over their heads with "recognize how awesome this character is"! Trying to shove a concept down readers throats never works (see Inhumans, The).

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:38 pm So this is just about the end of the regular Avengers builds- the next handful will be characters introduced in a few of those weird side Avengers titles, with summations of those books. Largely Wiki-read and built, as the only one I actually collected and read was Uncanny Avengers.
Here, I was hoping for some more Avengers I'd actually heard of.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel! America Chavez!)

Post by saint_matthew »

greycrusader wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:03 amAnd its a shame, because mainstream comics needs a more diverse line-up
It really doesn't, but I can see why people mistakenly believe it to be so. The fact is that comics have been hugely diverse for decades, but when done correctly, as it used to be, no one notices. It's only when it's done poorly do people notice & by poorly I mean by writers so obsessed with identity politics that that is all they write. In other words, no one read 2007's 20 issue solo run of Midnighter & thought "wow, what a diverse character."
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Alexis the Protector

Post by Jabroniville »

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You ever notice how many recent Marvel characters are brown people with their hair dyed? I keep seeing that.

ALEXIS THE PROTECTOR
Created By:
Sam Humphries & Andre Lima Araujo
First Appearance: Age of Ultron #10 (Aug. 2013)
Role: Failed New Character
Group Affiliations: The Avengers A.I.

-Alexis the Protector is a signature new character in the failed Avengers A.I. series, and is a synthezoid who turns out to have been created by the rogue computer virus Hank Pym created to destroy Ultron. Given "Quantum Precognition", she makes several correct guesses and opposes the virus and his war on humanity. She turns out to big one of six A.I.s the virus created, but was built to safeguard humanity.

-Alexis has the powers of "Hyperintelligence", Mental Quickness, Precognition, Flight/Speed, Energy Blasts, Super-Strength & durability to unknown levels.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ex Nihilo! Star Brand! Kamala Khan! The Blue Marvel!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Ken wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 3:21 am
Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:38 pm So this is just about the end of the regular Avengers builds- the next handful will be characters introduced in a few of those weird side Avengers titles, with summations of those books. Largely Wiki-read and built, as the only one I actually collected and read was Uncanny Avengers.
Here, I was hoping for some more Avengers I'd actually heard of.
Don't worry- I cap off the list with HAWKEYE BUILDS :)! And then follow it up with the Masters of Evil & Thunderbolts, which will provide many more recognizable characters.
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A-Force

Post by Jabroniville »

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A-FORCE:
-Another quirky side-book Marvel produced in the past decade was A-Force, which was about a team comprised entirely of Marvel's female characters. Written by the same writer as Kamala Khan's book, it was ostensibly an Avengers book, but the X-Force-like name and the fact that I never once saw it cross over with, or be mentioned in, any other book made it feel very "outside". This was first a Secret Wars tie-in alternate universe thing where super-women naturally happened to dominate the world, but soon the book shifted into the mainstream universe with an all-female team of Avengers.

The initial roster was a bizarre conglomeration of She-Hulk, Medusa, Dazzler, Nico Minoru (from Runaways) and new character Singularity- a pocket universe that gained sentience and has to learn what it means to be human. Kelly Thompson, of Jem & the Holograms fame, wrote the next bunch of issues. Singularity awakens in our universe (after having first been a thing in Secret Wars), and meets the same characters as in the original book, plus Carol Danvers, but is now hunted by a similar being named Antimatter. The heroines manage to destroy Antimatter, then face down the Terrigen Cloud, which is poisoning Dazzler. The roster is split by Civil War II, most disagreeing with Carol's attempts at arresting people before they commit predestined crimes. Elsa Bloodstone sorta joins the team and... then the book is cancelled amidst abysmal sales.

Much snark can be made of Marvel's attempts to be deliberately feminist result in a book losing 79% of its audience after only a year of its existence, I suppose. That Kelly Thompson was given even MORE books after this failure is also a bit telling. Much as I adored Jem, this is more or less putting someone on books because you think that person is a good mental fit for your company and its image, not because people are going to buy their material. But every single book she works on also has that "Make a book out of D-tier characters and one kinda-big star!" feel to it, which is just DEATH in a market utterly bloated with scads of books, so I find it terribly hard to blame her for a lack of success- these things seem almost created to fail.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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