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A groundswell for Nikola Tesla has been building over the last couple of decades. I’d been hugely into science and technology, but other than seeing the Tesla Coil in Command and Conquer: Red Alert, I hadn’t heard much about the scientist. I didn’t know his lab was the basic for the Universal horror films Frankenstein laboratory which has come to be the default lab for any mad scientist. The first time he was brought to my attention was when I was doing my undergrad degree and one of my TAs went on a nearly hour-long rant on how Tesla was a genius who was robbed by Edison. Then he had a small, but key role in the film The Prestige. A year or so ago, The Oatmeal raised money to fund a Tesla museum. It was kicked off by this comic. Why all the fascination with Tesla? The stuff he was doing and trying to do includes both what was science fiction at the time (radio, RADAR, etc) and is still science fiction today (teleportation, free energy, etc). It is the the combination of the two that makes him ripe for use in science fiction dramas and thrillers.

Spider-Man is without a doubt the most popular and enduring character at Marvel Comics. Each month his title whether it is Amazing or Superior is the top selling title from the publisher. The creation of Peter Parker in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko was a revolutionary moment in comic history ushering in the era of everyman heroes and opening the superhero genre up to teenagers who were more than just sidekicks. In 2012 Spider-Man celebrated his fiftieth anniversary and that year also saw the 700th issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Both were major mile stones and Marvel celebrated them by having Otto Octavius (Doctor Octupus or Doc Ock for short), one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, switch minds with him and then promptly killed off the body that Peter Parker was in. They ended the publication of Amazing Spider-Man and started a new title as a part of the Marvel Now initiative called Superior Spider-Man which followed Otto’s attempts to prove himself a better hero and a superior version of Spider-Man than Peter had been. Fans were understandably upset.

Everyone who is talking about comics has already written about what a great run Fraction’s Hawkeye is. Here at Comic POW! it was Dan’s best Marvel comic of 2012 and Kari explored the amazing art. But what is it about Hawkeye that’s so resonant right now? Yeah, Matt Fraction’s unique sense of humor helps (there’s a Sex Criminals commentary coming as soon as I find the time to write it). Yeah, Aja’s art is exemplary. But I think it’s much more than that.

I’m going to say this flat out: You should be reading Lumberjanes. I know that everyone’s got things they like to read and things that they don’t. Some people really love superhero comics; others are into the horror genre. Most people aren’t going to look at a piece like Lumberjanes, because it looks like it’s aimed at young girls. I’m here to tell you that you should pick it up anyway.

We’ve entered a period where every year there will be major comic anniversaries. All of the iconic characters that were created during the 1960s—including most of Marvel’s most notable characters—have fiftieth anniversaries on the horizon. This year one of the most notable birthdays is Daredevil who turned fifty this month. Daredevil, created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, has been a popular character since his inception and has had an ongoing for most of that time. He’s been a swashbuckling hero full of joy and a gritty hero living in the darkness. He’s a disabled hero in a world of superhuman perfection. He’s been blessed with some of the best creative teams in the business and has the awards to prove it. He even made it to the big screen in an admittedly lackluster movie and next year is getting his own—hopefully much better—television show on Netflix.

There used to be a saying in comics that nobody stays dead except Bucky Barnes and Uncle Ben. In 2005 Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting decided to break that rule by bringing Bucky back and what followed was one of the best runs on Captain America and the introduction of the Winter Soldier to the Marvel Universe. That decision, while controversial to some longtime fans, was so well executed that now, less than ten years later, the character has hit the big screen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There was widespread excitement on the Internet as soon as Marvel announced the title of the Captain America movie. At the time I hadn’t read the Captain America comics that reintroduced Bucky, but even I was thrilled at the announcement. Anyone that followed Marvel Comics knew that bringing in the Winter Soldier was going to make for an emotionally powerful story. Comic storytelling is at its best when there are real emotional stakes for the heroes and it’s hard to get more personal than your best friend and beloved side kick being resurrected as a seemingly unstoppable foe. Bucky Barnes has always been an extremely important part of Steve Rogers’ history. During the Golden Age he was Steve’s sidekick—back when Captain America was part of Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel. They fought side by side during World War II, but he seemingly died during the war. During the same incident that killed Bucky, Captain America was frozen in the ice not to awaken again until the Avengers found him. Since that time various authors have addressed Bucky’s loss and what it means to Steve. Dealing with that loss is one of the most defining aspects of his character. Then Bucky came back.

Are you ready to talk about Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Let me tell you, I’m so ready to talk about Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As you’ve probably guessed: massive spoilers ahead. I’m going to be talking a lot about the movie and the characters, so if you haven’t seen the film yet and want to remain spoiler-free, bookmark this article for later! There are a lot of things I could talk about with regard to this film: the little nods to longtime comic fans, the choices they made about Steve Rogers’ characterization, the way they frame the story, how well the first and second Captain America movies parallel each other. They’re all great topics, and to be honest, I could probably write a sizable amount about each of them… but the thing that I really want to talk about is how incredible Cap’s supporting cast is.

Genesis is a 64 page one-shot book; a graphic novel in the purest sense of the word. It is a perfect example of what I find terrifying about what the current wave of self-help gurus claim. About ten years ago my father had me listen to Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, and many others. They each take the idea of positive thinking to the next level. The gurus claimed that the world obeys our thoughts. Whatever we put our intentions and attention towards would happen. When it comes to your own actions, that’s nothing really special. It aligns with what psychology tells us about ourselves and how our subconscious works. But the self-help teachers claim various degrees of influence over the world around you. In a way this is no different than prayer. What is prayer, but a focused attention on a goal you want? However, prayer as I learned it in American Protestantism is governed by an important rule - you can pray for whatever you want, but God will only grant you what is good and proper. In other words, praying for bad things to happen to your neighbor because he let his dog poop in your yard will not yield results. There’s something quite reassuring in that thought. It both focuses you on the positive and lets you know that others can’t effectively pray for your harm.

In February Top Shelf Comics introduced its new DRM-free store. This makes it the second major comic publisher after Image Comics to introduce a DRM-free store. This is actually a pretty huge deal as more of us consider digital as a great alternative to long boxes and treks to the comic shop on Wednesdays. (The loss of in-person camaraderie is a topic for another post) Why should you care about DRM and what is it? On the off chance that you haven’t heard about it, here’s the quick primer: DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. But many of us like to think of it as Digital Restrictions Management because it tends to limit what you can actually do with your comics. If you’re like the typical comic fan, you grew up (or are growing up) sharing comics with others. Comics cost a ton of money, especially for kids (or adults on a budget) so the way you learn about new titles and characters is swapping with your friends. Legendary Batman writer Denny O’Neil mentioned doing this as a kid and it being the reason he was able to learn about all the different types of comics. With DRM you can’t do that. In fact, with DRM you can’t share your comics with your spouse unless you physically give them your tablet. That’s idiotic - new technology shouldn’t be hampered by the limitations of old technology. I should be able to read Saga at the same time as my wife or while I’m reading other comics from my collection. If the store just goes away, you lose your entire collection despite the fact that you are often paying just as much for the digital comics as print comics if you’re buying it the day it comes out. ...

This week instead of an episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ABC aired a special about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe was basically a documentary discussing the process that Marvel Studios went through to create their series of interconnected movies and at the end gave a few teases for upcoming projects. My friends and I, and according to the website Television by the Numbers more than four million other people all tuned in to watch. Four million viewers isn’t going to win any time slots but it was still good enough to give ABC third place for the hour and drew significantly more viewers than the rerun of S.H.I.E.L.D. they aired on February 20th. More interesting to me was the fact that ABC was willing to air it at all. They have enough faith in the popularity of comic book entertainment that they were willing to air a documentary primarily about movies that people have already seen during primetime. If that isn’t a sign that we are living in a new golden age for comic fans I don’t know what is. However, unlike the Golden Age of Comic Books this new golden age is on the big and small screen. In honor of this new era of superhero entertainment I thought I’d take a look at the current and upcoming live action superhero movies and tv shows from both Marvel and DC.