The Hulk busts a move or two

ONE of my fave comics at the moment is Marvel Adventures Avengers and a recent issue only makes me love it more.

Avengers #32 (reprinted in Marvel Adventures Avengers Vol. 9: The Times They Are A-Changin') sees the team run foul of the IRS. To get off the hook, they're forced to tackle a bunch of super-villains who owe back taxes to the government.

At one point the team takes on The Absorbing Man who proceeds to absorb Iron Man's powers and kick everyone's collective arse...until The Hulk jumps on him, that is.

After that, there are several panels where, in the background, Hulk playfully puts Absorbing Man in a boston crab, then a Lex Luger-style torture rack.

Kudos to writer Paul Tobin and, more likely, artists Matteo Lolli and Christian Vecchia for the wrestling references.

Wrestling aside, I wholeheartedly recommend Avengers - which is funny and easy to read, but not dumb, despite having the "all ages" tag.

Anyone seen this in their travels?

IN THE "Thanks for the announcement, but we'll believe it when we see it" department, ex-rassler/nudie model April Hunter supposedly had a comic book coming out this summer (winter in Aussie time).

The hilariously named Pickle Press announced the release of a title called Code Red. In it, April plays a sexy mercenary hired to fight terrorists...or some-such nonsense.

Anyone seen it? Or did it go the same way as that infamous Tammy "Sunny" Sytch comic from the late 90s?

Feel free to post me a copy if you come across it.

Nexus #5 (January 1983)

I RECENTLY unearthed this gem as I'm going through a "Nexus-fucking-crazy" phase. Mike Baron's star-swept tale of an intergalactic avenger driven to execute mass murderers is an easy-to-read, rollicking, surprisingly lighthearted read (considering the at-times grim subject matter). Steve Rude's art was superb even during this early part of his career.

This wrestling-themed back-up tale, The Hammer, looks at the pre-avenging career of Nexus' friend and ally, Judah Maccabee. Seems Judah was a pro-wrestler. In this amusing, fluffy piece, Judah takes on Black Death McGee for the Super Heavyweight Championship while at the same time attempting "to bake his prize-winning salmon souffle between rounds".

Naturally, McGee is tougher competition than Judah expects, but the souffle unexpectedly comes in handy as a foreign object.

Silly stuff, but it suits the feel of Nexus. Great comic by the way...I'm gonna have to buy all of the back issues.

Madd about wrestling

I COULD have written a sarcastic entry about this comic, but the always-excellent Living Between Wednesdays did it sooooooo much better.

Even more classic Kinnikuman...

A BLOKE with a teacup on his head kicks arse. Hooray for insane Japanese comics!

Thanks to DVR for these pix.

Kinnikuman vs Dusty Rhodes....?

STOLE this English-translated version off the deathvalleydriver.com messageboard. Stardust prepares to face Kinnikuman!

Blue Beetle battlers

MY FAVOURITE comic blog Living Between Wednesdays has just run a feature on the less-than-successful career of DC supervillain Hellhound (basically, several guys wearing his costume have died ignoble deaths). Anyway, here's the info related to the above picture that caught my eye:

"And then this guy’s cousin and some dog-looking guy showed up in Blue Beetle...Don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of a title fight either. Evidently, it’s what happens when a super-villain kicks off and two or more guys want to fill his shoes for some reason. This is now imprinted on my brain - every time some R-grade bad guy gets shot in the head I’m going to picture seven guys meeting up outside of a bar in Toledo, all wearing their best Crazy Quilt or Planet Master outfits."