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1001 Assassins!
I must admit to having little knowledge of or exposure to the French combat sport known as savate, where one who engages in it uses both their hands and feet against their opponent in a combination of...
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"To Have Loved...And Lost!"
By now, you may have noticed that among the many Marvel tales you've come across in this humble blog, the PPC has been known to be partial to those stories written by Roger Stern; and, if we were to...
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Pawn Of The Red Skull!
Following the 1972 introduction of William Burnside, the mentally unstable Captain America of the 1950s--and his subsequent fall from grace at having to be brought down by the Captain America he...
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The Plan To Reclaim America
In the fall of 2008, we saw the surprising return of William Burnside, the Captain America of the 1950s, who presumably had met his end in a 1979 story when making a fatal attempt to break free of the...
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Reflections
It came as something of a surprise to witness the departure from the pages of Doctor Strange of the character we know as Clea--the lover and disciple who had become a fixture in the sorcerer's life...
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The Final Battle of Captain America
It starts with a familiar scene: Captain America, leaping into a dangerous situation without hesitation in order to save lives, using the time-tested skill and daring that have made him a living...
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In Pursuit of... Doom!
Sweet Christmas! What the heck set these two off?Eight issues into its run, Luke Cage, Hero For Hire is already turning to guest appearances to beef up its sales, and by coincidence this tale just...
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Gene Colan's Final Story for Marvel
Artist Gene Colan, who passed away in June of 2011, turned in his final full-length comics work just over two years earlier, capping a career spanning over six decades (which included commissions work,...
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At World's End, There Come... The Gatherers!
Whatever we may think of the quality of Marvel's publications in the 1990s, which continued to be produced and released in the midst of the company's financial turmoil, some worthwhile reading could...
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When Gann Josins Clash!
Previously, we've seen a sampling of the Avengers' conflict with the Gatherers--a group of refugees from alternate worlds who have joined the cause of their ringleader, Proctor, in eliminating the...
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Mission: Seize The Black Widow!
One of the uncertainties that's proven to be problematic in establishing a comics series which features a new super-group is whether or not the chemistry among the members of that group--and certainly...
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Ben Grimm, Unleashed!
For a book (as well as its parent company) still reeling from the aftershocks of Jack Kirby's departure, Fantastic Four appeared to have picked itself up and dusted itself off quite nicely, judging by...
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Evil Is(n't) As Evil Does
Before they were Avengers, the mutant brother and sister known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were cooperative if unwilling members of Magneto's first grouping of the Brotherhood of Evil...
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The Fugitives!
From what we know of Quicksilver's and the Scarlet Witch's time in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the siblings were not at all happy with being obligated to serve the group's leader, Magneto, in...
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Scintillating Selfies From Seasons Past!
While there are a number of self-portraits of comics artists, it seems a lost art when the artist would surround his image with those comics characters he or she was best known for. The first time I...
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Beware The Invasion of Warlord Kaa! (Or Not)
It's 1977, and The Champions, the brainchild of writer Tony Isabella which featured the new Los Angeles super-team of the Black Widow, the Ghost Rider, Hercules, the Angel, and the Iceman, appears to...
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Collected By The Collector!
As one of the Elders of the Universe--each the last survivor of their otherwise extinct race--the Collector shares a trait with his fellow Elders in that his particular zealous preoccupation (in his...
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The Sandman Becomes High-Maintenance
Where YOU Weigh In on the Pros and Cons of a Character's New AttireFEATURING: As spiffy as the Sandman may look here, in 1963 he premiered with a very simple, somewhat thrifty look wearing a striped...
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