X-Men #44, Red Raven, Red Raven!

Dear Reader, turn your clock upside down and travel back in time with me to the dim and distant days of 1972 and that indoor market on Lytham Road in Blackpool.

I've only just started reading American comics and, during this fortnight-long summer holiday, I get my hands on the issue of Captain America in which our hero finds himself battling a talking gorilla that can control dogs. I also get a Batman comic in which the cowled crusader is confounded by bolas. I get an issue of The Flash which mentions Jerry Lewis, and an issue of Teen Titans in which our youthful do-gooders have a caveman in the back of their van.

What I also get is an issue of the X-Men.

Naive fool that I am, I'm still too inexperienced in the ways of super-herodom to know that I don't actually like 1960s X-Men comics and, so, the tale seems a thrill ride to me, in which the main appeal is that one of its be-winged characters wears a yellow and red costume and the other  wears a red and yellow costume. It's amazing how costume colour can be the most important factor in story-telling, when you're eight.

But that was then. This is now. We're back in 2019 and, for the first time since I re-read the tale in a mid 1970s' issue of Mighty World of Marvel, I have my hands on that story once more.

Will I be as impressed by it now as I was then?

There's only one way to find out.

The X-Men have been captured by Magneto - and the Toad can't wait for them to be executed.

Magneto, however, harbours hopes that he might yet convert them to his cause, and so imprisons them in his dungeon.

Unfortunately for the magnetic menace, the Angel manages to escape and flees the island, in search of the Avengers.

Sadly, grown tired from flying, he seeks rest on a lump of rock protruding from the ocean - a rock which turns out to be the mere tip of a submerged island!

And, now, that island is submerged no longer - because it's the home of Red Raven who's put his own people, the Bird-People, into suspended animation to prevent them trying to wage a disastrous war against humanity.

His story told, Red Raven knocks the Angel out and then re-submerges his island, vowing to keep the Bird-People in their deep sleep for another twenty years.

Regaining consciousness, to find the island gone, the Angel takes to the air and sets off, once more, in search of the Avengers.

The story's credited to Stan Lee but, with its revival of a Golden Age character, it'll come as no shock to anyone that it's plotted by Roy Thomas. Oddly, though, there's no acknowledgement of Red Raven's previous use by Marvel. You could easily think he's a newly minted character.

Don Heck and Werner Roth's artwork isn't going to win any awards but it's efficient in its story-telling and isn't in any way off-putting.

There are some oddities to the tale.

There's the manner of the Angel's escape from Magneto's clutches. He finds some sort of laser cutter on the floor, next to where he's being held captive, and uses it to slice through the net that's holding him. That's a remarkable piece of luck and I wonder if it is a piece of luck or if the device has been left there by either Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch who are currently back with Magneto, after their initial Avengers stint, and are clearly not happy to just go along with his megalomaniac plans.

Quicksilver can fly! During the Angel's escape bid, Pietro actually takes to the air and flies after him for a short spell before having to return to Earth. It's clear from the dialogue that this power has never been used before but was it ever mentioned or used again?

Red Raven must be the least observant man in the history of the planet, as, according to his flashback, he managed to reach adulthood before realising that he alone, among the Bird-People, doesn't have wings. How on Earth do you not notice a thing like that?

Red Raven also seems to be totally mentally unstable, oscillating randomly between wanting to kill the Angel and wanting to save him, wanting to fight him and wanting to talk to him. I do wonder if the Bird-People's plan to invade the world even ever existed or if he's just convinced himself it did.

The Toad really is an obnoxious little psychopath in this tale. My memories of the character are of him being a servile weakling, bossed around by Magneto and wishing he was free of his influence but, in this one, while Magneto seems content to be reasonable about things, the Toad is constantly goading him to commit murder.

There's no sign of the Bi-Beast. How can we have a story about the Bird-People without mention of the Bi-Beast?

Admittedly, that's almost certainly because he hadn't been invented yet. But, when reading the tale from a 21st Century perspective, his absence does feel highly noticeable.

Anyway, all that aside, did I strike gold with my first ever X-Men comic, all those decades ago?

No I didn't. It's clearly not some kind of classic and it's not as compelling or as accomplished as the Captain America tale I reviewed the other week.

Having said that, I did enjoy it more than I do most Silver Age X-Men tales. Possibly, the fact that it's not really an X-Men tale at all and is clearly Thomas taking an opportunity to reintroduce a half-forgotten character to the then modern age, makes it more appealing to me.

I therefore come to the conclusion that I did get lucky with it in 1972, as there are few 1960s X-Men issues that I would have been better off having.

Logan movie trailer (possible spoilers).

Mere days ago, I rewatched X-Men: Days of Future Past, thanks to some channel or other showing it and, even though I'm still not sure it all makes any real sense, I do - thanks to its likeable characters - still find it enjoyable.

But that sounds like a cue to watch the trailer for the latest X-Men film, which is called Logan which is possibly the least exciting title for a film since John Carter.

Clearly, with it starring everyone's favourite walking cutlery set, it's unlikely to suffer the same box office death as that movie did. But, given that other Wolverine movies haven't always gone down well, just how does it promise to do?

There's only one way to find out.

And that's to press the Play button...



I have to say that's one of the most uninteresting movie trailers I've ever seen. So, basically, it's an X-Men film that doesn't have any mutants in it and seems to have been made by a director who's suicidally depressed. Also, there's a girl in it but we don't know who she is or why she's important - assuming she is important - and she doesn't get to say anything, and it's anyone's guess if there's any decent bad guys in the film or what's at stake or why or how.

On the plus side, it does have Johnny Cash's Hurt playing all the way through it but that does have the effect of making the trailer look like it's nothing more than an alternative video for the song. Unfortunately, that just makes you realise how much more interesting the original video for that song is when compared to the trailer.

Of course, this apparent dullness won't prevent me from watching it when I get the chance, just like I've watched the other Wolverine films. But it doesn't fill me with hope that there's actually anything in the film that'd make it worth watching.

I now sit here secure in the knowledge that it'll get rave reviews from the critics and be the most commercially successful X-Men movie ever; proving once more that, when it comes to judging film trailers, I don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

X-Men #3. 25th anniversary review.

Break out the cake mix because I've just realised I'm coming up to a very important date.

And that's the twenty fifth anniversary of me buying issue #3 of the all-new 1990s X-Men comic.

That might not seem like much of an anniversary but, when I got it, it was the first American comic I'd read since 1984.

I must confess that, nowadays, that seven year gap doesn't seem like very long at all but, back then, it seemed like an eternity had passed.

It happened because, in December 1991, having found myself in Meadowhall's WH Smiths, I spotted, upon the shelves, the comic shown to the left of this deathless prose - and, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought it.

It turned out to be a remarkable coincidence because the first issue of the the 1970s' New X-Men I ever owned was issue #100, which featured a bunch of X-Men I'd never heard of, fighting some other X-Men on a satellite. And this one too featured a bunch of X-Men I'd never heard of, fighting another bunch of X-Men on a satellite. Not only that but the first issue of the 1960s' Original X-Men I ever owned featured Magneto - and this one featured Magneto. Truly, the Fickle Finger of Fate was working overtime that day.

But there was more. Not only did it thematically link to those other landmark tales but it was Chris Claremont's last issue on the strip, while Stan's Soapbox in this issue featured Lee's tribute to the recently deceased Vince Colletta. Could a comic be more designed to prod my Nostalgia Button if it tried?

What happens in it is this. Thanks to his skullduggery, some of the X-Men have teamed up with Magneto and are having fun in his satellite's swimming pool.

You have to hand it to Magneto. Not many people have a swimming pool in their satellite.

The other X-Men, not approving of such behaviour, are determined to stop Magneto from doing whatever it is he's planning to do, and so, propelled by the sheer power of exposition, they set off to his satellite.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Russians and the Americans are planning to nuke both his satellite and his swimming pool, regardless of whether the X-Men are on it or not.

Needless to say, it's not long before the X-Men are slugging it out with each other before they all come to their senses and decide to slug it out with Magneto instead.

The only problem is that Magneto's not looking for a fight. He's well into his, "My philosophy is in conflict with yours, Charles," years and so, instead of having a fight, he's looking to make a great big long speech and then send them on their way as he dies nobly for no noticeable reason other than that it's Chris Claremont's last issue and he's clearly determined to go out by writing Magneto's obituary.

When I bought this, all those years ago, it seemed dramatically different from the comics I'd read in the 1970s. The art seemed different. The writing seemed different. The lettering seemed different. The colouring seemed different. The inking seemed different. Even the adverts were different. It was different to a degree that meant it took a couple of readings and a hefty determination to be open-minded about change for me to accept it deserved to exist.

The odd thing is that, reading it now, it seems almost indistinguishable from comics of that earlier era but dramatically different from how comics are now, even though it'd be classified as being from the current Modern Age rather than the Bronze Age.

Bearing in mind the general unpopularity of 1990s comics, I'm going to commit heresy but I've always quite liked Jim Lee's artwork.

Yes it's full of unnecessary lines, and muscles like cannon balls, and bosoms like water melons but, rarely for an artist of his era, he did have a grasp of how to place panels in an order that made sense without there having to be arrows telling you where to look next or the writer having to explain what was happening, on the artist's behalf. That's why, for me, Jim Lee was easily the best of the artists who drew like Jim Lee.

The problems I do have with the tale are that Chris Claremont's gone into verbal overdrive with it. Everyone's spouting huge great mountains of dialogue at each other to a degree that'd make even Don McGregor protest.

My other problem with the story is that Jim Lee's pacing is surprisingly slow. His art looks dynamic, in that everyone has a dramatic look on their face and they all like to stand in action-packed poses but they often don't actually seem to be doing anything. It seems to take forever for the X-Men to get to the satellite and, when they do, the climax seems to draw on forever.

On the plus side, the paper and the printing are strikingly better than they were in the 1970s. It also smells nicer. Opening the comic now, even after twenty five years, the paper and the ink smell startlingly fresh, like it's a brand new comic. It reminds me of that experience you used to get when you pulled open a newly bought LP for the first time.

So, it wasn't a masterpiece, but it was at least trying to do something with a bit of profundity to it and it did reintroduce me to the Marvel Universe after a long gap. It also forced me to stretch my mind by forcing me to accommodate a different style to the one I'd grown up with, and I can't help feeling that anything that forces you to be more open-minded is ultimately a good thing.

Random comics I have owned. Part Five.

A far wiser man than me once said, "Shut up!" But I don't listen to wise men. That's what's made me the man I am today. Therefore, here's the latest instalment in the stunning new feature that's inducing catatonia on a scale never before seen in the history of the World Wide Web, as I take another random look at the covers of comics I once owned.

A crack team of hunters demonstrate the exact qualities you need if you're to catch your prey. Stealth, intelligence and razor-sharp alertness.

I acquired this comic on a Sunday morning. No comic acquired on a Sunday morning can ever be bad.

It's the third of the Black Orchid's original three appearances in Adventure Comics.  Sadly, it's another tale I can't remember that much about.

For those who've never read any of her original tales; blessed with invulnerability, super-strength and the ability to fly, she was basically like Supergirl but, for some reason, kept using a mastery of disguise to defeat her foes, when you would've thought she could have saved herself the trouble and just given them a punch in the bracket.

The Justice League come up against an alien called Nekron. I don't recall exactly what he was about but I do recall he was up to no good.

I'm not totally convinced Wonder Woman actually died in this tale.

If I remember right, this was the last issue before the X-Men all got dragged off into outer space for the trial of the Phoenix.

Needless to say, it was all cracking stuff and a highlight of its era.

The last issue of Conan I ever had.

From what I recall, Conan wanders into a village and it's not long before he's up against a deadly menace from the sea.

Poor old Conan, even a trip to the seaside turns into a life or death battle for him. I bet he couldn't even attempt to eat a toffee apple without it trying to kill him.

I always remember this issue as having great artwork but I can't remember who it was by.

Our third cover that involves a man carrying an insensate female.

One of my childhood faves, as our, "hero," finds himself up against a skeleton on a mission of revenge.

If you don't love that cover, there's probably no hope for you.

Then again, if you don't want to be a skeleton on a mission of revenge, there's probably no hope for you.

I really don't remember anything about this issue at all. I have no doubt though that it was all very strange.

Having blown up half of London, Iron Fist is still having trouble with his nuclear-powered foe.

Is this the issue where Misty Knight gets her bionic arm, or did she already have it by this point?

Random comics I have owned. Part Four.

When it comes to the National Lottery, a wise man once said, "It could be you."

Sadly, he was wrong. It couldn't be me. Why? Because I've never entered it.

Happily, there's another lottery. A better lottery. One that brings far more joy into people's lives than winning ten million pounds could ever do.

And that's the lottery that is, "Random comics I have owned."

Just what magic will it fling at us tonight?

I don't know.

But one thing's for sure.

I'm not going to let it change my life.

At one point, I had every one of the Black Orchid's original Adventure Comics appearances. All three of them. Sadly, it wasn't long after her debut before she was booted off the book, to be replaced by the Spectre.

Happily, for fans of women with flower obsessions, she was soon back, in the pages of The Phantom Stranger.

As for this tale, I have no recall at all of what happened in it but I gather that sailors and boats were involved.

It's one of my childhood faves, as Superboy finds himself turned into a merboy.

And if that's not one of the greatest comic book covers of all time, I'm a seahorse.

The X-Men come up against the Hellfire Club who seem to be an awful bunch of bounders and not at all inspired by a notorious but celebrated episode of TV's Avengers.

Batroc and Mr Hyde come up with a plan to blow up New York, with a boat, unless they get zillions.

Needless to say, Captain America soon puts a stop to their devilish plans.

Is it my imagination or is, "Batroc," misspelled on that cover?

It's the only original issue of the Hulk comic that I ever owned as a kid but I loved it, as, now residing in Canada, the Mimic is in danger of draining all our hero's life energy from him

This was the firs time I ever encountered the blue furry version of the Beast and was initially most confused as to whether he was meant to be the same character as the one from the X-Men.

I got this from a newsagents in a place called Heeley Green. This fact will mean nothing to 99.9% of the people reading this post but, somehow, that memory adds a certain charm to it all.

I seem to recall that an alien robot tyrant takes a fancy to the female member of the Metal Men and decides to bombard Earth with loads of missile-shaped robots because of it. How this was supposed to win her heart, I have no idea.

With their sharply defined personalities, I did find the Metal Men quite charming at the time.

It's the comic that gave us America's first teenage president.

More to the point, thanks to its unfeasibly visaged bad guy, it was the first time I ever encountered the smiley-face symbol with which all internetters are now so familiar.

I also learned from it that Mussolini made the trains run on time.

Who says comics aren't educational?

Iron Fist comes to London and immediately gets into a punch-up with Radion the atomic man.

Sadly, it turns out to be curtains for the Post Office Tower, which meets an explosive fate.

Whisper it quietly but I do believe this strip featured John Byrne's finest artwork.

Random comics I have owned. Part Three.

Suffering shads! It's the return of the feature that's left the internet in tatters, as I once more drone on randomly about comics I've owned.

Just what'll be turned up by this veritable Pick and Mix?

Only a rifle through Steve's Lucky Bag of Confusion can tell us...

Superman's definitely in need of a good slap on this cover.

Inside, Hawkman quits the Justice League, and Eclipso might be involved.

Other than that I can recall little of the contents.

It's always nice to see a Nick Cardy cover though.

It's one of the few Original X-Men stories I ever liked, as the merry Marvel mutants find themselves on trial in the court of Factor 3.

I seem to remember that Ross Andru drew this issue, which could explain why it appealed to me more than their tales usually did.

Some bloke builds a big gun to commit crimes with and Thor has to stop him, in a tale of squabbling siblings.

The issue that introduced me to DC's man of mystery.

From what I can recall of this tale, the Phantom Stranger's called in to try and help establish whether a defendant's plea of insanity is genuine or not. Needless to say, there's a twist at the end.

It's the story we all wanted to see, as Conan takes on Kull.

Red Sonja and Belit, meanwhile, continue their bickering.

It's one of my fave Marvel monster tales, as Grogg causes no end of bother.

Sadly, we still get no answer to the enduring mystery of where Marvel's giant monsters buy those underpants from.

It's the only issue of Swamp-Thing I ever owned. It's from after Bernie Wrightson left the strip but that doesn't mean it lets us down on the pictorial front, thanks to some lovely interior work by Nestor Redondo.

It had stylish artwork by Howard Chaykin but I always remember this as being one of the few American comics I had as a child that I could never get on with.

Random comics I have owned. Part Two.

Quiver, mortals! It's time to cower once more before the raging power of nostalgia - because it's time for Part Two of my random look back at various comics I used to own when I was barely more than knee-high to a Kurrgo.

It's one of my childhood faves, as Superboy re-encounters a child genius with a knack for landing him in trouble.

I recall nothing of this book's contents. I do however still dig that cover.

But just what is the way in which the Flash dies?

Purchased from an indoor market in Blackpool, in the summer of 1972, this was one of the first American comics I ever owned.

As you can guess, it has the Angel vs Red Raven, as they meet in the latter's city in the clouds.

Yet another of my very earliest American comics, as Cap and Falc come up against a scientist who turns himself into a talking gorilla.

The gorilla was fine but I remember being most taken at the time by the colour scheme of Cap's costume.

A comic strip artist inadvertently creates a winged bad guy who I seem to recollect has plans to conquer the world.

Exactly how it all plays out, I don't remember. Did the artist foil the villain's mighty plans by erasing him/redrawing him/spilling ink over the paper he'd originally been drawn on?

The Phantom Stranger meets Frankenstein's monster.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for DC's take on the monster, I do remember enjoying this one.

I seem to recall there being some sort of demonic possession thing going on and some typically rugged artwork by Jim Aparo inside.

I believe the cover to be by Mike Kaluta.

I'm pretty sure this is the first colour Conan comic I ever owned, as our hero comes up against a gold statue of a scorpion that inconveniently comes to life.

The cover's always driven me up the wall. I'm convinced John Buscema borrowed Conan's pose from a Jack Kirby panel but I've never been able to work out in which comic that panel first appeared.

Hooray! Marvel's reprint mag gives us Kraa, who I seem to recall being surprisingly helpful in a crisis and coming to a sad end.

Poor old Kraa.

X-Men #1.

You have to hand it to Professor X. He might not be too mobile but he doesn't let that distract him from the task of being a complete and total nutjob. Not only does he set up a school for mutants but he sends the children in his care off to fight deadly threats to mankind. He doesn't even bother waiting till they've graduated from his You-Too-Can-Be-A-Superhero course before dispatching them. He just sends them the moment he feels like it. Why, he even sends a teenage girl into battle on her very first day at school.

But what did you expect? Wisdom? He is, after all, only seventeen years of age.

Yes it's true. In X-Men #1, it's revealed he was the child of a pair of scientists who worked on the first atom bomb. As the first atom bomb was exploded in 1945, X-Men #1 came out in 1963 and the human gestation period is nine months, that'd make him seventeen years old. Like Aunt May, who - as I demonstrated a while back - must only be in her mid-thirties, he must have led a tough life to look like he does.

The one good thing about this fact is it means his early infatuation with the teenaged Jean Grey suddenly doesn't seem so disturbing after all.

In X-Men #1, the menace our teen scientist orders his charges to face is Magneto who's decided to do what we all would if we had the power of a hundred fridge magnets, and take over a US missile base.

Needless to say, when confronted by a bunch of half-trained kids, Magneto soon folds and the world has cause to love the X-Men.

Apart from Professor X's criminal negligence, the main thing that strikes you when you read the tale is its obvious adherence to the Fantastic Four formula. We have the rough one, the sensible one, the walking thermostat one, the flying one and the fit bird. Thankfully though, Marvel Girl's power isn't completely useless like the Invisible Girl's was.

Magneto is of course straight out of the Dr Doom envelope, being a haughty megalomaniac with no idea how to talk to people, and even having a metal-covered face.

It's no secret that the only Marvel strips I never liked as a kid were Nick Fury and his Howling Agents of SHIELD and the original X-Men. But I must admit I've always liked the X-Men #1 because it introduces us to the mag's heroes and villain with a pleasingly linear clarity. Devoid of Magneto's hopeless team of sidekicks and schemings, there's nothing to distract us from a simple tale of good v evil.

It's just a shame it took another decade before the strip started to realise its potential.

Super-Copycats. When imitation may not be flattering but it can at least be flattening

Being a well-known Sophisticate, you're probably aware I have an incredible gift for mimicry.

For instance, people gasp when they hear my impression of John Shuttleworth.  “How can it be?” they demand, “How can it be you so effortlessly pass yourself off as a middle-aged man from Sheffield?”

“It isn't easy,” I tell them. It takes decades of practise - and a willingness to live in Sheffield for forty-odd years.”

But I'm sometimes reminded I'm not alone in this talent. For, numerous are the super-beings who can copy the powers of others. There's the Absorbing Man, the Super-Adaptoid, the Mimic, Rogue from the X-Men, and no doubt a whole bucketful more that I've either forgotten about or never knew existed in the first place.

Thanks to the nature of their ability, I've always been vexed by the issue of just who'd win a fight between such characters. And so, today's question is this; “Which character with the ability to copy the powers of others is your favourite? And, if they all had a scrap between them, just who'd come out on top?”

Personally, I've always had a soft spot for the Absorbing Man. Then again, I've always had a soft spot for Rogue. To be honest, I've never had a soft spot for the Super-Adaptoid or the Mimic. As for who'd win a punch-up between them all, I have yet to make up my mind.

You, though, may have another viewpoint - and this is where you can share it with the world.

Steve Fights Crime! Putting the boot in.

Those of us of a certain age still recall the celebrations when the Berlin Wall came down, and I suspect tonight'll see similar scenes of joy as probably the worst feature even this blog has ever come up with grinds to a halt. I finally complete my quest to assemble the ultimate costume in which I can battle with darkness.

Over the last few days, I've covered the rest of me in the finest attire a crime-fighter could want. Picking and choosing my favourite elements from the costumes of established heroes, I've covered my head, I've covered my chest, I've covered my torsal antipodes. But now for the most important item of them all.

I've never made it a secret that, as far as I'm concerned, the most important part of a super-hero's costume is the footwear. Just as Waye Rooney'll no doubt be bereft tonight if he's left his boots at home, so I cannot fight crime without the finest cobblery this land can produce.

Well, that's easily said, but what to wear?

I've always had a soft spot for calf-length boots that turn down at the top in the style of Captain America and Conan the Barbarian. Then again, I was the only person who liked Supergirl's short-lived 1970s carpet slippers. The Flash had little wings on his boots. The Green Goblin had boots that turned up at the toes.

These are all, no doubt, fine footwear. But I can't get round it; there's one pair of boots that stand out above all others for me.

And those are the boots of Storm. Her original ones. The thigh-high leather ones with the holes in them.

Who can forget the sense of leggy dignity they lent her - as opposed to her unlikely punk phase that made no sense at all and arrived about ten years too late to be topical?

So, there you have it. I now have my costume - composed of Ant-Man's helmet, Batman's cape, Captain America's shirt, Conan the Barbarian's loin cloth and Storm's boots. I think we can all agree it's the finest costume imaginable to mankind and guaranteed to impress passers-by as I stride through the streets of Sheffield.

Or maybe we can't. Maybe you think an altogether different combination would work the sartorial magic every crime-fighter needs. If so, you're perfectly free to outline what elements would, for you, make up your dream super-hero costume.

The X-Men's greatest ever foe! Poll Results!

It might soon be X-mas but there's a whole heap more X-citement in store for us than that, as the results are finally in from our poll to find the all-time greatest X-Men villain.

I'd like to say it was a close-run thing but the truth is that, to possibly no one's surprise at all, one candidate ran away with it.

Thirteen might be unlucky for some...

...but not for Magneto who came out on top with a mammoth total of exactly that many votes.

Second were the Hellfire Club with four votes.

Joint third were the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Dark Phoenix and the mighty Juggernaut, with two votes apiece.

Joint sixth were Apocalypse and Mr Sinister who scraped together one vote each.

Everyone else got no votes - which is no doubt a comfort to the Toad who can now feel he can look the likes of Deathbird in the eyes as an equal.

So, it's well done to Magnus, or Erik or whatever his real name's supposed to be and, as always, thanks to all who voted.

The X-Men's greatest ever foe!

After a distinctly shaky start, the X-Men went on to dominate Marvel Comics' output to such a degree that the various X-titles practically became a comics company in its own right, and long-standing readers had to suffer the sight of even venerable old scrappers like the Sub-Mariner and Spider-Man suddenly being labelled mutants in an attempt to cash in on that success.

But, of course, no matter how mighty those mighty mutants might be, they'd have been nothing if they'd had no one to smack in the gob.

So it is that the likes of Magneto, Apocalypse, Juggernaut, the Shadow King, Deathbird, Dark Phoenix, the Sentinels and, erm, Unus the Untouchable were foisted on an ever-eager public.

That means it's time for Steve Does Comics to discover just who is the X-Men's greatest foe. And that means I'm inviting you to nominate your all-time favourite X-Men villain.

As always with these things, once the nominations are in, I'll use them to post a poll, in a couple of days' time, and the world can at last decide the issue once and for all.

Or at least until the next lunch-time.

All the latest movie news from Planet Comic (Potential Spoilers).

Being a fan of comics, I do of course take an interest in all the latest super-hero related movie news that washes up on my front beach of belligerence. The world is still trembling from my recent coverage of the latest images from the new Spider-Man flick. Sadly, more often than not, I find myself failing to be impressed by super-hero movies. However, every so often one comes along that actually gets it right. So, will the next crop of super-hero flicks be hit or... ...erm, something that rhymes with "hit" but isn't quite the same word?

It seems Anne Hathaway's been cast as Catwoman in the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. On the one hand, speaking as someone who only knows Anne Hathaway from her time as William Shakespeare's wife and from certain "interesting" photos of her on the Internet, this intrigues me. On the other, the fact that we're getting Catwoman and Bane in this film fails to light my candle. Will I never get to see Killer Croc on screen?

Meanwhile, More photos of Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger have come to light. There've been some complaints about his costume but I like it. It has the look of the 1940s to it and my disappointment that - like Thor - Cap's to lose the wings from his head has been largely assuaged by the fact that he will at least have them painted on his helmet.

Meanwhile there's always the Thor trailer that's up on Youtube. Admittedly It's been up for months but no one ever accused me of rushing these things. I won't bother getting into the, "Oh My God! Heimdall's black!" arguments, as everyone with any sense knows the Norse Gods aren't even human, let alone Scandinavian, so they can be any colour anyone wants them to be. I do worry it might all turn out to be a bit dry and humourless and therefore ultimately uninvolving but it does mean we get to see the Destroyer smashing things up.

Elsewhere, there're pictures of January Jones as Emma Frost, on the set of X-Men: First Class. Well, I suppose it's better than some of the outfits Emma's been lumbered with in the comics over the years but my fashion senses tell me it's a look that'll never catch on. Being the red-hot Hollywood-watcher I am, I don't have a clue who January Jones is but it probably doesn't hurt that her real name makes her sound like a comic book character from the get-go. Apparently it's a prequel, so it probably won't be any good.

Steve Does Comics' 100th issue special

Hooray, Steve Does Comics celebrates its 100th postiversary.

That's right, despite often lengthy and unexplained absences, I've somehow managed to rack up 100 missives on this blog. And to celebrate - and avoid me having to do any proper writing - I thought I'd look at how some of my favourite heroes marked their 100th issues. I'm only including tales I've actually read, so I'm afraid the likes of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman don't make the list.

Daredevil marks his 100th appearance with a tale I have no memory of whatsoever, although I'm sure I must have read it in the pages of Mighty World of Marvel. Judging by the cover, it seems to follow the Marvel trend of having a load of old foes show up to mark the occasion. Unfortunately, it probably also highlights the fact that most of his foes were a bit on the so-so side.

I said there was a trend with these things. Like Daredevil, Spider-Man fights a whole villains' gallery of his deadliest foes - this time in his dreams. It all climaxes with him getting a mystical message from the late Captain Stacy before waking to find he has six arms. Words can't describe how much I loved the six arms when I was eleven.

This is how to celebrate a 100th issue. Everyone who's ever been an Avenger up to that point - including the Swordsman - goes to war with Olympus. I read this in the pages of Marvel UK's Titans mag. Thanks to the ground-breaking landscape format, the art was shrunk to the size of a postage stamp but Barry Smith's art still shone through.

Just like Spider-Man and Daredevil, the Fantastic Four get to fight a whole bunch of their greatest foes. I think they were the first of Marvel's Silver Age heroes to make a hundred appearances, so they can at least claim to have been the ones who set the trend. Sadly, the foes in question are only robots, and the not-exactly-awesome villains behind it all are the Thinker and Puppet Master who manage to blow themselves up through their own incompetence.

Thor celebrates Journey Into Mystery's big ton by tackling Mr Hyde. Mr Hyde might not be one of Marvel's greatest - or best dressed - villains but, like the Gray Gargoyle and the Cobra, I've always had a soft spot for him. Love the smiley Thor pic in the top left corner box.

One of Marie Severin's best efforts sees the strongest man on land tackle the strongest man in water, as the Hulk and Sub-Mariner square up to each other. Again the Puppet Master's involved, this time looking like Donald Pleasance. I seem to recall the story's set in Miami, which, when I read this story, as a kid, impressed me greatly, even though I'd never heard of Miami.

The very new New X-Men grapple with the original X-Men. Again, it's only a bunch of robots they're up against but, happily, despite the appearance of a bald bloke on the cover, it's not the Puppet Master who's behind it. This was the first issue of the new X-Men I ever had and I didn't have a clue what was going on or who any of these people were. But I knew one thing. It grabbed me. The tale was a roller coaster ride of action, tension and human drama, starting with the scrap between new and old X-Men and ending with a battle to escape a solar flare, and the genesis of the whole Phoenix saga. Could they have crammed more into a comic if they'd tried? 

Of the above tales, I have to say the X-Men, Avengers and Hulk/Subby stories are the ones that stand out most in my memory and, like the visiting judge at a prize marrow contest, I think I have to give first prize to the X-Men which really was a classic in every way imaginable.