The Thing #2: Experience Ben Grimm's Other Life

Sweet Aunt Petunia! For most folks, getting zapped by cosmic rays and mutating into a big, rocky, orange "thing" would just be too much to handle. Lucky for us, Ben Grimm is not most folks. He took the hand fate (and maybe Reed Richards) dealt him, and became the "Ever Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing", member of the Fantastic Four, and idol of millions. Now, Ben gets a chance to take center stage in his own book, The Thing.

The Thing, by Dan Slott and Andrea DiVito, is one of those comics that is just plain FUN to read. (Something Slott is quickly becoming known for. There is a new issue of his excellent She-Hulk series out this week too!) This series is very much in the same vein as Ben's previous starring vehicle, Marvel Two-In-One. Readers get a chance to see what the Thing gets up to when he isn't hanging with his "Fantastic" buddies. Of course, no matter how much Ben wishes otherwise, things tend to go a little haywire whenever he's around...

Even though this is the second issue of the series, Slott does a great job making sure you have everything you need to know to jump right on and enjoy the ride. In this particular case, a ride to the death since Arcade (one of the coolest Marvel villains ever!) is on the scene! Ben accompanies his new girlfriend, and big time movie star, Carlotta LaRosa to a fancy-shmancy high society party in his honor. Unfortunately, Arcade crashes the party and Ben finds himself, along with all the wealthy guests, hijacked and trapped on the latest version of Murderland. Guaranteed to be fun, right up until the minute you die horribly!

Lucky for Ben, he isn't the only one there to help protect the hapless wealthy. He is joined by a few other upper-crust super-folks: Nighthawk, a reformed Constrictor, and Tony Stark (without his handy-dandy Iron Man suit). The Thing and his colleagues find themselves struggling to protect the civilians from the deadly fun of Arcade's "Abusement Park." All of which doesn't seem so bad, until Arcade unleashes the mind-numbing horror of "It's a Small War After All" on his unwilling guests. The horror...

Don't let Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew down! Ya owe it to your Uncle Benjy to try out this comic today! The Thing #2 is Four Color Fantasies' guaranteed Book of the Week. If you don't try it, you just KNOW it's gonna be CLOBBERIN' TIME!

Great Lakes Avengers: GLX-mas Special

Ahhhh, the holiday season. That festive and joyful time of year when the TV networks rerun all those lovely, heart-warming specials filled with peace, joy, and love. The season when everyone watches "Sound of Music" or "It's a Wonderful Life," just to see that adorable angel get his wings one more time. And the time of year when comic book publishers bring out those cute holiday specials and Spider-Man wears a Santa hat.

Following in that grand tradition, this year Marvel has brought us an extra-special issue of the Great Lakes Avengers. Umm, I mean Great Lakes X-Men. Anyway, since it is that wonderful time of the year, you just know that the Great Lakes Avengers: GLX-Mas Special is gonna have feel-good, heart-warming family fun... Wait! What did you say Squirrel Girl? This comic has violence, suicide, and an inappropriate use of the word FLOCK? Good grief!!

In case you haven't guessed already, The GLX-Mas Special by Dan Slott and an assortment of artists, is a hilariously dark antidote to all that treacly sweet holiday stuff out there. This one-shot issue is really a collection of short stories featuring the Great Lakers as they prepare for their big Christmas party. Some of the stories are just outright silly fun, while others are a little more thoughtful. The adorable Squirrel Girl and her new best squirrel buddy, Tippy-Toe (We miss ya, Monkey Joe!), lead the way through this four color sleigh-ride of fun!

I don't want to spoil any of the stories for you, but highlights of this issue include: Squirrel Girl VS Modok! A horrible candy-cane related death for Mr. Immortal! Squirrel Girl VS Thanos! The sensational NEW Grasshopper! Squirrel Girl VS Terrax! AND an incredible Flatman Marvel Legends Action Figure, featuring infinite points of articulation! If that isn't a comic book compendium that anyone would want to find in their stocking on Christmas morning, I don't know what is!

So hop on your Squirrel-A-Gig and fly down to Four Color Fantasies now to pick up a copy of the Great Lakes Avengers: GLX-Mas Special! It's guaranteed, so you should buy one for yourself and one for each of your friends. Don't let Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe down!

X-cellent Comic: X-Factor #1

An X-cellent, X-ceptional and X-citing comic that will X-ceed your wildest X-pectations! Mutant mayhem to the X-treme! The X-istence of this new book will X-hilarate you so much that you will never want to X-ile it from your X-isting collection. What on Earth am I babbling about? Marvel Comic's X-Factor, of course.

This new series from Peter David and Ryan Sook spins out of both the events of House of M/Decimation and David's recent (and really cool) MadroX limited series. Comic book readers who have been around long enough to remember "back in the day" of the early ninties may also recall a time when Mr. David took over the reins of the first incarnation of X-Factor. Back then, Marvel gave David a bunch of mutant characters that no one else wanted and he turned them into the best, most original, mutant team on the block. Mutant losers like Madrox, Rahne (AKA Wolfsbane), and Guido (AKA Strong Guy) were suddenly interesting and involving characters! Unfortunately, the ninties hit comics like a runaway super-villain and X-Factor was a casualty of the times.

David (with some help from Sook's great artwork) seems to be working the same magic with the all-new X-Factor. This time around Jamie Madrox (Multiple Man) is heading up the newly revamped X-Factor Investigations detective agency with a little help from his buddies Strong Guy, Rahne, Siryn, Monet, and (maybe) a de-powered Rictor. One of the things Peter David does best is to find new and different ways to look at old characters and concepts. In X-Factor, he has created a very different kind of mutant team book. This book has a very film-noir feel. These are not characters who are going to pull on spandex and go fight Magneto. They have smaller, and consequently, more involving, stories.

David also finds some great new twists to Madrox's power. On the surface, being able to make instant copies of yourself seems pretty cool. Don't want to go to work or school? Make a copy! Need to move some heavy furniture? Make ten copies! Got two hot dates for the same night just like on a cheesy sit-com? You get the idea. Too bad for Jamie, there are some unexpected dark sides to being your own best friend. Ever have a mental squabble with yourself over a tough decision? What if you actually got in your own face and gave yourself a bunch of lip over making the wrong choice? You would probably get on your own nerves pretty darn fast.

X-Factor #1 has all the X-citement you can handle! Buy a copy today while it is covered by Four Color Fantasies' X-cellent money back guarantee! X-plicate your desire to read this book of unX-pected (I stole that one from the cover) delights. Just don't X-pectorate on the sidewalk. It's X-tra rude.

Undead Fun: Marvel Zombies #1

Zombies, those loveable, shambling, undead rascals, have been experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately. For a long, dark, sad time, the walking dead stumbled out of the public eye. Fortunately, due to a recent upswing in the number of quality undead movies and comics, zombies are finally getting the respect they deserve! Or at least as much respect as anyone can have for a rotting, mindless fiend whose only desire is to eat you and your tasty brains. Mmmm, brains....

Marvel Zombies #1 is NOT about a bunch of crazed fans who only read Marvel comics, but is instead Marvel's turn at jumping on the undead bandwagon. (Not a wagon you want to be downwind of, by the way.) The events of Marvel Zombies spin out of a recent storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four, but you don't need to read UFF to enjoy the undead fun of this comic. In a parallel dimension (not the regular or Ultimate Marvel universes), Earth's heroes become victims of a zombie plague. They retain much of their original personality, powers, and memories but they are still undead, decaying, flesh-eating ghouls. Unable to think much beyond their next meal, the undead heroes go on an eating spree, until almost all of their food supply (the citizens they once protected) is wiped out. They squabble over the last remaining tidbits on the buffet, until a new, tasty morsel shows up. A "delivery" from off planet on a silver surfboard....

Marvel Zombies writer Robert Kirkman knows a thing or two about writing both super-heroes and the undead. Not only does he write the greatly under-rated Marvel Team-Up, he is the writer/creator of The Walking Dead, published by Image. (If you aren't reading Walking Dead, you should try out the trades. You'll quickly find yourself hooked on this great series.) Kirkman's zombie expertise really shines in this comic. There is a lot of dark undead humor here, such as zombie Spidey breaking his leg "like, in half," but there is also some quite horrific and disturbing stuff to freak out the faint of heart. The creep-out factor is greatly enhanced by Sean Phillips dark, scary, and rather squishy, art.

Marvel Zombies is certainly unlike anything Marvel has ever tried before. Where else are you gonna see an undead Captain America carrying around a handful of his own brains, or a bunch of zombie Avengers arguing over how much of Magneto they get to eat? Nowhere, that's for sure! So shamble on down to Four Color Fantasies and moan incoherently until someone hands you a guaranteed copy of Marvel Zombies #1! Just don't try to eat your copy. You wanna save that room for some tasty brains when you get home