Smell Like An Avenger

I was reading an article today about a line of Avengers colognes and perfumes coming out in advance of the movie, and while at first I scoffed at the notion, I will admit based on the descriptions that these guys actually did their research.

Patriot, inspired by Captain America, pays homage to the "confident, stand-up-to-bullies average Joe" in every man, with "hints of green lime and white pepper, and finishes of dry oak, sandalwood and tequila."

Okay, this one doesn't knock my socks off, though the tequila finish kind of caught me off guard.

Mark VII smells like mandarin and jasmine with light patchouli, reads a company release, for an Iron Man-like "I don't play well with others" confidence.

Okay, I almost laughed out loud when I read that the principle odour in Iron Man's fragrance is mandarin.  While at first I thought this was just really ironic, as I kept reading I get the impression these guys actually did their homework.

There is also a "Russian spy/trained assassin" perfume, called Black Widow; a Nick Fury-inspired scent, called Infinity; and a "dangerous-sexy" unisex scent based on the villain Loki, the bad brother of Thor.

Okay, giving Iron Man a scent of mandarin as opposed to WD40 could have been a one-off, but the fact that they named the Nicky Fury scent "Infinity" really leads me to believe these guys put some thought into these.  For anyone reading this unaware, comic book-Nick Fury owes his longevity to a little chemical cocktail called the Infinity Formula.

I skipped posting the details of Thor and the Hulk because nothing really struck me there, you can read them at the full article if you wish (http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/02/13/superhero-inspiration-adds-punch-to-fragrances).  Well done JADS, well done.

Crossovers Too Awesome to Happen

Like most fans out there, I love a good inter-company crossover.  There is something really exciting about seeing favourite characters that cannot interact normally on the same page.  Sure, we've had some duds like Marvel vs DC, which was ambitious but any comic that shows Wolverine beating Lobo gets a big thumbs down from me, but we've also had some gems like X-men/Teen Titans and JLA/Avengers.

The crossovers I've mentioned were all big cosmic end-of-all-existence type stories, which certainly have their place.  But I've always enjoyed the quieter moments when these characters meet, like the Avengers and the JLA working together modifying one of Aquaman's aquatic vehicles for dimensional travel.  I still maintain one of the best inter-company crossovers ever was Superman/Gen13.  I have passing knowledge of Gen13 but honestly do not know a ton about the characters, which was probably one reason I picked up this crossover, to learn more about them.  The mini-series did not disappoint, as it was a completely character-driven story; the heroes did not fight each other once, and I couldn't have cared less.

It is in that vein that I'd love to see the following crossovers, but since there wouldn't be enough explosions and cosmic peril I doubt they would ever see print.

Thor and Wonder Woman - Rather than tell a tale of the Amazons versus the Asgardians, I would explore a sort of diplomatic exchange, where Asgard sends a delegation to Themyscira and vice versa.  Can you imagine the shenanigans the Warriors Three would get up to on an island filled with only women, especially Fandral?  I'm sure Artemis would love to do some training with the Valkyries.  And in the end if you need a big battle, I'm sure that Loki and Ares (DC) could come up with some delicously diabolical plot to foil.

Justice League International (Giffen/Dematteis) and the Great Lakes Avengers - This would simply be comic gold, playing these teams up together.  I could easily see a card tournament breaking out when these teams get together, with the loser having to accept G'Nort onto their roster!

Captain Marvel and Power Pack - Power Pack is a group of kids trying to make it as superheroes in an adult world.  Captain Marvel is a kid who can transform into an adult.  I think the potential for a really fun and poignant all ages tale is here just waiting to be exploited.

Iron Man and Batman vs Lex Luthor - I don't want to see these guys slug it out in suits of armour, I want to see a board room battle royale.  I'd love to see a corporate espionage style of tale that sees LuthorCorp trying a hostile takeover of Stark Industries, with Batman coming to Iron Man's aid.

Edwin Jarvis and Alfred Pennyworth - We've had the Justice League battle it out with the Avengers, but now I'd love to see these two gentlemen's gentlemen sit down for a spot of tea to swap war stories.  This would have been a great back-up feature to JLA/Avengers.

I could go on and on regarding this subject, but what about you?  What crossovers have you always wanted to see?

The Invincible Iron...Penance?

This week has been pretty busy for me so my apologies for the lack of proper articles, but I saw this and thought I'd share it.  It's a promo from Marvel for "The Mighty", part of the Fear Itself event I'm ignoring.  When I saw the image though, my first thought was "Is that Iron Man or Penance?".  I know it's Iron Man, but wow, it sure is hard to tell!

This really is a weird assortment of costumes.  Iron Man and Wolverine look completely different (Wolverine is easily recognizable but as I said Iron Man looks way too much like Penance), Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist and Spider-Man have different costumes but are easily identifiable, and it looks like they just got lazy with Hawkeye and black Widow by just adding neon lines to their regular costumes.  No comment on Dr. Strange and She-Rulk there since I don't follow the titles they're in enough to know what they normally look like these days.

I'll do a "Why I Skip Events" post later, but from what I've seen online I don't feel like I'm missing much from Fear Itself.  Outside of the cosmic books (Annihilation, War of Kings, etc) I can't remember the last event from Marvel that was actually very good.