This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is my quick reaction to Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. This visually stunning world continues the story of Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Peter B. Parker, and a host of other Spider-Man characters throughout the multiverse. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Marvel Comics
Jack Quick Reacts: Across The Spider Verse
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Spider-Man, superhero comics, superhero movies, YouTube
Why The Death Of Ms. Marvel Is Dumb (Amazing Spider-Man #26 Spoilers)
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. #msmarvel #spiderman #amazingspiderman #kamalakhan In this video, I react to the news that Ms. Marvel is set to die in Amazing Spider-Man #26 and why it’s an objectively dumb move for comic run that has been incredibly frustrating for fans.
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, superhero comics, writing, YouTube
How The New DC Cinematic Universe Can Succeed (Or Fail)
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is a deep dive into the past, future, and potential of the DC Cinematic Universe (a.k.a. the DCEU). Now that it’s all but official that the whole endeavor is getting revamped, I explore what the new DCEU needs to do in order to succeed and the potential pitfalls it might face. I’m genuinely rooting for DC and Warner Brothers to succeed. But they will face major challenges to become a full-fledged cinematic universe.
Filed under DC Comics, Jack's World, movies, superhero comics, superhero movies, X-men, YouTube
Why Mr. Sinister Should Be The X-Men’s Main Villain In The MCU
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is me making the case for Mr. Sinister to being the X-Men’s primary antagonist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was only teased briefly in the Fox movies. And we’ve already had over a decade of Magneto being the X-Men’s main villain on the big screen. The time is right for Mr. Sinister to show just how devious he can be. And given the current state of the MCU, the timing couldn’t be better. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, movies, superhero comics, superhero movies, X-men, YouTube
Bracing/Preparing For The End Of Comixology
Just a few years ago, Comixology was the center of the world for comic fans like myself. It was the primary hub through which we accessed the comics we know, love, and consume on a weekly basis. It made Wednesday mornings the best day of our week. Instead of trying to figure out how you’d get to a comic book store, you just rolled out of bed, turned on your computer, and purchased the books you wanted for the week.
I started waking up at 4:30 a.m. every Wednesday morning, just to get a head start on new books. Once Comixology started publishing new comics the same day they came out in stores, the floodgates opened for me. I suddenly had the perfect avenue to enjoy comics as I saw fit. And I genuinely loved it. Comixology had a special place in my heart.
Then, February 2022, that all changed. And years from now when we’re looking back on the history of comics, we might look at this moment as the beginning of the end for Comixology. Because that was the day that once-iconic website that we came to know and trust over the course of a decade disappeared. Instead, it was folded into Amazon’s Kindle store, a hub that was not designed for comics and not at all equipped to provide the same experience.
I remember that moment well. I just kept constantly trying to get back to the old site, only to be redirected to Amazon at every turn. I kept saying “I hate this!” again and again. I reached out to Comixology support, who have always been so responsive. They didn’t respond this time. They made public statements claiming they were committed to improving the interface. Absolutely none of those promises have been kept and it’s been over a fucking year.
Now, the story of how Comixology got folded into Amazon is a long one that I won’t recount. Amazon has actually owned Comixology since 2014. But that really wasn’t an issue because it didn’t change the site, the experience, or the service. If you didn’t see the Amazon logo on the front page, you probably wouldn’t have known that Comixology was an Amazon-owned company.
But for reasons that probably have to do with greed, arrogance, callousness, and cost-cutting, Amazon decided Comixlogy had to be completely integrated with their Kindle store. In addition, over half the staff working at Comixology was fired. And even though Amazon is a trillion-dollar company, the experience still sucks. The web reader still sucks. And I’ve yet to find a single person who prefers to the new site over the old Comixology site.
It’s now at a point where the future of Comixology, as a whole, is very much in doubt. Amazon didn’t care enough to keep the workers who made Comixology great, nor do they seem to care about providing the same experience that past customers grew to love. And once big corporations stop caring, you can assume things will never get better.
It’s at a point now where major publishers are taking notice. For years, Comixology was the perfect middleman for publishing companies. They provided the digital storefront while the publishers provided the comics. They share in some of the profits and everyone is happy, including the customers. Now, that dynamic is all screwed up and unhappy customers are not good for business.
Now, Marvel and DC Comics are investing heavily in their own digital comics services. I’ve sung the praises before of Marvel Unlimited, the Netflix-like service that essentially allows fans to binge Marvel’s vast catalog of comics. DC Comics is developing a similar service called DC Infinite. At the moment, these services don’t offer the newest issues. You usually have to wait 30 days for them to come out on the site.
But with these publishers shutting down applications that once integrated with Comixology, I think the stage is set. Publishers now have an incentive to cut ties with Comixology completely and develop their own apps. That will be quite devastating to the many smaller publishers and indie comics that once relied on Comixology’s brand to get their work out there. But I fear it’s already too late for them.
This likely means that if you’re a Marvel or DC fan, getting your favorite comics every week will eventually require you go through them instead of Comixology. That means learning how to use Marvel Unlimited and DC Infinite fast. It also means looking at your current collection and gauging which comics you’ll be able to keep and which will be at risk. That’s going to be tedious and you may lose some stuff you legitimately paid for. But don’t expect Amazon to care enough to fix it for you.
I’m already preparing. As soon as Marvel Unlimited starts offering some way of getting new comics the date of publication, I’ll have a very good reason to ditch Comixology. I still rely on it for a number of non-Marvel and non-DC titles I follow. But alternatives are already popping up. Hopefully, they get to a point where they offer a better value than Comixology/Amazon.
This transition is going to suck. There’s no way around it.
Chances are it’s also going to mean more money than we’d be spending if Comixology had remained unchanged. There’s no way around that, either.
But that’s the world we live in. It sucks and it will get worse before it even begins to get better. I take no pleasure in saying this, but this is where we are right now.
Real Politicians Are Talking Like X-Men Villains (And That’s Concerning)
I’ve been reading comic books all my life. A good chunk of those comics are superhero comics. And a good chunk of those superhero comics are X-Men comics. I’ve made no secret of this on this website or my YouTube channel. So, I hope my love of comics, superheroes, and X-Men should be beyond dispute.
That’s why I find it so disturbing when something happens in the real world that is dangerously similar to what I’ve read in so many comics. I used to think in my youthful innocence that people in the real world could never be as evil, heartless, or cruel as the villains I saw in comics. In general, I had a high opinion of people in the real world. Sure, there were assholes here and there. But most were good and most at least try to do good.
That opinion has since been shattered on multiple occasions, but nothing has shattered it more than the current state of politics.
Now, I don’t want to go off on a long rant about how divided people are politically and how toxic political discussions have become. I already did enough of that during major elections. I’ll just note that most of the political figures, be they elected officials or media personalities, who sound like villains are coming from one particular part of the political spectrum.
I won’t even bother being tactful. That villainous rhetoric is coming almost exclusively from conservative republicans in the United States, especially those who identify as being religious or sympathetic to the causes of Christian Nationalists.
These are the people who are pushing for laws and policies that do the sorts of things that X-Men villains seek to do. They actively try to marginalize vulnerable minorities, especially those within the LGBTQ+ community. They spew hate, bigotry, and ignorance of these people. They call them horrible names and constantly accuse them of grooming children, despite the fact that children are far more vulnerable to abuses in churches. They haven’t yet unleashed killer robot sentinels against these communities, but I don’t doubt for a second that they would if they had access to them.
It’s been especially bad for the transgender community. They’ve become some of the biggest targets of this particular wing of villainous politics. A decade ago, conservative republicans at least tried to cloak their opposition. They didn’t show outward hatred to people they hated or didn’t agree with. But after 2016, the masks are coming off.
They don’t seem to be trying to hide it anymore. They hate transgender people. They hate the LGBTQ+ community. They hate anyone who isn’t on their team and will do anything they can to marginalize, hurt, or denigrate them. In Florida, which has become immersed in petty right-wing political discourse, it has gotten especially bad. It’s gotten to the point where a real-life republican has actually cited X-Men to justify his bigotry in support of an anti-trans bill.
I wish this were a side-plot in an X-Men comic. But unfortunately, this is real. Here’s what Vice reported.
Vice: Republican Calls Trans People ‘Mutants,’ Totally Misses the Point of X-Men
A Republican lawmaker in Florida called transgender people “mutants and imps” on Monday in an anti-trans rant that appeared to almost imitate vitriolic lines from X-Men movies.
Florida Rep. Webster Barnaby shared anti-trans views at the state capitol while lawmakers deliberated House Bill 1521, a piece of legislation that would criminalize trans people for using public bathrooms that don’t correspond to their sex assigned at birth.
“I’m looking at society today and it’s like I’m watching an X-Men movie,” Barnaby said at the start of his speech.
“It’s like we have mutants living among us on planet earth,” Barnaby continued. “That’s a fact: we have people that live among us today on Planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet.”
Now, to be fair, Representative Barnaby has come out and apologized for his remarks. In general, I try to be a forgiving and understanding guy.
However, I can only be so forgiving to people who talk like supervillains.
Seriously, fuck this guy. Fuck you, Representative Webster.
In case you don’t understand why his sentiments were so villainous, here’s a quick reminder of what the X-Men stand for.
They are outcasts.
They are freaks.
They are subject to hate, fear, discrimination, and mistrust.
Despite all this, they try to be heroes. But the villains they often face involve humans who either want to wipe them out completely or make their lives objectively worse on every level.
This asshole, who clearly knows what the X-Men are, didn’t seem to grasp that. He might have seen the first X-Men movie and thought it was a tragedy about a brave senator who tried to pass Draconian laws on an entire class of people. Now, he wants to do the same to transgender people, but it will not stop with them.
We’ve already seen this script play out before. It’s happening as we speak with abortion. It’ll keep happening as long as the people in power believe they can get away with it, keep their jobs, and earn money from their doners, who are often villains in their own right.
People like Representative Webster aren’t going to stop with bullshit policies like this. They won’t stop for the same reason the X-Men’s villains never stop. They believe they can get away with it. They believe they’ll get more power, money, and prestige out of it. Some may very well just be hateful assholes who just want to make people they don’t like suffer.
Those people exist.
I’ve had to deal with them.
But unlike the X-Men’s villains, these people are real. They’ll continue doing whatever they think they can get away with, either out of malice, spite, or just plain ignorance. And we can’t expect superheroes to come along and save us. These are villains we’ll have to deal with.
It’s not as easy or cinematic as Wolverine cutting up a Sentinel attacking the Xavier Institute. But it’s something we all need to be aware of. Because the alternative is letting the villains win in the long run. And take it from someone who has read enough comics about dark timelines and dystopian futures.
We must not let the villains to win.
Filed under Current Events, politics, superhero comics, superhero movies, X-men
Jack’s Comic Gems: Invisible Woman Partners In Crime
This video is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This is video another entry in my ongoing “Jack’s Comic Gems” collection. And this fantastic gem brought a different kind of story from a familiar character.
For much of her history, Susan “Invisible Woman” Richards has always been defined by her role in the Fantastic Four. As a loving mother figure to many, she is very much the heart of the First Family.
But in this unique mini-series, Partners In Crime, she takes on a very different role for a very different kind of mission. It gives Sue a chance to show what she can do on her own and it turned out to be a hell of a ride. Enjoy!
Filed under comic book reviews, Jack's Comic Gems, Jack's World, Marvel, YouTube
Why Jeff The Land Shark Is Marvel’s Baby Yoda
Over the holidays last year, I bought a subscription to Marvel Unlimited. For those who don’t know, it’s basically the comic book version of Netflix, but for Marvel Comics. It costs a little over $100 a year. And it’s an app that gives you access to Marvel’s massive catalog of comics, going all the way back to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby era of the 1960s. If you’re at all interested in getting into Marvel comics without buying massive amounts of books, this is the way to go.
In addition to back issues, Marvel Unlimited also offers some exclusive content that you can’t find in a comic book store or a site like Comixology. Every week, Marvel releases a series of specialized comics designed to be read on a tablet or smartphone. They’re like traditional comics in terms of style, but they’re structured in a way that allows you to scroll down and read them in the same way you would a website.
It’s a very different kind of comic book reading experience, but one I’ve grown quite fond of once I got used to it.
And among those exclusive comics is a series about a character named Jeff the Land Shark. I promise you it’s not as menacing as it sounds. In fact, it’s the complete opposite.
Jeff The Land Shark is kind of what his name entails. He’s a shark, but a land shark. He can swim in the ocean like a shark. He can also walk on four legs, just like a dog. Also, his name is Jeff. It might be generic, but that’s not his most defining quality. What makes Jeff so special is that he is undeniably, unequivocally, unbelievably cute.
Seriously, look at him. In terms of cuteness, he checks every single box and then some.
His story and history is not that elaborate. He’s a fairly new character, having debuted in 2018. He’s mostly been affiliated with characters like Gwenpool, Kate Bishop, and the West Coast Avengers. Sometimes, he’s a pet. Sometimes, he’s a companion. But whatever his role, his primary effect is to be unabashedly adorable, lovable, and a little mischievious.
He’s basically to Marvel what Baby Yoda is to Star Wars. He is the perfect mascot for everything cute, uplifting, and happy.
Why am I singling him out?
Why am I dedicating an entire blog post to Jeff?
Well, there’s a more personal reason that I felt compelled to share. You see, in the past few years, I’ve become a proud uncle to multiple nieces and nephews. And I take my role as their awesome uncle very seriously. If I can lovingly spoil them, I will. That’s what awesome uncles do for their nieces and nephews.
And during our various holiday festivities, a couple of nieces and nephews wanted me to read them comics. That’s something I’ve done for them, even before I discovered Jeff and Marvel Unlimited. But now that I had access to Jeff the Land Shark, I discovered something that gave these wonderful kids a direct dose of unmitigated joy.
I first showed them a single issue of Jeff’s ongoing Marvel Unlimited solo series, It’s Jeff! I just scrolled through the comic, narrating it as any great uncle would, and guided them through the wonderful world that is Jeff the Land Shark.
And they absolutely loved it!
Every time we finished one issue, they laughed and asked for another. It wasn’t too long before we read through every single issue. And even afterwards, they asked me to read through it again. Jeff made that kind of impression. Even Baby Yoda didn’t get them this excited.
It surprised their parents as much as it did me. They often asked why they were cheering the name, Jeff the Land Shark. Then, I showed them a picture of who Jeff was and they immediately got it. Now, reading Jeff the Land Shark is kind of a tradition. I’ve yet to meet a kid that isn’t captivated by his cuteness.
For that reason, I hope Marvel and their Disney overlords take note. I doubt they’ve forgotten how much a boon Baby Yoda was for Star Wars. If they want to do the same for Marvel, they would be wise to leverage Jeff the Land Shark’s cuteness to the utmost.
That’s not just good advice.
That’s an urgent request.
My nieces and nephews want more Jeff the Land Shark content.
So, on their behalf, please get to work on that Marvel and Disney!
My wonderful nieces and nephews need his cuteness and so does the world!
Filed under Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, real stories, superhero comics
X-Men 97 Update: News (And Exciting) Details!
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is me sharing my excitement about the latest news about X-Men 97. If I sound overly giddy, I promise it’s for a good reason. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, superhero comics, X-men, YouTube
Ultimate Invasion: My (Mixed) Thoughts On The Return Of Ultimate Marvel
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is a reaction and response video to Marvel’s recent announcement that they’re revising the world of Ultimate Marvel in June 2023 with Ultimate Invasion. I found this news somewhat striking because a year ago, I made a series of videos arguing that Marvel should reboot the Ultimate Universe. And there’s a real chance we could get something like that with this event. However, based on what little we know about the event, my feelings are somewhat mixed. And in this video, I explain that sentiment while also exploring the potential and pitfalls of this news.
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, superhero comics, superhero movies, YouTube
Jack Fisher's Official Publishing Blog 