This week's Comic Book Moments of the Week has everything, from cute little babies cutting up other cute little babies to Deadpool being awesome to SCIENCE! (by yours truly) on the speed of Wonder Woman. Hit the jump for these and more! Oh, and spoilers this way be, especially for those waiting on the conclusion to Captain America: Reborn.
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1
How fast is Wonder Woman anyways? She's shown here, what, 10 meters away maybe? The gun, as seen in the second panel, is like half a meter away from the soldier's head, if that. A bullet travels at about 400 meters per second (m/s). She stopped it with more than enough time to spare since she's even extended her arm past the guys head to use the bracelets.
Using some horribly rusty physics, the bullet travelled 0.5 meters (m) in 0.00125 seconds (s) or 1.25 milliseconds. Assuming Wonder Woman is anywhere from 5-10 m away from the soldiers, she was travelling at speeds between 4000 and 8000 m/s. I'm no physicist, but that's crazy fast.
For reference, that's about 14,400 km/h or, for the Americans reading at home, about 9000 miles per hour. And, just to drive the point home, she broke the sound barrier, which is about 1225 km/h, with no build up and from a stationary position and, again, in 1.25 ms. She would have killed those soldiers with the shockwave (here's an image of the moment a NASA rocket breaks the sound barrier. Imagine your head next to her arm as that shockwave shoots out.) that would be created around her in that instant.
I'm not sure why this one moment stood out to me more than other insane feats by heroes. I think it may be how simple this set up was to determine compared to some ridiculous Flash feats, but it may also be because I assumed Wonder Woman wasn't that fast. I figured someone who needs an invisible jet to get around and was constantly referred to as nowhere near Superman's speed, let alone the Flash, was much slower.
Okay, this is a new power. When did Wonder Woman start listening to Johnny Cash and why didn't she use this ring of fire to kill ALL of the Black Lanterns she's come across so far? Seems like it would have been useful...
Dark Avengers Annual #1
Hmm, Moonstone uses an alien artifact and Venom's symbiote is alien in origin, so I guess they aren't, technically, aliens. Maybe he means known aliens (as in the public knows its an alien)? Well, ignoring the alien bit, why is Venom out in public with the tongue and fangs? Shouldn't he be "Spider-Man" in public?
Big spoiler for the end of Dark Avengers Annual was that Steve Rogers is back and he and Bucky are scouting out possible allies for taking down Norman Osborn. As the Red Skull was last seen inhabiting Steve's body, I guess he comes out no worse for the wear? Also, interesting that he's sporting a black ops/SHIELD-style outfit and sans shield, which Bucky is still using.
Deadpool Team-Up #898
Fall of the Hulks Alpha
MODOK is leading an underwater black ops mission with the Red Ghost, Leader, Thinker (who may or may not be mad) and Wizard to steal lost Library of Alexandria artifacts from Atlantis. There's not a single word there that makes sense, but it's awesome nonetheless. Bravo, Jeff Parker, bravo.
"Oh, having a good day? Well, just wanted to call and put you in your place. Have a nice day." I love Dr Doom just being Dr Doom.
Siege: The Cabal #1
There's the secret weapon Norman's been using. He's also in another panel, but glowing orange-ish and shaded out at the same time.
Secret Weapon blasted Doom with some energy beam. He blowed up, but it's revealed he's a Doombot, which then turns into these wasp-like drones that drain Norman's Iron Patriot armour's energy and nearly destroy the whole Avengers Tower. Yeah, Osborn got served by Doom. So, what does Osborn do for payback? Well...
Osborn and Loki set up Volstagg to take the fall in a Speedball-like 'super heroics gone wrong' "incident", as they call it, that sees the fight spill into a football stadium and the villains kill everyone. Yes, Doom attacks Osborn, so he sets up a war with Asgard. LOGIC!
Thor #604
Those Asgardians Doom and Loki were experimenting on? They were turned into Doombot-like servants of Doom and sicced on the Asgardians that came to confront Doom for his actions. Thor shows up with some old school lessons for Doom. Thor #605 can't come soon enough. And it better not be a goddamn Doombot this time.
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5
Rule #1 of Super Heroics - there's always someone with a video of you getting your ass kicked. Don't lie about it.
Uncanny X-Men #518
I have no idea what the hell is going on in Uncanny X-Men. Emma had the Void in her mind, Cyclops went in to fix her, now it's in him and apparently always wanted to be in him.
X-Babies #3
X-Force Annual #1
Deadpool runs into some Acolytes, who are back from the dead and under Selene's orders to kill Magneto. Deadpool doesn't believe Magneto is actually an X-Man, as only upstanding citizens like himself are allowed to be on the team and, well, he did kill Jean Grey, Cyclops's dead wife. He's such a nice guy, he even calls Cyke to let him know Magneto is telling people he's an X-Man now.
Cyclops ignores Deadpool's Magneto talk and tells him to help stop the zombies, but not to kill anyone. Remember, if someone falls on the sword, it's not your fault.
Loa's power, for those non-New X-Men readers, is to break down solid matter by phasing through it, which causes it to turn to dust. She phased through an Acolyte and terminated whatever Selene is doing to make them come to life. Deadpool is sympathetic in regards to how upset she is over killing the Acolyte.
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25 comments:
Kirk,
You just wrecked my shit with math.
-William
I agree that the math was too much for this blog. Good job with the Deadpool stuff. Read Red Robin.
SCIENCE! Superhero comics have always been very bad at it.
Also, that first UCSM moment also hereby be know as The Greatest Moment In The History Of Comics. Ever.
As far as the shockwave being formed by Wonder Woman's arm/body breaking the sound barrier, it likely would not do much to those nearby. There was an episode of Mythbusters that showed that bullets - which travel at supersonic speeds - cause very little in the way of shockwaves. I think Wonder Woman's arm is more like a bullet than it is a NASA rocket.
I've always hated speed in comics though. In the MU, I've read MULTIPLE times that Quicksilver can travel about 250mph. (E.g., Son of M #1 says 220mph. In that issue, Quicksilver also claims that bullets can't touch him. Pietro needs to go to wikipedia.) That's really fast. Still, he always seems to get from one side of the world to the other in about 8 seconds. Going 250mph, it would take you TWELVE HOURS just to get across the United States. Someone needs to actually think about this some time. Do we have an approximate number for how fast Flash or Superman can run?
Kirk-
Damn you for making think about physics after I spent years blocking the truamatic memories of my high school physics class.
It seems that Wonder Woman's lasso has always had the ability to create a destructive "circle of fire," it just keeps being overshadowed by the whole "tell the truth" power.
The more moments of Dr. Doom and Deadpool you post, the more I think, "Screw Loki and Osborn, Deadpool and Doom could rule the entire Marvel U if they ever formed an alliance."
Anyway, thanks for some great moments as always.
P.S.>>>How is it Bendis can write absolute s*** on anything "Siege" related (the exception being Dr. Doom), but on one issue a month of Ultimate Spider-Man, does better than the entire Spidey Brain-Trust in three weekly issues?
I didn't read the Utopia crossover - is that the archenemy of the Sentry Void or some other Void? Why the hell would it want Scott?
I'd like to see Bucky remain Captain America for a while.
I've always told friends that I thought the direction Marvel was going with Steve was to make him the new superhero capo a la Nick Fury while Fury became a sort of black-ops guy. It certainly wouldn't be too far out the left field given the direction that Secret Warriors is going in and the fact that Steve is dressed like a SHIELD operative in the DA annual.
Of course, it's worth mentioning that Quesada just put classic Cap in his variant covers for Siege and the solicits seem to suggest a reunion of Marvel's "Trinity," which suggests that Steve will be donning the scale mail soon. That doesn't mean Steve's going to return to the mantle permanently, though.
It might even be that Fury will "take over" Hydra in a machiavellian ploy of sorts (in reverse of what Hydra was retconned to have been doing all these years) all the while letting Steve run the legit SHIELD operation. That would require much of his time, of course, leaving Bucky to keep wielding the shield.
@Keith: It was established during Brubaker's run that Cyclops has an increidbly brilliant mind for calculations with his mind when using his powers. Maybe it has something to do with that?
I personally loved the SCIENCE! explanation.
Bendis always has those little scenes with random people dressed up in superheroes in the police station. I can't remember off the top of my head which other ones have appeared, but I think there was someone dressed as Spider-Woman once.
The Doom scene reminded me a lot of something that Warren Ellis did with Ultimate (Goat) Doom, where he used tiny little Doombots in the shape of insects.
Also, that final scene in the Dark Avengers Annual gives me hope that Bucky will keep being Cap, while Steve will operate in some other capacity.
In the Ult. Spidey police stations, there's usually something related to an event. So during Secret Invasion, there was a lame Spider-woman yelling "Embrace Change" and Echo yelling "Who Do You Trust?"
Deadpool is in X Force Annual? Darn.. another book I want to have. Darn my Wade Wilson fixation
Plus this week's "Hulk" book were missing alot of the Hulk.. good reads but why put the Hulk name in them just because someone inside the book is somehow related to the Hulkverse?
And comics and physics are like two guys trying to win the same woman's love. They will never ever be buddies.
On the speed thing, Wonder Woman is notionally said to be around the same speed as Superman most of the time (even if, much as with strength, there's a depictional gap). She's got the gift of speed from Hermes himself.
Some good stuff in there.
My page of the last few weeks or so is also from UCSM 5. The artist is really growing on me, and Bendis is still hitting it out of the ballpark on a regular basis.
Huh, I would link it, but I seem to be unable to copy and paste anything into this box. Annoying.
See the comic post from 12/3 on my blog, should be linked through the open idea/name tag at the top.
Oh, sweet blogger OpenID authentication isn't working today either (it's always really spotty for some reason).
SIGH. Direct, hand-typed link, because I'm loving like that:
http://onefinemess.rhinopanda.net/2009/12/03/recent-comic-blah-blah/
Mmmmm....Squirrel.
I'm calling Doom's little surprises "Doombugs" myself.
@Andy - I'm not sure what is up with the copy and paste lately. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. I dont know why. It works all the time in Chrome, but Firefox is a problem for me on a regular basis and I cant figure it out. Not sure how IE or Opera handles it.
About the scan, that was a good moment and those character moments were sort of missing from the book near the end of the first volume's run. Glad to see more and more of them in this new version.
I have noticed the copy and paste thing, it's frustrating sometimes. What does work, however, is dragging links into the comment section.
@Kirk: Very strange. I've noticed that blogger stuff in general has been weird with Firefox for the last...wow at least 6 months or so. I'm almost always forced to log in through this google account, but once in a blue moon openID works (always after I click it twice).
Re: Thor 604 (and the finale thing): Am I the only one not taken with the zombie Asgardian thing?
Also - does it seem like they totally threw away Khelda & Bill to cap of JMS run/underbus his characters/make things more "hard hitting"? I'm completely pissed about that point, and won't be picking up any further Thor stuff just because of that.
I get that they were trying to show how badass Doom was, and how a "mere human" can be a hero (like we don't have a million of those) - but wasting Khelda like that was WEAK and Bill deserved better after all the character work JMS did with both.
I'm pretty sure Bill dying was always JMS's intent. Kelda is up in the air still. She IS a goddess and the Asgardians ahve come back before (buncha times). It sounded like Doom wanted to tap into their powers somehow, so maybe her essence is stored in what looked like the Destroyer armour (only saw the gauntlet) and there's hope she'll return later. Probalby not, but it is comics, so death isnt exactly an obstacle.
Reminded me of the book of Moorcock interviews "Death is No Obstacle"...
I don't take any comic death "seriously" - especially knee deep into the ?first? simultaneous "big two resurrection extravaganza", but I do take them serious in the context of the stories themselves.
Building up a secondary character only to kill them has always been a pet peeve of mine, especially in comics. Killing a secondary character with a long history (Happy Hogan, etc.) is different - in that case it might actually "really" mean something to me (not that I was invested in Iron Man, but that was the first example that came to mind).
The whole "human among the Asgardian" angle was interesting and somewhat novel - I can't recall a similar Thor plot, but I'm not a die-hard Thor fan, and can't recall many stories from before the last 15 years with much clarity. It seemed like there was a lot that they could do there. Although, I totally get his death as "mortals cannot thrive amongst" gods type of thing, I still feel cheated, as a reader.
Why should I care about this Bill dude? Oh, huh, that's kind of interesting. Really? You don't sa---oh, he's dead now. Whoopdee doo.
His death, at least, mattered for something within the context we already have access to - Khelda's doesn't, yet - other than to show how menacing Doom is, which I think is a given.
I agree that Khelda's probably has much more to to it - but I find myself not particularly caring without Bill as a background (Although, hey who knows there could be a sooner-than-later resurrection planned - it is comicland, of course).
I thought Wonder Woman was no longer champion of the Gods? Eurgh, I dunno, stopped following her title ages ago. DC really needs to put more effort into it, her being the queen of comic book heroines and all.
Did you read Siege: The Cabal? Osborne doesn't decide to attack Asgard because Doom attacks him, Doom attacks Osborne because he refuses to help Osborne attack Asgard then Osborne goes ahead with his plans without Dooms help...kinda the whole point of the story. Guessing you didn't read it and just made assumptions off the pictures.
Next on The Geekly Crisis: Combining kinetic energy theory with fabric endurance limits, we prove that there's no way Power Girl's costume could stay in place.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Noh-Var's costume was a little stupid. Plus I was a little peeved about the last page with Bucky and Steve but oh well, it was a good issue none the less. Also, the Anonymous poster a couple threads up is correct, Norman is talked into attacking Asgard in the begining of the issue by the Green Goblin mask he is holding (Norman is so craaaazy) and he wants Dooms help in attacking it. Doom refuses and all hell breaks loose but attacking Asgard has nothing to do with Doom attacking Norman.
Man, we better trademark "The Geekly Crisis"!
@Chris - the entire issue, save 2 pages, is about Norman and Doom fighting over Doom not wanting to take Osborn's crap anymore/demanding he turn Namor over to him (I didnt understand that one since Namor is with the X-Men and not even in Osborn's custody). The issue had nothign to do with Siege other than that one or two pages with the Goblin mask. The backup with the whole Civil War redux was a preview/pages from Siege #1 and technically doesn't count.
So, to recap, Doom attacks Osborn, Osborn takes it like a dog and then goes after Asgard with no mention of any retribution on Doom. Siege, based on Siege: The Cabal, should be about the Siege of Latveria, not Asgard, which is my complaint. Asgard has nothing really to do with that one-shot.
I think X-men babies captured what Wolverine is supposed to be like better than any modern Wolverine comic. He's should be short tempered, not wise and pensive like he's been portrayed recently.
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