pewsplosions

Star Wars will not only be the winner of 2015, assuming they even do it half right, but will also take the spot as highest grossing box office take ever. Of course if it is another Episode 1 fiasco... who knows?

Avengers will be second of the year and most likely bring in similar overall numbers as the first. Another thing this movie has going for it that the others do not is that it is almost guaranteed to be awesome. It is very doubtful that they can disappoint with this movie to the extent of it NOT grossing similar numbers. On the other hand, Star Wars franchise has proven to be very capable of disappointing fans and MoS2 is a pretty huge question mark with the casting of Ben Affleck and the fact that it is a Superman movie more than a Batman movie.

MoS2 will largely depend on the performance of Ben Affleck. IF he does well and people like it, this will still be 3rd BUT will gross around the same as The Dark Knight. IF he does horrible, people will still see it but it won't do half as much as Star Wars or Avengers. Lets be serious here, this is a Batman movie in terms of people going to see it. Sure Superman is popular too, but there are not more than a handful of Superman fans who are NOT Batman fans and a large amount of Batman fans who are NOT Superman fans. So you can not add the two together and expect MoS + TDK numbers. There is only really two ways that this movie will out-gross the other two. 1. The other two absolutely bomb and are a horrible disappoint, which is VERY unlikely. OR 2. Ben Affleck dies.

Worldwide box office may be slightly different, but even then the order will still probably be the same. Avengers may jump Star Wars depending on how good the two actually turn out.

I have a question about bag measurements. I have some Silver Age Ultra Pro bags that are supposed to be 7 1/8" wide (this is what is printed on the packaging.) When I actually measure these though, they are 7 1/4" wide. Is this because the 7 1/8" refers to how wide the interior is?

I have some bags/boards that came with some comics I bought that I really like. They actually measure 7 1/8" wide. I like how snug they fit a standard 7" silver age board and the comic does not have any 'wiggle room' to fall off the board.

I hope I don't sound too OCD with this but I am about to purchase thousands of bags/boards to use on my collection and I would like them to be what I like since it is such a huge investment.

I have been looking at BCW. They too say 7 1/8" on the packaging. I was wondering if anybody here has actually bought these and could physically measure one to let me know if they are really that wide or if it is like the Ultra Pro where they are actually a little wider?

If you know of some other bags that actually measure 7 1/8" across (basically I want them to fit a 7" board very snug.) I would appreciate the direction!

Or if you have any other suggestions about shopping for bags and boards I am all ears. I am however planning to just get poly bags, not mylar. I realize mylar is much safer and longer lasting but it is just not practical for me to spend so much money on them right now. Unless somebody can point out a good deal. For example I have found plenty of options on eBay for 1000 poly bags and boards for between 110 and 150 US dollars. Which is already a big investment for supplies but I would suspect Mylar is quite a bit more expensive. I would consider it if I could get a deal on 1000, but it couldn't be too much more than the poly bags or I wouldn't be able to afford it.

Thanks!

Hi, forgive me if this has already been asked somewhere(I didn't see it in my short search.) I am curious what exactly the Issue ID field is referring to? I understand that it is a unique id attached to that issue but how was this ID derived? Is it an ambiguous ID given by the database or is it something unique to the actual issue like an ISBN or something? Anymore info would be appreciated, thanks! Michael

Okay, so after I posted this I noticed Mercy is in the character credit list and I guess it is safe to assume that she is the purple haired lady? So I'm not very familiar with her. The four panel page that shows the four characters still kind of makes it seem like those four people are on the team, or at least connected. So the question still kind of remains, even if it is Mercy, is she going to be part of the team? Or a villain?

So I hope if you are here you have read the new Thunderbolts 1 from Marvel NOW! I like the characters and look forward to how things progress, albeit very wearily... Personally I wish they'd have kept the Thunderbolts more inline with the heroic age issues when Cage took over the team. Maybe with Songbird as the new leader, but drawn normally(didn't like the short hair or the crazy shaved side look...) Also hope they keep ghost in stories somewhere, I really like him too. Anyway...

I'm curious though.. Is the purple haired girl part of the team? And who is she?

There is the page that kind of shows the four other characters besides Castle and Ross, which shows Venom, the purple haired lady, Deadpool, and Elektra. So I am assuming the team will consist of these 6 people but I don't know who she is and her face is darkened out on that page. Though I suppose it is the lady earlier in the issue shown fighting the Hulk.

So yeah, who is she? Will she be part of the team or maybe the first villain?

I think the real question is not "Will Hellblazer fans read Constantine?" but instead "Will the narrow minded fanboys who already decided not to give Constantine a shot be replaced with enough new readers to make Constantine a success?"

And I think the answer is yes. Constantine will steadily sell more issues than Hellblazer ever did. "Welcome to the mainstream."

I loved it when the black suit Supergirl encountered Batman and said something along the lines of "Why doesn't somebody just kill you already?" It is a good question. The answer is obviously that Batman does have a super power. It's called fanboyism. Batman always wins simply because he is Batman(written by fanboys for fanboys) with the assist from the fact that he is the good guy and you can't exactly go having the good guy get stepped on by a monster immensely more powerful than him.

On a side note, I am really surprised Batman hasn't taken over Chuck Norris jokes yet. I.E Batman doesn't call the wrong number. You answer the wrong phone. Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Batman stories. Death once had a Near-Batman experience. Etc...

Avengers hands down is my favorite movie of all time(therefore also of the three choices here.) The achievement list speaks for itself. Things happen in both the movie and creation of the movie that have never been done in cinema. The casting is incredible and the chemistry is there. Joss Whedon is the man. I was not disappointed in anyway, loved every second of the film, and could watch it about every day and not get bored. I literally had 0 complaints about the movie. On a scale of 1-100 it would get a 100, and all my desire to push it beyond that. Saw it 4 times in the first week and the only reason I haven't seen it more is financial issues(Who can really afford to see the same movie more than that these days right?) Amazing Spider-man would be second for me, it was just a really fun movie and I like the reboot a lot so far, very well cast and written. 1-100 I would give it about a 92, since I did have a couple minor complaints about things, though I can easily overlook them. I have medium desire to see it again before blu ray release. Dark Knight Rises was great too but would be third for me. I had a few consistency complaints leaving the theater both from a film to film standpoint and the trilogy's stated purpose being kind of forgotten. I would still give it a 90-92 though. (SPOILER sorta...)Talia was a huge and pleasant surprise and one of the better plot twists I have seen in a long time. But I have little to no desire to see it again until the blu ray release.

You know what would actually be pretty cool. If there was a compromise between being written like Tony Stark and make him be adaptable to the resources at hand. Like his team of techies can just be that good and he can start whatever missions he goes on geared up and high tech. But then as in all good stories things go wrong. So after so much happens he often loses his high tech edge and is forced to adapt. And of course large story archs involving him losing his company and fortune are bound to happen(don't they always?) This could also force him to adapt while his supporting cast also has to adapt if they are forced out with him or something.

The ups and downs of his life are one of things that make him such a good character.

I have my own thoughts on this but I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

Sure Ollie is popular enough and his inclusion in Smallville I think really helped that out a lot(as is obvious by the upcoming Arrow show.) but lets face it; Nobody really thinks of him being on the level of say Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Spider-man, or lots of others, even Daredevil(Who I think Green Arrow creative directions could take a huge queue from.)

I have been thinking about this way too much as of late because I really think Green Arrow is a really awesome character himself but when I read his books or try to think of what defines him, I just come up kind of blank. He is just simply not as interesting as he should be. He has too much potential. I stopped getting the new 52 issues after 6 issues because it just felt like a totally under achieving book. I will say that a bright spot in it was his little team though. I really like that idea of him having the behind the scenes team helping him build his toys and feeding him info and such. Good supporting characters. I hope they continue to be there and build up, when I can afford it I definitely plan on going back and catching up with the book still.

So my thoughts are this: What do characters like Batman and the others have that he doesn't?

First thing that comes to mind is the Rogue Gallery. Every great character is very much shaped and defined by his villains but Green Arrow just lacks in this department I feel. I have about 60 Green Arrow comics(Maybe I just haven't read enough of him yet?) and I could not even tell you who his arch-nemesis was. I had to look it up! From what I can tell a lot of people say it is Merlyn. I have never really even heard of Merlyn... that is really a bad sign(unless I am alone here which I'm betting I am not.)

I think the Green Arrow books could really benefit from better villains and a very knowable, well done, arch-nemesis. Since it is quite late in the life span of the emerald archer it may be too late really to just thrust a new villain on everybody and say it his greatest enemy though. So for now I think borrowed villains would help a lot. Daredevil for instance also does not have the best villain list, other than bullseye, a lot of his biggest enemies and best stories tend to borrow villains(from spider-man a lot.) This of course wouldn't completely fix the problem but I think it'd make the book a little better over all. Villains like The Riddler(probably a lot of batman villains really.) would be appropriate.

One villain I think they could really bring out of the depths and not just borrow but completely steal from Superman would be the Toyman. In the smallville series the episodes where Ollie and the Toyman were at it actually worked really well. If he would be worked in a lot over the years who knows, maybe would turn into Green Arrow's Joker?

Another villain that I think could be fun to read if done correctly would be Mirror Master from Flash books. Though he is quite well established as a Flash villain so he couldn't just steal him but I think it'd be a fun situation(come on... an archer shattering mirrors with his arrows... could be pretty cool.)

Two other options would either be; try to implement an entirely new foe and morph him into a nemesis over time, or take Merlyn(or another of his bigger villains) and just do a huge overhaul with a very exceptional creative team that could re-establish and bring more life to the character.

Aside from the villain thing another possible idea is to just make him the best at something besides accuracy with a bow. I think, at least with what I read in the first 6 issues of the new series, technology should really be Green Arrows thing. He doesn't have to take anything away from Batman and his wonderful toys but if Queen could top him in this department it would do wonders for him. He doesn't really have to beat Batman or even REALLY have better stuff. But if they could write stories(perfect opportunity for the borrowed villains who are surprised by how different or better his things are than Batmans.) but basically that his tech is 'the best' in the DCU it would create his niche in the fan base too I think. Marvel kind of did this with Iron Man for example. If technology is involved in the Marvel U, Tony Stark comes to mind. It would obviously have to be a little different here since it would be more like Queen Industries or his little team of techs, but it would still be his. This could also be done in a way as to not take anything away from Batman or Bruce Wayne, which is important(Batman is obviously never going to be topped in anyway by Green Arrow so DC would make sure this stays true, kind of why a lot of the comparisons in this post have been directed toward Batman, well.. that and they are similar characters in a few important ways).

So I don't know if anybody will ever read this since it has turned into quite a large post or if I'm waaaay off base but I was wondering if anybody else had anymore thoughts on the matter.