Thursday, September 29, 2016

The Ultimates #11- Spoilers and Thoughts...


Spoilers... 

- Thanos is out of containment, with Conner. Thanos talks about the various cosmic entities and their different state at the moment and how there is a cosmic vacuum he can take control of.

- The Ultimates arrive. Thanos wants to use Conner but Conner dips out (or dead, Thanos isn't sure and doesn't care).

- The Ultimates vs Thanos

- MAC rushes in, gets a good punch in, but then takes a nice back hand because of it

- Adam powers up Carol to Binary mode, while Thanos remarks how the original died slowly and she can too

- White they are fighting and Thanos is distracted, Monica tries to travel in his brain to kill/incapacitate him. She finds out the hard why that you don't want to be in Thanos head and is blasted out of his skull.



- T'challa is noticing there normal tactics are not working and they cannot fight him hand-to-hand like this.

- T'challa comes up with a plan to use the containment thing Conner was in to stop Thanos mental energy. He and Adam start building while Thanos takes turns beating the snot out of MAC and Binary

- They use the machine... and it basically breaks Thanos brain by stopping all his electrical synapses. He ain't dead though and T'challa wonders if Thanos even can die.


- MAC and Carol go back to their disagreement. Carol is back to her default "scream at people mode" but at least it has more nuance than Bendis. She remarks how they fixed Galactus and how they just stopped Thanos and this is what the team was put together to do. And then she wonders if they can stay together or not. She then presumably goes to her meeting with Stark when happened earlier in Civil War II


Thoughts...

 - Well, well, well T'challa... nice for you to join the party!

- Coming up with a way to stop Thanos is a super, super high end feat. The kind of stuff that justifies T'challa being on this team. The kind of stuff we need to see more of out of T'challa since physically, he can't generally do much to crazy powered



- Not a bad issue at all. A lot more action packed that general. I've liked the CWII tie ins more than the regular issues lol.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Totally Awesome Hulk #10 Spoilers and Thoughts (BP Guest Appearance)



Spoilers... 

- T'challa demands/asks for tracking info on Cho from Carol and SHIELD. Carol gives it to him but makes it clear the mission is still under her. She sends SHIELD Agent Oh to go with T'challa.

- T'challa is about to eject Agent Oh from his plane, because he did background research on Agent Oh (found out he was friends/worked with Rhodes) and T'challa is unsure if Agent Oh is a liability due to Rhodes being dead because of Carol or because T'challa almost killed Rhodes in Civil War I.

- Agent Oh eventually proves his worth to T'challa and T'challa doesn't eject him and keeps him around as an adviser/support.


- They are tracking Cho, because they believe Cho is going to find Barton. Cho disables their tracking stuff because he is a super genius.

- We learn Cho IS heading for Barton. His sister? (I think, I don't know the particulars of Cho's support cast) tells him of a monster sighting in Texas and they need the Hulk there. Cho tells her to get Carol instead.

- Cho arrives at the Cabin where Clint is hiding. Starts to confront him, but it is really T'challa disguised as Clint. T'challa baited the answer he needed out of him, to prove that he is acting out of control. He makes a point that he wouldn't have fell for that trap if he was thinking like Cho and not emotional like Hulk.


- Panthertron vs Hulk fight!

- Panther uses Protocol One, which is a sound wave gun to disorient Hulk. That doesn't work for long.

- Panther uses Protocol Two, which is some sort of spore cloud designed to knock him out. That does not work

- Panthertron gets punched and opened up by Hulk. Cho starts to calm down, telling T'challa that he doesn't want to hurt him. Panther threatens him to stop and surrender, despite being in a disadvantageous position

- Panther uses Protocol Three, which is that the suit is absorbing all the damage it is taking and amplifying the energy, exactly like the vibranium weave suit Panther wears in TNC run. Tells him to surrender because he can't win.


- Cho's sister is calling Cho, because the monster she mentioned in Texas has been unleashed.


Thoughts... 

- Man, these guest appearances continue to just NAIL T'challa. So much more exciting than his own book.

- The dialogue between Agent Oh and T'challa was just on point. Kingly, but understanding. Showed T'challa prepping but then adapting on the fly.

- Speaking of prep, dude had plans on top of plans. This is how you use T'challa's prep ability without being "OP" like many incorrectly claim Priest Panther as.



- Panthertron was cool. Luckily they did incorporate the absorbing ability of the vibranium into it. This is where the absorbing ability should shine... not to beat up random goons but for larger threats outside of Panther's perceived "level."

Friday, September 23, 2016

T'challa vs Eric Killmonger Round 2



Story: Iron Man Annual #5 (1982)

Background: T'challa invites Tony Stark to Wakanda. During his visit, T'challa is seemingly killed by a rebellion. However, Stark created a Life Model Decoy to fake T'challa's death and force the mastermind behind the rebellion surface. It is revealed it is Madam Slay and... Eric Killmonger back from the dead.

So T'challa and Iron Man sneak back into Wakanda...

[Scan Tip: Click to enlarge the images and they are easier to read. You can scroll through them all that was as well. --- Shadow]





After T'challa got shot, Iron Man arrives to save T'challa while also noticing the ring Killmonger was wearing. Iron Man was going to continue to fight before he learned of Rhodey's fate from Madam Slay. Leaving Killmonger and T'challa to tussle once again.










T'challa vanquishes Killmonger while Iron Man saves Rhodey. We see that this wasn't the true Killmonger, but just a reanimated corpse, controlled by the villain Mandarin and his power ring.

This was also confirmed in Over the Edge #6, during Round 3 of T'challa vs. Killmonger.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Shuri's Journey Through the Djalia (up to #6)

With T'challa about to enter the Djalia to find Shuri relatively soon (issue #8), I thought it would be cool to put all of Shuri's journey in one easy to read spot. So far, it has been so chopped up and interspersed throughout the six issues that it feels a bit disjointed. 

[If you click on a image, it will enlarge and you can scroll through them easily -- Shadow]
















Friday, September 16, 2016

T'challa vs Eric Killmonger Round 1


Story: Panther's Rage (McGregor, Jungle Action)

Background: T'challa has returned to Wakanda to try and squash a mini rebellion lead by a monstrous dude named Killmonger. He finally tracks him down and well, it doesn't end well for him.

[Scan Tip: Click to enlarge the images and they are easier to read. You can scroll through them all that was as well. --- Shadow]





Of course, T'challa does not die here after getting his ass beat by not only Killmonger but Eric's Leopard (yeeesh). He lives to fight another day and claw his way back to Killmonger for their second meeting...



... which ends just as badly as the first meeting after Sombre knocks him out of commission with his powers. Being a villain, of course Killmonger doesn't just finish T'challa off. He drops him off to fight some White Gorillas as Killmonger goes about his business.

But, T'challa perseveres! Don's thing is pretty much showing T'challa taking a crazy amount of damage while still trucking along. So, eventually, T'challa tracks down Eric once again for the trilogy fight!






It seems like its all over for T'challa once more. He did put up a decent fight this time, but none the less, he is headed for another trip down Warrior Falls. That is, until he is saved by the most unlikely of heroes...

A small child. 

I honestly hate this ending (not a huge fan of the story period). It was set up to have an epic confrontation at the end between Killmonger and T'challa. One where, no matter how much damage he took, T'challa's will to protect Wakanda was going to be stronger than Killmonger's will to destroy him. 

But in the end, it took luck for T'challa to win. That no matter how much he fought and clawed, he was still going to lose. Yeesh. That is motivational right there.