The Daily Debater(Back in Business!!)

We just put together our own new call-out list of people we figured would be interested. If you don't want to be included just let us know.

@majinblackheart@bramvanelteren@mcu_jedi_bob@ghostravage@anthp2000@higherpower@wyldsong@kevd4wg@heirtothekingdom@jashro44@warlockmage@morpheus_@cull_obsidian@owie@lubub55@darth_nimrod @acrokat@full123@major_hellstrom@mickey-mouse@giliad_@jucaslucasa@thedailybagel@deathhero61@ordinaryalan@andromeda101@shade545@underfire47@noobmaster2001@the_magister@KolKent@The_Kidd@Kangconquers@_Logos_@PyroFN@mysticmedivh@thevoidofdeath@straight-fire@baph@sazzmi@soratoumiga@kevd4wg@the_hajduk@noone1996@ouroborik@brucerogers@apex_pretador@battle123axe@vertigo-@supremegeneration@del_torro_@koays@blackspidey2099@pipxeroth@fetts@god_spawn@reaverlation@geekryan@xZone@Ecoblitz@takenstew22@DCandMarvelComicFan@PSI-BITE234@Kryptonianking@BladeOfFury@Mo_Ail@Zetsu-San@lazarus4tempest@Mooty_Pass@Thorthunder98@MorbusGrav@NWName@animehunter@Thor_Parke

There are a number of Avatar and Korra battles out there, with their recent advent on Netflix. This one nicely sets up a gauntlet of Avatar villains for Korra to fight: Mai, Long Feng, Zhao, Ty Lee, Sparky Sparky Boom Man (Combustion Man), Hama, Zuko, Azula, and Ozai. People so far think that she gets introuble around fight 5, but may clear. What do you think? There is also a lengthy discussion of bloodbending but to be clear it is not allowed in the fight. Also, I'd like to commend the presentation, with both pictures and names, since a lot of gauntlets end up with just one or the other, which can get confusing when it comes to identification and versions. Created by @byondeon

World Breaker Hulk takes on a specified list of Avengers, X-men, Justice League, Fantastic Four, and Inhumans. It's a long list, but as many point out, WWH's gamma bursts can cull that list down in a hurry. The question is, who's left, and how easy is it for them to take WWH from then on? The debate obviously focused on comparisons to World War Hulk's fights with many of those same characters, as well as power differentials between Kryptonians and their Marvel equivalents like Sentry. One question that comes up a bit here and has also been in some other threads recently is, what does "current Thor" even mean, given how differently he's been presented in the most recent issues of Thor (amped by Galactus and killing the Black Winter), Valkyrie (defeated by a Black-Winter-lookalike, the Rokkva), and Avengers (defeated by the Khonshu-and-others-amped Moon Knight). Created by @waitomegastorm

Another battle against an even larger number of Marvel characters, this one features the Upside Down Man from DC. The debaters in this thread explore the cosmogeny of DC and where the Upside Down Man fits, both in terms of power and spatially, alongside others such as the Presence, Great Beast, Hecate, and Perpetua. There hasn't been a lot of actual comparison the the more powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, such as the Molecule Man, Living Tribunal, or the Griever, yet, so maybe you can do that work. Made by @gokuisthebest

There were actually several good Star Wars battles this week (for example General Grievous and Shaak Ti vs Darth Maul and Asajj Ventress), but this one obviously caught on to the excitement surrounding two polarizing characters, Darth Vader and Revan. Interestingly it focuses on the Legends appearances only. Most of the debate so far centers on Vader's saber skills and Revan's force powers. The debate is intense and detailed, as one would expect for these intense characters that walked on both the light and the dark. Made by @void_reborn

A unique matchup in one of my own tourneys again, with both teams focusing on different strats within the street tier range. Warlock focuses on pure damage and explosive offence, while BoF uses prep and background planning to find a innovative method of winning without actually having to do very much in the fight. It's a fun bout, and definitely one worth checking out if you want a little bit of variety.@bladeoffury@warlockmage

The Shadowlands tourney has provided some rather bizarre matchups, this follows that tradition by having a triple threat between three wildly different teams, repped by solid debaters, each going for a different win condition using different plans to do so. Kev focuses on mind control and misdirection, using Mysterio for assistance and Blizzard to keep the other teams occupied as well as Mesmero and Multiple Man to finish the strat off. Avaliant uses Indie characters to see into the future and also use TP as a weapon, while Shirso focuses on a Manga character capable of controlling the whole battlefield by himself. It's a really hotly debated CaV, and one worth some attention. @shirso@kevd4wg@avaliantimge

As expected from a bout from these two, it's a big slog against two powerhouse teams with big strats and even bigger stats. Vulcan's at his usual pace here, detailing his whole strat in a nice big chunky post which literally goes over nearly everything you'd need to know. Even with just one post, it's clear that this'll be another long style CaV from him again, through it's always nice to see something in a little bit more detail than usual. It's also rather nice to have a pure comic debate without having the element of other media like anime or manga: it's quite rare to see these days! Expect really solid debating here.@thetruebarryallen@higherpower

- by @floopay: Farideh is from a six book Forgotten Realms series by Erin Evans called the Brimstone Angels. She is the most central of the two main characters and one of two twin sisters. Her and Havilar are born of a special bloodline that makes them especially sought after for Warlock Pacts. The story opens when a demon attempts to complete something they refer to as the "Toril Thirteen". That is, a pact of warlocks whose bloodlines can be traced back to the 13 tieflings who changed the Hells forever.

- by @necromancer76: This page serves as a directory to quickly and easily access the respect threads I have made for the S-Class heroes. Every time a new manga chapter is released and a character receives a new feat/attribute, I will update their corresponding respect thread accordingly. I also plan to replace some of the manga screenshots with gifs from the anime when future seasons are released. However, I have elected to not include webcomic feats in these respect threads because ONE and Murata alter and refine the story by a significant degree when a scene in the webcomic reaches the manga (the Monster Association arc is more than sufficient evidence for this claim.

- by @professorrespect: MODOK's a pretty interesting character, if he is pretty goofy, what with being a giant head and all. A reluctant genius with signs of heroism when he's not trying to take over the world, he's actually got a lot of good feats to go around, and I thought his Reddit RT didn't correctly convey that with the information shown.

The longtime cartoonist Derf Backderf released a new graphic novel recently to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. Since the themes of the comic are also reflected in our own era, I thought it would be a timely comic to review. Instead of a comic battle between superheroes, this will be a review about the ideological battle between the Kent student protestors and the “powers that be” of the time.

Backderf is both the writer and artist of Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio. You may know his comic My Friend Dahmer, from 2012, which was about his experience growing up with his schoolmate Jeff Dahmer (yes, really), and was later made into a movie. My Friend Dahmer does an amazing job of evoking the atmosphere of that specific time and place, what it was like to grow up in rural Ohio, with kids just being kids—except that one of them would someday become one of the most famous serial killers in the country. Backderf makes you feel somewhat empathetic for Dahmer due to his awful home life, and helps you see the escalation of his psychopathic nature, while also making it quite clear that there was no excuse for what he did.

In Kent State, Backderf brings that same evocative, fact-based storytelling to another event related to his early life; he grew up in nearby Richfield at the time of the massacre. This comic, however, is more journalistic than Dahmer. The story and art are like a mix of Harvey Pekar’s blue collar stories (Pekar also wrote a graphic novel on the Students for a Democratic Society, who were connected to the Kent protests), Daniel Clowes’ tales of countercultural youth, and Joe Sacco’s comics of warzones, like Safe Area Gorazde.

Backderf put a huge amount of time into researching the Kent State massacre, delving into the university’s and other archives and doing his own interviews. The comic has lengthy endnotes explaining his sources for each scene. For those who don’t know what happened, Jerry Casale, from the band DEVO, was a student at Kent at the time, and wrote this excellent article in May.

I thought I had a relatively good sense of what happened, but it turns out that there was way more to the story than I knew about.

For a few days before the shooting, there were increasing acts of violence and protests by the students, who were reacting to the news that Nixon was expanding the Vietnam war into Cambodia. Since students were in danger of eventually being drafted, this decision made them even more fearful and angry, and they smashed a bunch of storefronts. Then they protested the ROTC program on campus for being complicit with the Nixon administration.

The students aren’t all fans of this violence—they all have their own points of view, and often decry the vandalism.

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The state called in the National Guard and decided to make examples of the protestors, especially because of false rumors connecting the students with the Weather Underground, a violent leftist group at the time. (If you’re interested in learning more about the Weathermen, I recommend this documentary movie; it can be streamed through Amazon Prime.)

Things had been slowly heating up for a long time before this as well. The FBI and multiple other groups actually had numerous undercover agents acting as students, as well as informers among the real students, at Kent and other universities.

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Rumors were rampant among the townspeople and law enforcement.

After students started a fire in the ROTC building, they held a protest in the streets.

The Guard and other agencies declared an effective program of martial law (illegally) and started sending troops through the streets, sometimes stabbing students as they forced them back into their dorms and apartments. They also flew helicopters all over, bombing students, even entire dorms, with tear gas.

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The Guard members, scared and not trained for this situation, started taking all kinds of actions against regulations, like covering up their names with tape.

This series of nighttime attacks by the Guards led the students to organize a protest the next day. By now, the Guard had been on edge for days, having just dealt with similar riots at Ohio State University and with a group of Teamsters, and the students had been chased, beaten, and tear gassed even if they were nowhere near the vandalism. The Guard was posted all over campus, requiring students to show ID at multiple checkpoints.

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The Guard formed up at the protest with live ammunition—some armor piercing.

After chasing most of the students away with tear gas, a small group of Guards shot 67 rounds, apparently under an order that no one later admitted to giving, wounding nine students and killing four (including a ROTC student). These students were unarmed, hundreds of feet from the Guards, and many of them were running away and shot in the back. Backderf shows how each individual student was shot.

Afterward, the Guard members all lawyered up, lost or fixed fixed the evidence, including reloading the rifles that had been discharged, and lied about being provoked by a huge horde of attacking students. Remarkably, Nixon’s own FBI later proved that the Guard had lied about everything, but none of them were ever sentenced to criminal charges.

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There were some incredible events that happened afterwards that I didn’t know about. For instance, at first, people blamed the students. In New York, when the mayor flew the flag at half-mast for the dead students, a group of construction workers badly beat a number of local New York college students in various locations and forced the flag back up to the top of the mast.

Backderf does an excellent job letting you get to know the lives of the students who were there, and who were killed. He tells the stories of the Guard officers and soldiers, of the university administration and the police. He accurately draws the town and college based on photos and in-person studies. He provides in-depth detail on the various groups at play at the time, such as the Students for a Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, and Nixon’s FBI and CIA.

The art has a refined comix feel, like a cartoonier version of Joe Sacco—all of Sacco’s sense of journalistically drawing real people and places, but without the obsessive crosshatching.

It’s a great book—artistically told and drawn, and with lots of information about what led to the the massacre. I highly recommend it and My Friend Dahmer as well. I got my copy through Hoopla, which lets you read free comics online via a connection to your local library. You might be able to find it there, depending on your library, or you can order it from your local comic or book stores.

@majinblackheart@bramvanelteren@mcu_jedi_bob@ghostravage@anthp2000@higherpower@wyldsong@kevd4wg@heirtothekingdom@jashro44@warlockmage@morpheus_@cull_obsidian@owie@lubub55@darth_nimrod @acrokat@full123@major_hellstrom@mickey-mouse@giliad_@jucaslucasa@thedailybagel@deathhero61@ordinaryalan@andromeda101@shade545@underfire47@noobmaster2001@the_magister@KolKent@The_Kidd@Kangconquers@_Logos_@PyroFN@mysticmedivh@thevoidofdeath@straight-fire@baph@sazzmi@soratoumiga@kevd4wg@the_hajduk@noone1996@ouroborik@brucerogers@apex_pretador@battle123axe@vertigo-@supremegeneration@del_torro_@koays@blackspidey2099@pipxeroth@fetts@god_spawn@reaverlation@geekryan@xZone@Ecoblitz@takenstew22@DCandMarvelComicFan@PSI-BITE234@Kryptonianking@BladeOfFury@Mo_Ail@Zetsu-San@lazarus4tempest@Mooty_Pass@Thorthunder98@MorbusGrav@NWName@animehunter@Thor_Parke

As a way to honor that achievement, built up over the years by many, many contributors, including many from the past, as listed in the end credits, but they bear repeating here--@cor_tsar , @supremegeneration, @life_without_progress, @wearetheflash, @cosmicallyaware1, @krleavenger, and @vertigo---plus our current crew of @emperorthanos-, @professorrespect, @higorm, @bramvanelteren, and me (Owie)--we decided to do a series of interviews with many classic Viners who have been on here from way back in the day.

This group includes some of our great debaters through history, but we are also proud to feature two of the staff that made the site what it it today--G-Man (Tony Guerrero), one of the founders of Comic Vine, and k4tzm4n (Gregg Katzman), who institutionalized the Battle of the Week along with many other Battle forums traditions.

We'd like to thank everyone who has read and commented on The Daily Debater over the years and we look forward to many more updates on the events of the Battle Forums to come. Comic Vine has been around for more than a decade, and from my personal perspective (Owie), one of the things that keeps me coming back is the community. This community is created by everyone's constant production of battles and their participation in debating about those battles, but I have personally also always appreciated the traditions that hold together our history. This includes the lineage of many debaters and comic enthusiasts that make me feel like I'm not just one random commentor among many, but a group of people who have have something in common and have built something that lasts. But it also includes the user-generated features we continue to run, from Battles of the Week to the Battle Phone Book to the Respect Thread Directory. Maybe sometimes they're updated or published more often and sometimes less, but they're still going as new people take the baton from those who came before. The Daily Debater is one of these traditions and I think we are all proud to help contribute some of the glue that holds this community together.

As I just noted above, @bramvanelteren has started writing for TDD this week, and we're looking forward to more of his contributions as we continue on to issues 101 and beyond.

Made by @cocacolaman. As multiple people pointed out in the thread, this has been done many times. However, the characters do keep changing their abilities over time, and nowadays for instance we have Surfer Black whose new powers change things up a bit. Of course, when you're up against Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash (among others) that may only help you so much. But there is some in-depth discussion here, and of course for whatever reason every Surfer/Superman debate ends up getting scaled through Thor. But since Thor and Supes are also evolving over time, these discussions are still worth having.

Made by @blackspidey2099. Honestly this battle is a one sided from my perspective, but what I appreciate is that some of the debaters are actually listening to each other and changing their minds rather than just yelling :) And honestly I think that a better case is made for both sides than I might have thought, with some arguments about what it does or does not take for Danvers to go Binary, or going over exactly how many hax Diana can bring to the table beyond just her normal melee skills.

Made by @omega7vendetta. OK, this is kind of a random match-up, but that's what I like about it. I enjoy the manga/comics battles, especially when dealing with a guy like Arthur who is simultaneously pretty powerful but often underestimated. There is some nice debating here, and I want to in particular call out @ashrym for being particularly clear in terms of what they personally felt knowledgeable about and what they didn't, and saying straight up what it would take to persuade them. Not to be a broken record today, but it would be nice if more debates were conversations like this. But back to the battle, there's some interesting details here that add more complexity to the fight than you might expect.

In this tournament, hosted by EmperorThanos, we have two excellent debaters facing off against each other. The interesting thing about this tournament is that you can only use feats under one writer. @deathhero61 is repping animated Leonardo from the animated TMNT show under Roy Burdine while @juiceboks represents Robin from the animated Teen Titans show under Ciro Nelli and Michael Chang. There is only one post at the moment, but I am already looking forward to this match-up which will most likely focus on martial arts but also physicals.

In another match from the same tourney, we have @reaverlation facing off against @whathappened. Reaver is using Waid’s Daredevil, who is really hard to rep in a tournament with mostly enhanced humans but he made a great opener mostly focusing on the senses of Daredevil, rather than the physicals. While What, who is repping Stan Lee’s Kraven, hasn’t posted yet, I think we can expect a high caliber post focusing more on physicals from him.

In yet another match from this tournament, which has a lot of good matches going down, @defiant_will and @higherpower battle it out. These two are both well-known and capable debaters, and you can see that in their posts. Higherpower is using Origin, and he focuses on agility, speed and simulations while Defiant is using King Bradley and focuses more on physicals. It’s an interesting match, so go check it out!

In this tournament, also hosted by EmperorThanos, we see @deathhero61 and @kevd4wg fighting it out with their fusions. Deathhero’s fusion consists of Juuzo, Magik, Emerl, Scourge the hedgehog, Sayoko Minase and Kiyomaro Takamine. Basically characters from literally every corner of fiction. Kev on the other hand uses a fusion strictly consisting of Marvel characters, those being Sane Genis-Vell, Monica Rambeau, Nimrod, Ronan, Super-Skrull, Annihilus and Red Shift. He already made his first post in which he utilizes a pretty uphill strategy for Deathhero to come back from, but I think he has some cards up his sleeve. Go check it out.

- by TheVivas: Beilert Valance was a human male bounty hunter. Born into slavery on the planet Chorin, Valance became a miner like his father before him. He later left his homeworld and joined the Galactic Empire, who gave him the designation of Cadet 404-913. Valance served alongside Han Solo as a cadet at Carida Academy, the Imperial Naval Academy on the planet Carida. While covering bombers during a battle on Qhulosk, Valance was shot down, leaving him with several permanent injuries. After being rescued by his fellow cadets, Valance enlisted for the infantry and was deployed to Mimban, where he was severely injured in the ensuing battle. The Empire repaired Valance's body with extensive cybernetics, but he was discharged from service. Valance later became a bounty hunter after failing to protect his homeworld from raiders. He was mentored by Nakano Lash, who betrayed him during a mission on Corellia. Valance later resorted to breaking the Bounty Hunter Code by stealing bounties from other hunters. - SW Wiki

- by higherpower: Along with fantasy, science-fiction seems to be the most popular genre for action-heavy comics/manga. And for good reason. The range of possibility for creative stories is increased in supernatural or technologically-advanced worlds. From the perspective of someone like myself, series like Origin by Boichi make excellent use of their society and world-building to create an environment that's friendly to the interests of battle-forum junkies, providing plausibility for exceptional feats of superhuman capability made possible my artificial beings. It is also the tale of a robot on a philosophical journey to explore the meaning of "living properly" and navigating a world of conflicting interests, greed, and desire. I enjoyed my time studying this character and the universe from which he hails. The art is amazing, the story is absorbing, and the feats equally the same. Especially from the standpoint of their clarity, consistency, and competency of writing. So...

- by floopay: Halisstra is one of the priestesses from the War of the Spider Queen Series. She is a unique character; because she is the last wielder of bae'qeshel magic. Which is, basically, a combination of divine and arcane magic used by minstrels. She's also a powerful fighter, a decent rogue, and all around formidable character.

What motivated you to leave a career teaching math to start a site about comics in the internet wilderness of 2006?

At the time, the plan was to run the side while I was teaching. Thank goodness we soon got moderators to help look over the wiki submissions. It wasn’t until after the formation of Whiskey Media that I finally decided to take a leave from teaching (in 2008) and run the site full time.

One of the key characteristics of Comic Vine is that it combines both the wiki and the forums. When you started the site, why did you decide to include both of these things? How did you decide what specific forum areas to include, such as Battles, RPGs, Artist Show-Off, or Off-topic?

This was more of a Dave Snider (@captain_cascader) and Ethan Lance (@red_l_a_m_p_) decision. They handled the backend stuff. I took care of the content side. From what I recall, they came up with pretty much all the different forum boards. I later suggested Comic Book Preview for all the comic previews we were running. I can’t remember if I cam up with any of the others.

Your responsibilities as the head of the site for many years kept you mostly focused on doing things like promotion, comic con trips, videos, and front-page articles, but when you got a chance, what were your favorite places to participate in the user side of the site, such as the forums or the wiki? (You are currently one place behind me on the wiki rankings with almost 260,000 points, so clearly you spent a lot of time on the wiki!)

I had a personal goal to keep updating the wiki when I could. Like many, I just loved adding content. Before we launched I added short bios on 200 heroes and villains. It was hard to not try to completely fill them out. I then moved to adding the new comics. This was later taken over by pikahyper, which was a major help in giving me time to focus on the editorial side. I still wanted to add to character wiki pages. I even said I’d someday flesh out the Madman page more, which I still haven’t.

I did love going into the forums when I could. Obviously I spent a lot more time there in the beginning. I’d try to always “read the comments” when we posted news stories to see what people had to say. My time there became less as I had to edit videos and the podcast plus take care of the social media accounts along with try to come up with “Off My Mind” topics five days a week.

The Daily Debater focuses mostly on the Battle forums. In what ways, positive or negative, did the Battle forums contribute to Comic Vine as a whole?

The Battle Forums were a great place for people to hang out and debate over the various possible (or impossible) scenarios. I would jump in occasionally to throw in a comic panel or page to support one side or the other. I might have tried to stir the pot once or twice (like Spider-Man beating the crap out of Firelord, a cosmic powered Herald of Galactus, or mention Black Panther’s armbar move on Silver Surfer).

The problem arose when the battle between users got too heated. We always wanted things to be as civil as possible. When a user would get frustrated or angry and resort to personal attacks and such, it was a bit of a problem.

Do you have any favorite battles you made or debated in?

I mentioned the Spider-Man and Black Panther moments above. Other than that, I can’t really think of any threads I may have seriously participated in. I loved seeing the less obvious pairings. Ones that, at first, seemed completely uneven or a joke. When taken seriously, they become some of the more interesting ones.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

The main thing should be to have fun. There is a desire to win a debate or spread your knowledge upon others. Battle debates can get heated. It’s important to try to think about what the other person’s motives or reasoning might be. Maybe they aren’t as knowledgeable as you. Maybe they just get a kick out of trying to rile up others. Comments and responses should never get personal. You need to take the higher road. If someone comes at you with a personal attack, just know you’re being the better or bigger person by not sinking to that level. Chances are if things start to get ugly, a moderator or others will jump in.

It also shouldn’t come down to who is your favorite or preferred character. It’s possible a character you really like is just outmatched when it comes to a higher level character.

Have you noticed any differences in how users have changed over time?

In the beginning, I remember we had some strong and loyal members. There were some you could always find hanging out somewhere nearby in the forums or wiki pages. As the site grew, the intimate little community started getting more diverse. More cliques started forming, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I remember loving how respectful and civil the forums could be. With a bigger community, some bad apples (or whatever analogy you prefer) could pop in. Sometimes strong and dedicated users simply vanished. I tried popping in a couple times since leaving in 2017, but it almost felt like there was a new group who didn’t have a connection to my time on site.

Comic Vine’s site structure and formatting have changed multiple times over the years. Are there particular site formats you liked best?

Change could always be good and bad. It would be hard sometimes to adjust to a new format. There was always the hope a new feature wouldn’t break. My favorite moment was towards the beginning when we added a News section. I used to post interviews and reviews in my blog, with the hope it’d be seen. I remember when the decision came to do videos. I was unsure of that. Then I ended up shooting videos in the dark basement of our first office. Having reviews added to the comic pages was great as well. I loved being able to see user reviews as well as staff reviews.

Are there any users you would particularly want to call out for their positive contributions to the site?

I mentioned @pikahyper. It was a nice feeling knowing that on Wednesdays when we had to do comic reviews, it was a safe bet the comic issues had already been added to the database.

@superkitty was one of the original users who had was great at adding old and obscure comics.

We always joked that @fesak was a robot with all his contributions. It’s nice to see he’s still in the top five.

We truly were blessed to have such eager contributors to the other areas as well. Seeing the RPG threads thrive or all the cool artwork in the Artist Show-Off section always made me smile.

Can you give us some examples of how the other staff members contributed to the site in a lasting way?

Gregg Katzman (@k4tzm4n) was notorious for focusing on the battles. It was his idea to do a “Battle of the Week” news post from the current books. His love for Valiant Comics also paid off as he’s now working for them!

@inferiorego was also very patient putting up with my shenanigans when we were at comic conventions. I’d try to hold the door when he went through a revolving door in front of me or try to direct him to a locked restroom. On the podcast, I’d try to catch him off guard by starting the recording when he wasn’t expecting it.

Matt Rorie was the unsung hero who dealt with “customer complaints” on the backend. He also became the the main go-to with the engineers when something would break somewhere.

Besides founding the site, what were some of your favorite contributions to Comic Vine? What did you most enjoy doing?

Off My Mind articles were a nice challenge. I never thought I’d love doing videos. 3-Minute Expert were enjoyable. Trying to do reviews in 60 seconds or trying to talk about a comic topic in under two minutes was fun. Doing the weekly Best Stuff In Comics was a bit of work, but also a fun challenge to try to find cool and wacky moments. The podcast was another passion (which is why I’m still doing one). Adding a second podcast to talk to comic book creators was a blast but also tough at times get someone to come on every week at the specific recording time slot I had. I’ll never forget doing the “30 Seconds With Tony” videos with Vinny (from Giant Bomb). The Mystery Art Challenge videos at conventions with comic artists were great too. I’ve even done a slightly different variation since I’ve left the site.

What aspects of comics and comics culture do you like best? What are your favorite comics, shows, and characters?

One of my favorite things about Comic Vine was the community that was built. It was a place where people with a love and passion for comic characters could hang out. We really built something awesome. It was the dedicated users and contributors that made it special.

As for favorite comics, I always say Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig is my favorite comic. More recently, I really enjoyed the new Batman: Three Jokers first issue by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok.

Agents of SHIELD will always hold a special place in my heart since my daughter loved watching it. I probably interviewed the cast for the show more times than any other. Doing a set visit was also incredible. We’ve been lucky to have other amazing shows such as Watchmen. I’ve recently renewed my love for Adventure Time since all the episodes are on HBO Max. I’ve also discovered the amazing joy of Cobra Kai since it moved to Netflix.

What has changed for the better on Comic Vine in the years that it has been around? Is there anything you miss?

In my later years, it was great having more funding. We could attend more conventions and connect with more publishers, creators, and television shows. The times someone else could edit my videos were fantastic. I do miss the early days. Red LAMP and I could do silly videos talking about comic characters’ hair or costume colors for villains. We just had to focus on creating content without having to worry about page views and trying to create an editorial direction around whatever big tentpole movie might be a brief hot topic online.

Do you have any ideas about how users can help grow the site and the community, now that it is almost entirely user-driven?

There are always wiki pages that could be edited or created. Pages don’t have to super-long essays. Sometimes being more concise is better. There might be a lot of unnecessary information clogging a page making it an unreadable wall of text. Try to come up with different or unique pages. I remember when the idea of creating a page for Joker’s Crowbar came about or the “Between the Legs Shot” concept page. Pages like the Fastball Special is something that should be added to new comics when it happens. Don’t just focus on the big pages like Batman or Spider-Man. There are many really cool lesser known characters that deserve to have their pages fleshed out. If a new character like Punchline or Robin King pop up, those pages should be established immediately because people online (including non-CV members) will want to know more about them.

Do you have anything you’re currently working on that you’d like to tell us about?

I am currently back to teaching Mathematics because it’s a “noble profession” and all that. I have been recording the Random Podcast From Heck every single week since August 2017. I’m proud to say I haven’t missed a single week. I also try posting on my personal site, EntertainmentFish.com as much as I can. And I’ve started drawing again—something I gave up doing years ago. Due to the recommendation of [comic artist] Dustin Nguyen, I’ve been working on doing digital artwork.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

The battles forum and the creative freedom that it offered. Other sites were a little more restrictive with their battle forum rules, but at Comic Vine, I was free to go beyond traditional 1 vs 1 or team vs team matches. I could create gauntlets, scenarios, handicap matches, etc. That's what initially lured me to the site, but the community and engaging staff are what made me stay.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

For me, it was the feeling of community. I spent countless hours on this site because I legitimately enjoyed talking about battles and all things comic related with my fellow Viners, mods, and even the staff. I don't think you would see that kind of engagement on other sites back in the day.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

For me, it's not about winning or losing a debate. It's about having fun thinking about the match and exchanging knowledge with other people who have their own perspectives on it. I think if you go into a Battles thread focused on "winning the debate" or blindly rooting for a character because you really like them, you're doing yourself a disservice. Sometimes, it's fine to just agree to disagree.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

I participated a bit in the wiki, but if I wasn't in the Battle forum, I was probably in General Discussion, article comments, or the Off Topic forum. But, aside from when I was staff, a vast majority of my time was spent in the Battle forum.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

It was the "Does Batman Always Win?" segment that I wrote as staff. I know the title of the segment was a little divisive, but the goal was simple: Batman is one of the greatest heroes and a master of prep time, but what happens when he faces someone from another universe that he knows nothing about? Will he clearly win? Will he be able to adapt and survive long enough to earn a hard-fought win? Or will he go down swinging after a good fight? I was also really happy to get the Battle of the Week going. That was my way of trying to bring the best parts of the Battles forum to the whole site and celebrate good conversations and insightful debates.

As for debates, it was always rewarding when I could get someone interested in a lesser-known character.

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

I think it's two things: A clear passion for all of the characters involved and a willingness to keep an open mind. The second a debater makes things personal or insults the other person, it's no longer fun. I mean, we're talking about fictional characters fighting. Have fun with it.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

Gauntlets. I think your imagination can run wild with those. You're now thinking about several fights while also bringing in other factors like time between matches and any other rules. I think a well balanced gauntlet is a total blast.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Stick to the facts, keep an open mind, leave your personal biases at the door, and treat everyone with respect.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

It's going to be a case by case thing. Everyone is different, after all.

The site structure and formatting changed multiple times over the years. Were there particular eras of different site formats you liked best?

Nostalgia is a powerful thing, so I think everyone will prefer the era when they spent the most time on CV or had the most fun. For me, it was probably when I was staff since it was a dream job and I was so happy to be on the site.

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

I don't want to list names because I'm worried I'd leave someone out, but I've had the pleasure of getting to know dozens of Viners over the years and I'd like to believe they all know who they are.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

I'm beyond proud that I went from Viner to mod to staff. For two years, I had the honor of writing at CV as staff and I hope I did the community proud with the ongoing articles that I brought to the homepage. I tried my best to focus on the sense of community here while also highlighting just how fun battles can be.

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

I hope that people continue to discover the site and enjoy the countless pages of good threads, detailed wikis, and older reviews/editorials.

Do you have any other observations you'd like to share with our readers about the Battle forums, from the perspective of someone who has participated in them for a number of years?

We're here to have fun talking about the characters we love while also potentially learning more about other characters and discovering new favorite characters in the process. Why would you want it to be a stubborn and stressful experience? We're all here to have a good time. So, embrace the debates with open arms and treat them like conversations, not arguments. Hopefully, you'll have as much fun as I did.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

The main reason I joined comicvine was because I got into comics around high school and I felt like most of my friends weren't as into comic books as me. I had friends who read comics casually and obviously saw the movies but they never really bought monthly issues or anything. Comicvine was a good outlet for me to talk about nerdy stuff that my friends weren't into.

As for why I have continued to be a part of the site over the years definitely the community. I've met a lot of friends here over the years. We also have people in our community who care enough to create segments like battle of the week, daily debater, etc.

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

In the past I think the most interesting debates is when someone brings up points I don't really expect. I guess an example of what I am talking about is the Deathstroke vs Captain America thread. Its a thread I read back before I joined comicvine and lurked for a bit but basically its a thread where static shock argued against like everyone on comicvine that cap could beat Deathstroke. Before I read the thread my logic was basically Deathstroke beat Batman, and cap vs batman is often highly debated, plus Deathstroke has a lot of weapons and stuff.

However @static_shock's argument was that Captain America could match Deathstroke physically unlike Batman, which is the main reason Deathstroke cited as to why he won. He also argued that even though Deathstroke has more gear and Cap's shield is simple its effective enough to counter whatever. He could block his bullets, swords, staff etc with it and the shield could do a lot of damage to Slade if cap connects.

I think its still a pretty good read for new debaters to learn how to debate.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

I think the most I can tell a new debater is to just be yourself and be respectful. Speaking personally when I first joined on comicvine I assumed everyone on comicvine was more knowledgeable than me so I just copied other people's opinions. When I got called out on those opinions I couldn't defend them because they weren't mine so I looked stupid. I left the site for a few months, read some comics, came back and decided that I would just debate my opinion and if its wrong than whatever. I don't really need other people to think I am smart. I've done a lot better since than and became a pretty OK debater.

The reason I also say be respectful is because at the end of the day this is a hobby for people. No reason to make other people more miserable. If you are respectful and nice you will make more friends and have more fun. If your confrontational all the time your going to get into heated arguments and those are just stressful. The internet is not worth stressing about. Because at the end of the day your going to turn your computer off and nothing that happens here will matter. Winning or losing a debate wont make you richer or poorer. Your going to be the same person either way so you might as well have fun with it. No need to worry about impressing some random people who you will never meet.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

I definitely think for better or worst the site has shifted focus from actual comics to live action and anime.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I think to keep both answers simple, just a general love of comics. Comics, especially Marvel, were a big part of my childhood growing up. My dad would watch all the animated shows like Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk and on my own I watched Batman, Justice League, Batman Beyond and so forth. I joined when I was 18 and I think around that time I kind of got a renewed love for it and just started looking up I think it was Wolverine vs the Lizard or something and I stumbled across Comicvine and @morpheus_ and @k4tzm4n were in the thread and I was like... "woooahh...this is cool" and I ended up making an account. Being honest, I will say I've had my highs and lows with comics, but that general love never went away and I've been here for a decade.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

I'm pretty active in a few forums and wikis. I do like to spend some time in the Off-Topic and General Discussion forums, just to kind of step outside of the battle forums for a minute. I think I'm the top poster in the Wolverine, Cyclops, and Emma Frost forums, but I think reputation my proceeds me on those characters. And with the wiki, I am a top editor in a few characters like Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, again probably not surprising. And I am the top editor in characters like Tygra, Cheetara, and Kevin Levin from Ben 10.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

Daken versus Magneto is still probably my favorite thread of all time. As for a serious thread, I did a CaV with @warlockmage back when he was Kidman, and it was Gambit vs Cyclops. I ended up getting severely injured around that time. Not only did I think it was a really good debate, but it kind of kept me sane in a really dark spot. To me, it was what a CaV should be and I'm very thankful he did it with me. So shout out to him.

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

I like learning about things I am interested in. It's a reason I joined the site to begin with because around that time I was reading comics, wikis constantly and watching vs debates on Youtube circa 2006-2010. So to me, if a user can make me learn something and I in turn can hopefully do the same, I think I will enjoy it. And sometimes it's just fun to have a good debate.

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

When I first started, I looked up to guys like @morpheus_, @k4tzm4n, @erik, @lunacyde, @vance_astro, @silver2467, @ferro_vida, Andy, @majinblackheart, @king_saturn, Gambler(@jean_luc_lebeau), @strafe_prower, @spidey_15. I think you'll find at least a couple of those guys on anyone's list that has been around. And for me it was just their knowledge and how they presented it. Debates weren't over the top respect threads with a bunch of deflection. It was systematic whys and hows as to why they thought character X would beat character Y. And then in turn I actually ended up becoming pretty good friends with a lot of those guys. As I guess my stock grew on the site and since I've been here for so long, I ended up becoming one of those guys and to me it's still kind of weird. I still see myself as that kid that started at times. As for now, I respect and consider guys that I kind of clashed or debated with as friends too. @jashro44, @jedixman, @saren, @warlockmage, Comicman24, @vertigo-, @sy8000, Incrediblehulk1284 I think?, @juiceboks, @theacidskull, @son_of_storm, @mercy_, @koays, @laflux. It really is hard for me to pin down everyone. And these guys are people I have/did/ whether they're here or not anymore, have fun and meaningful debates and conversations with. And because of their knowledge and ability I am thankful for those experiences.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

My Cyclops Respect Thread is something I am genuinely proud of. I made that quite a few years ago, and I spent a lot of time on that. I've seen it posted on other websites, which to me is just kind of cool.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I've always fanaticized about cross-publisher fights ever since I read "DC vs Marvel" when I was a kid. I've stayed because it's fun to see what unique fights people can still come up with, and it helps me keep up to date with where characters are now.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

Just an easy and accessible forum, I'm not a huge forums guy but I find it easy to navigate through this site compared to others.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

Once in a while you run into some really interesting ideas. Fun to see fans being able to show off their passion in creative ways.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

I'm a terrible debater, but it's always fun to see my threads take off, like this old one - https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/catman-versus-bucky-barnes-626487/

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

Interesting and well thought scenarios, using unlikely characters.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

Mostly street level comic based fights. I have trouble wrapping my head around cosmic battles, especially when pseudo physics gets thrown in. Movie fights were fun for a little before they got repetitive.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Be respectful, and have fun. Don't get lost in your passion and take things to a personal level (in short, there's no reason to be a dick).

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

Unfortunately seen a decline in creative battles, and since we're using the same characters, the callouts for fanboyism is every more rampant than ever.

The site structure and formatting changed multiple times over the years. Were there particular eras of different site formats you liked best?

Around 2012-2013 had the best formatting. For some reason its hard to lay out battles anymore, but that might be a browser issue?

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

@k4tzm4n is great. I miss @vance_astro, @erik, and there was the one user who had the Outlaw Josey Wales avatar for a while who always dropped knowledge bombs like a boss. Can't remember his username now...

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

My Catman vs Bucky thread above. And these two:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/predators-create-your-own-herosurvivor-557867/?page=1

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/bucky-dick-the-raid-662625/

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

Eh, I don't think it's gotten better unfortunately. Still entertaining though!

Do you have any other observations you'd like to share with our readers about the Battle forums, from the perspective of someone who has participated in them for a number of years?


Just what I mentioned before about trying to be respectful with others.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I joined because the former DC message boards folded up. I had been a active debater on that site for several years and only used CV as a research source at the time (due to its wiki). As for why I continued, I havent been buying many comics in the last 5 years or so. I read the debates on here to keep up on what I dont buy and decide which titles get my small comic budget spent on them. Additionally I'm active on several comic sites.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

Image hosting and loading is much easier for an old fart like me on CV than other sotes.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

I like tourneys and CAVs as they give me a chance to create new stories with characters I havent seen in a long time.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

Used to do the wiki but haven't for years. A lot of the wiki work I had done I also did on other sites and it looked like I copied those (when I actually did both). Also Generaldiscussion

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

When its made with unique characters. You can only read Supes vs SS, Supes Vs Thor, Supes vs Goku so many times, but it still happens.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

Older less used characters, or when I see things posted out of context that I feel the need to correct.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Have fun, dont take it too seriously

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

Not really, the more things change the more they stay the same

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

I could be here all day, basically look at the hall of fame, strike my name from it and you have who I respect. The reasons you will find in each HoF vote when I voted. Sorry, dont want to write war n peace.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

Honestly nothing, I dont have a very high opinion of myself.

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

Like I said, the more things change the more they stay the same.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I had been interested in Comic for a good few years. My parents were fairly strict growing up but they did let me buy DVD's alot so by the time I was in my mid to late teens I had most of the emerging Marvel Universe (really it was mostly Fox distributing things like X Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four) as well as the early phase 1 films. I had started to read comics, mostly online, but was eager to build up my knowledge on my favorite characters. So I frequented the Marvel Website which is heavily outdated for bio's, the Marvel Wikia, which is much more in-depth and I still use now it gives overviews for specific comic issues. Of course Comicvine's Wiki is enormous end eventually I made my way here.

So the information surrounding my favorite characters brought me here but the layout of the site, the quests and the Battle Forum kept me here. Originally I had some difficulty approaching the Battle Forum, my knowledge of characters was limited, I was a bit to confrontational, but after a short break I came back and for the most part have been a here on and off for going on close to 8 years.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

The Battle Forum is the best I've seen. The layout is very professional (I guess it has been aligned with Whiskey Media, GameSpot etc). They are people who have an incredible amount of knowledge about certain characters. The Quests where awesome and I miss them alot. Off Topics, despite my misgivings offer a range of topics to talk about and the more moderated approach is a nice change from other spaces. When I have done RPG that has been cool as well.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

For me, the Debaters hall of fame was great. The fact that if you gained enough respect and notoriety you could be recognized in such a manner was great. Learning about new characters, and trying to gauge where your favorite characters fit in.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

Mostly Off Topic historically.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

So a slew involving Spider-Man, Kaine, Black Panther, Wolverine, Iron FIst, Luke Cage and associated characters. I'm drawn to Upper Street Level Characters mostly. I also like Debating Thanos, as he's probably my favorite Cosmic Character. Aside from that, Dragonball and over the last few year Star Wars

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

Lots of information, interpretation of the feat in the way that is logical and yet insightful, some good humor etc,

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

So mostly the ones I've talked about above. Aside from that if some of my friends on the vine are on said topic, I'm more likely to join in

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Try to detach yourself from the urge to make your favorite characters win all the time. Understand that different writers have different ideas of what a Character is capable of.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

I'd knowledge about alot of characters has become much more easy to come by. Comics are easier to find, the online market has grown tremendously. I'd say the average age of a viner feels a bit younger. Alot of the older guard of Comicvine Debaters have moved on or are not as active as they used to be

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

Who are active now? @god_spawn, @jashro44 are probably the most notable to me. Jashro like myself is a big Spider-Man and Black Panther Fan. God_Spawn and myself actually started out on pretty rough terms, but we became fast friends and found alot of common ground over a tonne of stuff. In terms of their journey, going from esteemed debaters to being in the Hall of Fame to later Battle Moderators is pretty much something which I wanted to emulate for years.

Outside of that you can name pretty much all the Debater hall of Fame. Shout out to guys like @strider1992, @lvenger, @killemall, @silver2467, @shootingnova, Citizenbane/@saren, @wolverine008, @super_soldierxii, DCcomicsrule2011/@pharoh_atem just to name but a few

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

Being a Hall of Fame member is probably the biggest. And maybe some of my more innocent bait and switch thread :D

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

As I said before I think knowledge of some of the more popular characters is alot more common place.

Do you have any other observations you'd like to share with our readers about the Battle forums, from the perspective of someone who has participated in them for a number of years?


They are definitely trends and waves in popularity of different characters and I think this follows whats going on the charcters continuity. For example with the superior spider-man story line and Peter "Starker" storyline, it was a big shake up and alot of threads where made of Peter then. Now Spider-Man is not really doing so much Comic book wise I don't think its a co-incidence that he is also not as popular here as he has been in the past.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I first joined in early to mid 2007. I was looking for Wolverine comic book information and saw that this wiki (CV) had a forum. I do not really remember why I decided to post there but I do remember why I stuck around. @vance_astro and I got into a debate about something or another and, being a Wolverine fanboy at the time, I was annihilated. Vance made a mockery of me. Wolverine’s biggest fan obliterated in front of dozens of people on the topic of Wolverine. He kind of gave me the debating bug. I became interested not just in debate but debating well. The rest is history.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

I would say that it is sort of a catch-all for comic book reader needs. You have the wiki, you have podcasts, videos, news, articles, some creators hang out there, and of course, the fans are there. Back when the site had dark mode, I would have said that it also looked better than other sites. Alas...

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

The challenge. That was what made it a daily activity for me. When there were no battles I was actively interested in, I would just look for battles I felt I would have a hard time with and then cast the gauntlet, just to see if I could survive. I would not say that I always won but I do believe that, if I lost, I made every person work for their win.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

For a short time, I was heavily interested in the wiki. I lost interest fairly quickly though because the amount of work was insane. There was little content that was needed for the characters I cared about; mostly the pages I was interested in just needed grammar sweeps. The reward for time invested just was not there. Later though, I was heavily involved as a bug tester for the CV beta but it must have hit some kind of snag because the dev stopped showing up and I became too busy to keep checking. I also became deeply interested in the Off-Topic debate threads as well.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

I will always look back on my first real attempt at hosting a battle scenario as one of my favorites. It made the Battle of the Week at the time. Mechanically, it was similar to games that Dane had made previously and some other notable users made before that, but the scale, consistency, and work put in from myself as well as the participants was certainly something you did not get to see a lot of at the time. Another debate that I loved having was one about MCU Cap lifting a beam with some debris off of Bucky. I dove deep into the research on that one, going as far as to have someone with 3D imaging software provide the volume he was moving, then finding the mass by plugging in the density of various likely materials. Needless to say, MCU Cap is quite strong and it confirms that the bulldozer reference is not just hyperbole. Disagree? Prove it with physics!

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

I love seeing a detailed and fair analysis presented in a logical manner, using mature, eloquent language. However, there is a fine line between being detailed and padding your posts with superfluous information. The greats know how to be thorough, but concise. I want to learn something whenever I read a debate. I also love seeing people employ some kind of strategy. In some debate formats, you are allowed a post limit and a word count. That demands that you carefully weigh which points are worth putting forward and which counterpoints you must set aside. Anyone can create a wiki page or respect threat during a debate. Very few are able to navigate a debate with such strict limitations and do so using the written word like a paintbrush. @lunacyde is a master of this form of debate and I would read his debates no matter the topic.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

Initially, I would look for people who I thought were being rude, then I would just jump in and beat them at their own game. That was practically what defined my CV career for a time. Generally speaking though, most debaters like that were not really debaters but instead were bickerers. It became uninteresting. The later half of my time on CV was spent on scenario battles, which I found to be exciting because it was not just a debate of who can beat whom, but also a story-telling game. Coincidentally, it lit the embers of what is now my current love: Dungeons & Dragons.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Listen. Listen to your opponents. Listen to your allies. Listen to the people currently at the top of the mountain and listen to the people at the very bottom. Everyone can teach you something in how to be a great debater. Sometimes you are going to learn what not to do by observing others. Sometimes you are going to see novel tactics employed that cause an upset in a debate. If you believe yourself too good to learn from even the worst debater, you are probably not a very skilled debater yourself.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

You know, one of the reasons why I stepped away from battles and CV in general is that as I grew as a debater, it seemed like some were not. People were not interested in the discussion so much as dropping scans or links to the wiki page. In fact, in my later years, you can often find debates where I flatly refused to post a single scan. Instead, I would argue my point without physical evidence using my understanding of the characters on both sides of the debate, and my own cunning. This was in part to make it more challenging for myself but also because I wanted others to rely less on a library of feats and more on themselves. I hoped that others would gain a better understanding of the characters and develop a love for the intellectual fencing that I enjoyed. This is not really an observation that the users changed over time, but instead is one of me changing over time.

The site structure and formatting changed multiple times over the years. Were there particular eras of different site formats you liked best?

Dark mode. Why did you guys take that away!? There have been many changes to the site over the years and honestly, it is hard to remember them all. I know that I loved some changes and that I hated some others. You have to roll with the punches though. Aside from perhaps a bit of grumbling when the changes went live, I just shrugged my shoulders and dismissed the change. I still have not seen a comic site that I like better from an aesthetics point of view.

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

I kind of addressed this on my first encounter with Vance but... @morpheus_, @dane, @vance_astro, @lunacyde, @k4tzm4n, @god_spawn, @thetruebarryallen, @jedixman, @lvenger, @the_creator, and so many more. I had been on CV for a very long time before I stepped away, but they were the kings. They are all very intelligent, emotionally balanced people. They are creative, measured, resrouceful, and respectful people. If you want to see rational, articulate arguments, you can select any one of them and find learn a great deal. They all have different styles of debate but they are all titans lording over even the debating gods.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

I believe that I made some significant contributions on the Battle Forum. Many of the rules that you currently use in scenarios to this day are rules I helped develop This goes for a lot of standard battle conditions for regular battles. I also helped develop the Battle Forum Rules during a time when a few of us had temporarily left to start our own site; some of those rules were brought with us when we returned. I also developed in a few users a healthy respect for Wonder Woman, one of my favorites, when she used to be so easily dismissed in debates. Lastly, I hope that I have given people an interest in self-improvement as a debater. Either because they had seen me debate well and took interest or they saw me dress a debater down and hoped to avoid drawing my hellish rebuke (D&D reference, lulz).

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

I feel like the moderators are generally a lot better than they used to be. Many of the mods that are around are previous debaters... Good debaters too. Battle mods understand the nuance to debate and can interpret the rules evenly and without bias (most of the time). Generally, I think the moderators now just want what is best for the forum and what can foster passionate, though friendly discussion.

Do you have any other observations you'd like to share with our readers about the Battle forums, from the perspective of someone who has participated in them for a number of years?

Most of what I could offer is already covered but one thing I will add is that this should not be the highlight of your day. There is a lot out there in the world that is interesting and fulfilling. Debate is awesome and thrilling, but if you do not temper that experience with things beyond this hallowed place, you cannot have a life that you truly enjoy.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

In 2007-2008 I really started to get into fictional character battles and first I found Comic Book Universe Battles (CBUB) and became active there. I remember that I joined Comicvine after someone else came to CBUB talking about Comicvine and how great it was. At first I was like, yeah right, sure. But then I stopped by to check it out and ended up liking it so much I stayed. A lot of the other stuff has kind of fallen away over the years and honestly the only thing that keeps me coming back anymore is the scenarios.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

Anymore I’m not sure. I think at this point it's just the nostalgia and level of comfort I have with the site. I don’t have the time or energy to search out other potential comic sites and it is nice coming back and having some people know who you are. Back in the day when I was really active and loved the site I would have said it was the people that made it different. There were a lot of great friends I’ve made on Comicvine over the years and they were the ones that really made the site special to me.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

I’ve really fallen out of love with the battle forums, and I think to a degree it may just be something you grow out of. I can’t really speak for anyone else, but I’ve found myself growing tired with the normal battle forum scene. Maybe it just isn’t meant to be a part of someone’s life for 12 years. I had my glory years in the battles forum but I have to say at this point they are behind me. I hope that new generations of Viners can continue to have the great times I did though.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

I used to spend a lot of time arguing with people on the off-topic forums, but I think age has really changed me and made me less interested in wasting time arguing in circles. Other than that not much.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

Hmmm...no regular battles, none of those really stand out, but there are quite a few scenario threads that I really enjoyed and found memorable. First, there was the Assassinate Padme Amidala thread, which was one of my early attempts at scenario battles, and then more recently I really loved Gaslight Empire and the Game of Thrones scenarios. Lastly, I can’t finish without giving a shameless plug for our current scenario which has been a lot of fun. Floopay is running it and doing an awesome job with help from a few of us, and we’re having a lot of fun so anyone interested should definitely join.

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

It really all comes down to the debaters. Are they creative? Do they convey their argument well? Are they clear and concise? Are their posts full of mistakes and logical fallacies? There are two main components though in my opinion. 1. They have to know what they are talking about. No one wants to listen to someone lie or make up stuff. 2. Are they good at presentation? Beyond being good at debating, the best arguments to read are ones that are presented in a way that makes them fun and easy to read. No one wants to slog through confusing, boring, overly technical debates. Its truly an art to master the balance between saying enough and not saying too much.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

Scenarios, scenarios, scenarios...I love the freedom they give you, the chance to overcome obstacles and solve problems, and develop characters while giving them the powers of your favorite characters. The mix and match building style never gets old for me.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

You can always improve. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and work on them. Debating is an art, it takes practice and active engagement.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

I’ve changed so much it is hard to say. I like to avoid making sweeping proclamations about different generations of debaters. I think the best debaters were in my heyday with @morpheus_, @k4tzm4n, @atphantom, @erik, @dane, @static_shock, @vance_astro, @ferro_vida, @geraldthesloth and so on, but honestly that is just personal preference. I think we all have a lot more in common than we have different.

The site structure and formatting changed multiple times over the years. Were there particular eras of different site formats you liked best?

If I’m being honest it has changed so many times I have lost track, but there were definitely previous versions I liked a lot more, back in the day.

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

I respect a lot of debaters, it would take a long time to list all the debaters I respect. In addition to those I’ve already listed (I consider Morpheus perhaps the greatest debater I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with), there are people like @thetruebarryallen, @floopay, @dondave, @juiceboks, @higorm, @fetts, @vuviper, @wyldsong, @the_creator, Gambler@jean_luc_lebeau, Buckshot, @zoom, @jedixman, @lance_uppercut, @saren, @god_spawn, @granitesoldier...I could keep going. There are a lot of great guys I’ve seen debate over the years. I consider Morpheus my primary role model, with a bit of Erik and Dane as well, and a tad of K4tz. These days I like to look to TTBA on how to make posts fun and engaging.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

Just being part of the evolution of battle scenarios from the beginning and getting to be friends with so many cool dudes.

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

I’m not really sure. I have a hard time comparing then to now with all the changes I’ve gone through. I was 18 when I joined the site and now I’m 30 with a wife and a kid. I don’t know what has actually changed and what is just my perception of change. I do think there was definitely a big change when the site was sold to gamespot, and I think that off-topic has slowly devolved into a cesspool, but other than that I’m not sure.

Why did you join Comic Vine? Why have you continued to be a part of the site over all these years?

I joined Comicvine because it was the most unique comic book forum I had ever seen. I don't have alot of friends who read comics so I didn't really have a place I could interact with other people on that subject, so when I found Comicvine and I saw how people engaged each other in the forums, I wanted to be a part of that.

What does Comic Vine do well? What does it offer that other sites don’t?

I think the Wiki Database is one of my favorite parts of the website. Other forums have wikis but this seems to be the most detailed and reflective of our userbase than other what's on other websites.

What do you like about the Battle forums in particular?

The battle forums taught me how to gather information and apply it quickly, back when I first started even if people didn't know anything about a character they would do research to make their case, we would all do it.

Through exchanging information to make our points we would kind of teach each other about characters. That was the fun part to me, learning different things about characters that I didn't know.

Other than the Battle forum, are there other parts of the site you participate in a lot, such as the wiki or other forums?

I don't really participate in other types of forums outside of battles. I will respond to something in general once in a while. I have done RPGs and wrote a fanfic (those are probably lost in the aether somewhere) but I do read what people are doing in those forums if even I don't comment on them.

Do you have any favorite battles that you made or debated in?

I have participated in a ton of different battles, some threads lasting hundreds of pages and I've enjoyed the majority of them but I have to say my favorites are....

This one with Strider1992- https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/cav-vance-astro-spider-woman-vs-strider92-spider-m-1451965/?page=1

This one with cosmicallyaware1 - https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/cav-mimic-ca1-vs-ms-marvel-vance-astro-closed-1620232/

They aren't my favorites because I feel like I nailed my assessment of who would win but more because I respected the guys involved and had fun with it.

What makes a battle debate fun for you to read?

How much I learn from a battle is usually my favorite part but also, I like to see if the perspective I went into the battle with could be challenged. People have made me change my mind before but I really just like to see things about characters from someone else's perspective.

What kinds of battles do you like to participate in? What makes you likely to join in on a debate thread?

I mostly like participating in battles with "street level" characters, vigilantes, guys in costumes, low level villains. Characters with alot of powers create too many variables and they have alot of ridiculous feats you have to break down.

I like a big super strength brawl every once in a while; two super powerful characters going at it but even in comics I think the more interesting match-ups are with the lower level characters...the Batman's, the Daredevil's, the Wolverine's, the Bullseye's, characters like that. Just seems like there's more stakes involved, makes for a better read.

Do you have any tips for current debaters?

Have fun and don't take this so seriously. I didn't learn until much later in my time on the forums. You enjoy battles more when you just relax. You don't get anything for winning a debate.

Have you noticed any differences in how users changed over time?

Yes, but when I first started debating around on Comicvine it seemed like certain schools of thought were dicatated by the more popular/active moderators. There were certain opinions on battles that were held up as gospel. Everyone seems to do their own thing now, which is great.

The site structure and formatting changed multiple times over the years. Were there particular eras of different site formats you liked best?

I miss the 2010 version of CV and my big avatar and my big red moderator bar under my name lol.

Who are some other debaters who you respect, and why? Were there any debaters you looked up to when you started, who you used as a role model for how to properly debate?

@static_shock, Gambler/@jean_luc_lebeau, @methos, Buckshot & @the_creator basically raised me in the battle forums. They were the guys here when I first started that everyone respected including me. I learned alot from them and through trial & error and going back and forth with them, I became the debater I am today.

What are some of your contributions to the Vine that you are most proud of?

Probably my Daredevil wiki entry because I read over 100 comics to get it done.

What has changed for the better over the years that Comic Vine has been around?

Nothing in particular. It feels like the same old CV, just different members.

Do you have any other observations you'd like to share with our readers about the Battle forums, from the perspective of someone who has participated in them for a number of years?

Cyclops is a way harder character to debate against than it appears. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE CYCLOPS!

@majinblackheart@bramvanelteren@mcu_jedi_bob@ghostravage@anthp2000@higherpower@wyldsong@kevd4wg@heirtothekingdom@jashro44@warlockmage@morpheus_@cull_obsidian@owie@lubub55@darth_nimrod @acrokat@full123@major_hellstrom@mickey-mouse@giliad_@jucaslucasa@thedailybagel@deathhero61@ordinaryalan@andromeda101@shade545@underfire47@noobmaster2001@the_magister@KolKent@The_Kidd@Kangconquers@_Logos_@PyroFN@mysticmedivh@thevoidofdeath@straight-fire@baph@sazzmi@soratoumiga@kevd4wg@the_hajduk@noone1996@ouroborik@brucerogers@apex_pretador@battle123axe@vertigo-@supremegeneration@del_torro_@koays@blackspidey2099@pipxeroth@fetts@god_spawn@reaverlation@geekryan@xZone@Ecoblitz@takenstew22@DCandMarvelComicFan@PSI-BITE234@Kryptonianking@BladeOfFury@Mo_Ail@Zetsu-San@lazarus4tempest@Mooty_Pass@Thorthunder98@MorbusGrav@NWName@animehunter@Thor_Parke

In this battle made by @jonathancarlton we have The God of Thunder facing off against the Queen of Atlantis. On both sides of the debate there are some interesting arguments. The Thor side debates for a physical advantage and lightning attacks, the Mera side focuses on draining and speed. Both sides counter each other hard here. The conversation here is civil and it’s a good debate overall. Definitely worth a read.

This battle, made by @ultraphoenix, focuses on the technological capabilities of four of the smartest teambusters of the two big comic companies. What I personally like about these kinds of battles is that they are unique and they are providing better arguments than the normal physical-based battles. In the first round we have the titled characters, but in the second round some more geniusses join the fun. The second round isn’t very featured in the debate, so check it out and see if you can debate for someone here.

After almost a year, @jashro44 is back and better than ever with a new Deadliest Warrior. This time, we see Jashro handling the arguably two strongest street-levelers. The Immortal Iron Fist vs The Amazing Spider-man! The post is steady and goes over nearly all abilities the two characters have. He even argued about wall-crawling which I never thought would be useful in a fight. It’s a long read, but definitely worthy of your time.

@defiant_will reps Afro Samurai and @blackpantherisb debates in favor of his eponymous Black Panther in this battle between, as they say in the debate, "two trailblazers for black representation in anime and comics respectively, both infamous for their martial art skill and prowess. Both seeking vengeance against their father's killer and going on to inherit his legacy." It's a tightly and deeply-argued debate that started a while ago but is now heating up again. This is a great spot to read up on one of Marvel's most prominent and dominant streetlevelers alongside the lesser-known but also formidable and beloved Afro Samurai.

We've featured several debates from this tournament in past issues, and here's another one you should check out. @hittheassasin argues for a fusion of characters from diverse verses: Palpatine (Star Wars), Funny Valentine (JoJo), Darquesse (Skulduggery Pleasant), Lille Barro (Bleach), and Vanessa Enoteca (Black Clover). @blackspidey2099 reps an all-Marvel team of Adam Warlock, Kang, Spider-man, Doc Ock, the Jackal, and SHIELD's Leopold Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and AIDA. There's tons of complicated strategy going on here, with lots of hax and prep geniuses working their way around each other.

In this live-action battle, @xzone reps Thor and @cocacolaman takes the side of Doomsday. In many ways it's a straightforward battle, with lots of punching and hacking. But these two debaters do a great job representing their sides' abilities using a great set of clear tables and detailed GIFs. This is another one that went on a bit of a pause but is now raging back into action. If you like a straight-up beat-'em-up kind of battle, this is for you.

@shirso debates for Rob Lucci from One Piece and @faradaysloth has Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach in this lengthy and extremely detailed set of arguments. These two debaters are going at it with hammers and tongs with each other, sparing each other no quarter, but in a great example for the community, that doesn't stop them from being complimentary and respectful about each other's work. The mid-debate comments from other users are all very enthusiastic, so check out what's going on.

Big RT on the major league (for Spider-Man anyway) villain. A lot of detail in terms of sub headings and descriptions, a lot of contextual information as well on top of all of that. Some of the scans don't exactly convey what Noob is trying to say description wise (probably due to overediting the scans and cropping them a lot) but for the most part, it isn't a problem when trying to read it from a casual level. A fun read overall, even if calling him potentially one of the strongest villains in the world is a tiny bit of a stretch, lol

With the breakaway success of the Live Action adaptation of The Boys heading into a second (and production for a third) season, the long awaited update for Homelander's RT was also done, adding in new feats to further disclose his power level beyond the admittedly scarce amount he got for the first season. Simple format that also goes one step beyond, adding in specific quotes and character statements, putting even more detail down for a full and comprehensive analysis. Solid work and definitely above average for LA standards.

Another simple and relatively to the point RT about the Titans adaptation of Starfire, focusing on more of a visual format that shows rather than tells you how strong she is. While there is a issue of lacking citations for which episode goes with each feat, the RT regardless goes well into how strong she is by presenting her against other characters and how potent her powers are. A nice quick read that goes into all the details needed.

Future State can basically be summed up as the bridge connecting Dark Nights: Death Metal and DC's more long-term plans for 2021. Death Metal has been exploring the Justice League's final battle with Perpetua, the dark goddess who birthed the DC multiverse. It's probably safe to assume Diana and friends will ultimately triumph over Perpetua and her minion The Batman Who Laughs, and that the multiverse will be restored. As writer Scott Snyder discussed at NYCC, the goal of Death Metal isn't to reboot DC continuity in the vein of previous Crisis events, but to highlight how all of DC's history matters and carries weight.

That will continue to be DC's guiding philosophy as the company moves forward from Death Metal. Though before readers see exactly what state the DC Universe is in post-Death Metal, DC is jumping ahead and exploring its future. Future State is a series of interconnected stories - many of them set in the year 2030 but some even further down the DC timeline - that shows us the more long-term ramifications of Death Metal. Again, there's no one book forming the backbone of Future State. Readers are free to pick and choose which titles or creative teams interest them, but taken as a whole it forms a larger examination of what happens when a newer generation of heroes step up to replace Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

DC Comics just announced Future State, a two-month event where most of DC's comics will be replaced by a new lineup. The stories take place in 2030, debuting a new cast of characters as well as future versions for other established characters. One of those new characters is Yara Flor, the brand new Wonder Woman.

The character is called Yara Flor, born in the Amazon and raised from a young age to be a warrior. It will be part of a future version of the Justice League, in which Superman is Jon Kent. The heroine will be featured in the Future State arc comics, which will change the status quo of several DC characters and will take place in the not-too-distant future. Details on how Yara gains her powers and the title of Wonder Woman have yet to be released, which is expected to change as Future State unfolds. With golden armor with red accents, she carries a different version of the Lasso of Truth, with spheres at the ends.

Future State: How Superman and the DC Universe Will Evolve in 2021?

- insight from newly promoted Superman Group Editor Jamie S. Rich.

"We will eventually discover that there are connections to the other tribes of the Amazons that we have established," said Rich. "Yara does have some connection to the Amazons, and part of what we'll discover in her origin is what activates her position, what makes her Wonder Woman at this time. She's from Brazil, but was an immigrant to America. There's also that element of her story. Even though we'll see her currently active as Wonder Woman, eventually we'll learn what her origin is - partially her figuring out what that means, where she's from, why this is her, how she relates to Diana, how she relates to the other Amazons."In many ways, Yara Flor is the polar opposite of Diana Prince.

In many ways, Yara Flor is the polar opposite of Diana Prince.

"Joelle was looking at Yara as - she is new to this," continued Rich. "Her humanity is still very much intact and very much important. From a reader standpoint, what does that mean for me when I look at this character? Diana Prince is a goddess, so she's always a bit above us. This is a chance to sort of get back to some of the early roots of Wonder Woman where Diana was trying to be human and trying to learn how to be human. Now we're going the opposite way - how does a human learn how to be a goddess?"

But even as Future State establishes Yara Flor and her relationships with her fellow young heroes, Future State will also spotlight the Amazonian warrior Nubia and even Diana Prince herself. Rich teased that we'll see the original Wonder Woman fighting at the very end of time, quite possibly the last surviving member of Earth's golden age of heroes.

These gauntlet type battles are defintely some of my favourites. In this particular one created by @tony_stark82, Iron man goes up against 11 Marvel and DC characters ranging from the classic Captain America to the more recent Immortal Hulk. There are two scenarios. In scenario 1 it's a classic battle with hax and weird stuff. Scenario 2 is solely based around physicals. In both rounds Tony has the Bleeding Edge armor and one week of prep.

Overall, the arguments presented are pretty good and they are fun to read. The debaters still haven't come to a conclusion (even though the thread has been dead for 2 days now). This battle stood out with good debating.

This debate took a little while to get off the ground as one of the members had to be substituted out, but now that it got going at the top of page 2, it is off to a great start. @higorm is debating for Black Panther and Superior Spider-man, and @ashrym is taking the side of Jason Todd and Artemis Grace. The writing is great and insightful, the debate dynamic is friendly and competitive, and I'm learning a lot about the characters. This tourney puts a particular focus on teamwork and the context, which is a fun additional aspect to think about.

This is a great idea for a tourney: who is the best detective? @naronu is defending Hercule Poirot from Agatha Christie, and @shirso is arguing for the book version of Sherlock Holmes. The posts so far are fun and get into the detectives' abilities at solving crimes, which is a really complicated thing to debate about, so my hat's off to them. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the debate unfolds.

This is an interesting two-on-one debate scenario, with @maestromage and @darthjhawk repping Byakuya and Hitsugaya, respectively, and @beowulf_ representing Amaterasu. It is always enjoyable to see the way people take on a CaV with multiple participants. This can easily get muddled, but here it's working out pretty well so far. The arguments are complicated and well-described. Check it out and see how this one works out.

One of the many RTs by @professorrespect covers one of the many characters I didn't even know the existence of until now. At first glance, the character sounds like a pretty lame Amazo knock-off. After reading the RT he still is but he does sound pretty cool. Stalin describe him as "A innovative robot designed by A.I.M, the Adaptoid is designed to perfectly copy powers, stats and skills of meta-humans, mutants, aliens, robots, etc. If it has fancy powers, it can learn and use them just as well if not greater. Even massively complicated concepts like knowledge aren't beyond it."

What should be noted though, is that this is a robot and that multiple versions were made, including Norman Osborn via implants or some weird stuff like that.

Another Stalin RT since there weren't many RTs this week. Anyway, this RT covers The Freak, an obscure Spider-man villain who made like 2 appearances or something and then no one ever saw him again. This guy can adapt to anything after he gets damaged. Basically the same thing as Doomsday but Spider-man tier. He doesn't have much, but he's impressive nonetheless. The RT is well made and has some good structure, as well as citations.

As the true omnipotent being in DC comics, you wouldn't expect the Presence to be needing an RT, but the character is pretty complex and has a lot of different versions. Made by @y3kthunder, who also made the RTs for his sons Michael and Lucifer, the RT covers most if not all of his appearances. This RT isn't divided in the usual categories like strength, speed, durability etc. but in the names the Presence has been referred to over the years like "The Voice," "The Hand" and some more. While it doesn't have citations, the structure of the RT is pretty good.

History

The Runaways first appeared in 2003. Since then, they have had a total of four solo series (2003-04, 2005-08, 2008-09, and 2017-present), plus a couple limited series with the Young Avengers (2006 and 2008) and a Secret Wars Battleworld mini (2015). Their members were also regularly featured in Avengers Arena, Avengers A.I., and A-Force. They also had an eponymous TV show that ran for three seasons on Hulu from 2017-2019.

The basic idea of the Runaways is that adults suck and can’t be trusted, and kids should be autonomous rather than live with them. This is particularly true for Alex Wilder,Molly Hayes, Gert Yorkes, Nico Minoru, Chase Stein, and Karolina Dean, the original Runaways, whose parents turn out to be a cabal of supervillains intent on sacrificing humanity to an extradimensional evil.

The kids end up with a variety of powers and tech themselves, and defeat their parents, then go on the run along with Old Lace, a sentient Deinonychus.

Villains

Since then, they have fought a wide variety of enemies, including vampires, a Justice League leader-type guy who isn’t what he seems, aliens of various sorts, early-1900s powered street gangs, evil alien gods, Ultron, the Wrecking Crew, their parents, and adults of all kinds.

Their villains in general tend to be off-beat, with a lot of personality and weirdness going on. There are good fights from a battle-forum point of view, but their confrontations are also a mix of goofy fun and emo drama.

Additional Members

Their membership has fluctuated over time. Both Alex and Gert died and came back to life. Xavin, a Skrull seemingly fated to be Karolina’s love, and Klara Prast, a girl from the early 1900s with plant powers, joined for a while. Gib, the demigod child of their former enemies, and Doombot (the one from Avengers A.I.) have joined recently. The most notable member non-original member is Victor Mancha. He joined in the second volume, and has largely been around since. Victor is an android created by Ultron, so Victor is considered to be the brother of Vision and in a sense the grandson of Hank Pym.

Powers

The Runaways’ powers make them a pretty tough group to beat if they’re fighting seriously, although they do have some Achilles’ heels. Nico’s magic is quite powerful and can one-shot most opponents, with her inability to cast a spell more than once her only real weakness. Molly’s strength is massive, allowing her to go toe-to-toe with all but the highest tier of Marvel, but she falls asleep after expending too much energy. Victor is a pretty powerful technopath, and is fated under some futures to become a villain that can single-handedly defeat the Avengers. And while Gib hasn’t really been in any battles with them yet (excepting as part of montages of Doc Justice’s J-Team), he is basically a god.

Some of the others are less formidable but still helpful. Alex has no powers, but is a great strategist. Gert has no powers either, but controls Old Lace. Karolina is an alien who can fly and manipulate energy as blasts and shields. Chase is a tech genius who often uses gear.

Connections to the Rest of Marvel

The Runaways have mostly eschewed traditional superhero names and costumes, and in general the idea of being heroes—their main goal is to survive, not save the world. However, they did take on codenames soon after they started. Most of them are hilariously bad, however, and it usually seems like the characters have a hard time saying them with a straight face when they do use them. Molly was called both Princess Powerful and Bruiser, Chase was called Talkback, Karolina was called Lucy in the Sky, Gert and her dinosaur were called Arsenic and Old Lace, and Nico was Sister Grimm. These days they almost always just use their real names.

While the Runaways often try to avoid other super-groups, they have met or teamed up with most of the rest of Marvel’s kid/teen/previous-teen heroes, including Power Pack (Karolina dated Julie Power), Cloak & Dagger, Young Avengers, and Spider-man. Most of these others are too willing to live a conventional life compared to the Runaways, who stick to their guns about not trusting adults, even the Avengers, so the Runaways usually don’t work with them for long. Cloak and Dagger are the closest to the Runaways’ philosophy of being outlaws, and to a degree see themselves as now-older people who were once where the Runaways are now, and can help them along. The Runways have also had some interesting connections to mutantdom through Molly, who was recently seen perusing a Krakoa brochure, and who was part of the future Brotherhood in Battle of the Atom some years ago.

Hulu

The Runaways translated well to the screen, with solid acting, writing, and effects from the kids and parents, and even a crossover with Cloak and Dagger. The third-season Morgan Le Fay was a nice expansion of magic into the MCU, although it seems likely that all this is potentially no longer canon at this point. Overall it was a good show that dug out new corners of the MCUniverse, and it’s too bad that it was canceled along with the rest of the old Marvel TV series from Agents of SHIELD to the Netflix shows.

Characters and Creators

While the Runaways series have rarely been a sales hit, their writers and artists are a murderer’s row of talent, including founders Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona (later co-creator of Ms. Marvel), Takeshi Miyazawa (who was also an artist on Ms. Marvel), Josh Whedon, Terry Moore, Humberto Ramos, Kathryn Immonen, Sarah Pichelli, Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka, and Andres Genolet among others.

These creative teams mean that the Runaways are always a solid bet for excellent writing and art, and entertaining characters with a great dynamic. Standout characters include the always hilarious Molly and her goofy hats, the goth Nico, and the sensitive but frustrated Victor. The series always does a good job mixing comedy and drama. There are all kinds of time-travel complications and multiple revelations of characters being traitors to add to the dramatic and teenage-heightened emo qualities of the series.

The Runaways have also always been a particularly diverse group: they’re majority female, two of the characters are gay or bisexual (Nico and Karolina), Xavin is genderqueer, Nico is Japanese-American, Victor is Latino (or more properly Latino-Android), Alex is black, Xavin is a Skrull but usually represents him/herself as dark-skinned when in human form. This sense of inclusive representation has always powered a lot of their excitement for their fans.

Jump On In

Runaways 32, which is their first new issue to appear since Marvel temporarily stopped publishing comics in the spring, just came out last week. This volume has had great stories that really get the team dynamics across, with energetic, loose artwork that, even across a few artists, has felt like it has had a consistent style. This is the first story in a new arc, so it’s a great time to jump onboard.

@majinblackheart@bramvanelteren@mcu_jedi_bob@ghostravage@anthp2000@higherpower@wyldsong@kevd4wg@heirtothekingdom@jashro44@warlockmage@morpheus_@cull_obsidian@owie@lubub55@darth_nimrod @acrokat@full123@major_hellstrom@mickey-mouse@giliad_@jucaslucasa@thedailybagel@deathhero61@ordinaryalan@andromeda101@shade545@underfire47@noobmaster2001@the_magister@KolKent@The_Kidd@Kangconquers@_Logos_@PyroFN@mysticmedivh@thevoidofdeath@straight-fire@baph@sazzmi@soratoumiga@kevd4wg@the_hajduk@noone1996@ouroborik@brucerogers@apex_pretador@battle123axe@vertigo-@supremegeneration@del_torro_@koays@blackspidey2099@pipxeroth@fetts@god_spawn@reaverlation@geekryan@xZone@Ecoblitz@takenstew22@DCandMarvelComicFan@PSI-BITE234@Kryptonianking@BladeOfFury@Mo_Ail@Zetsu-San@lazarus4tempest@Mooty_Pass@Thorthunder98@MorbusGrav@NWName@animehunter@thor-parker

Rather than just a straight up fight, this battle focuses on what two of the smartest men in Marvel can do with their prep time. Created by @ffs91, this battle is between Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-man and T'Challa, The Black Panther (the first ten posts are about Spider-man vs Deathstroke but ffs changed that). Anyway, arguments for both Spider-man vs Deathstroke and Spider-man vs Black Panther are present, although the former hasn't gotten its shine.

In this battle created by @shirso, Dragon Kaido from the anime One Piece faces off against Kurama from the anime Naruto. I don't know anything about either of these characters, but based on the poll results it's fairly even. This thread specifically is awesome, because instead of the average flamewar hapening between battles of these specific fandoms, this battle actually has good debating in it. One of the best anime threads currently popular in my opinion.

I love the idea behind this tournament. Instead of normal battles there are scenario's from various media (although we have only seen one). In this specific round @sawed_off_it reps Dracula from Lord of Shadows and @geekryan represents an Avarter trio consisting of Lin Beifong, Amon and the Lieutenant. The CaV represents a scenario from the game Bioshock 2 where you have to capture more "little sisters" than your opponent in a limited amount of time. Overall, Geek and Sawed are two respected debaters and you can see that in their posts.

Thus far, this is a tournament that has spawned some good matches. In this specific one, it's @mass vs @shirso. These two are well respected debaters and it shows. Shirso is using Samurai Jack, who is always a fun character to see repped. Mass is using Gang Wu Jin from Trinity Wonder. I don't claim to know who that is, but based on Mass' opener he seems cool. I would definetly recommend you checking this one out.

Another great tournament match, we have @anthp2000 and @stormshadow_x facing off against each other. ANTHP uses Tenzin and Lin Biefong from the Avatar series in a team of earth and wind. On the other hand, stormshadow uses a team of fire and ice with Scorpion and Sub-Zero from the Mortal Kombat games. It's a very interesting read with two CV veterans, so definetly check this one.

Ego is one of my bigger pet projects, both literally and figuratively. Seeing as the Reddit one lacked feats and citations, I made a better one with actual information and context about the feats. It's a really fun look into a unique character that goes deep into how he works, as well as what Ego can actually do.

This is the first RT from a new guy onto the scene by @bramvanelteren, who if you have keen eyes, also does work at the TDD issues as well. Anyway, his first RT is a nice, compact article that covers a pretty obscure gem that goes into some great detail about his powers and physical stats. The formatting does need some work (namely, the need to use side to side scan formatting apart from stacking the images on top of each other, as well as the detail of the feats discussed) but it's a really solid first attempt, and worth checking out.

Another @noobmaster2001 style RT, focusing on a very vague Ghost Rider character with some impressive hax, even if it is pretty commonplace for mystic guys to have hax like that. The RT in terms of format is fine, standard stuff as per the usual output, even if some of the references to other characters for simple scaling aren't really clear. Regardless, it's a focused effort on another character people may not know about.

This RT focuses on a web comic: a unique format, even for CV. While the feats are covered in really good detail and are certainly not lacking in terms of context or syntax, but it does have a few nagging issues that I would need to bring up: namely, the lack of citations, which is a big no no in most RT's (unless you focus on Reddit RT quality.....but who would do that?) and having really massive full page scans, which are usually quite blurry and not easy to see.

These aren't massively problematic issues BUT are things you need to keep on track when you make one of these. Ofc this seems to be @rac95's first attempt at making a proper RT, so these are understandable things to trip up on, and certainly fixable. Regardless, it's a unique insight into a very obscure genre, which takes some guts to cover in the first place, lol.

For this week’s character of the week, we’re going to go down into a deep cut, and talk about Commodore Planet. Why? Basically because he’s a great example of the kind of character that shows up a couple of times and is pretty impressive, but also totally dorky, and is never used again. Basically, he’s the kind of character that Scourge loved to kill back in the day, or the kind that still shows up in the Bar With No Name.

First of all, let’s be clear that Commodore Donny Planet is NOT the same as Captain Planet, the much better-known character from TV cartoons about the environment from the ‘90s; the Commodore actually predated him. He had one appearance in Power Man and Iron Fist 87 in 1982, followed an appearance in Moon Knight 26 just one month later. Two appearances in two months? Sounds like the start of a hot trend, right? Nope. He flew into comics like a comet and then returned to the Oort Cloud of nowheresville comicdom with the same speed. Even Brian Michael Bendis and Al Ewing, who love to bring back random characters from decades past, haven’t touched Commodore Planet (yet).

Both Commodore Planet issues were written by the late Denny O’Neil, who sadly died this summer, and both featured Moon Knight, who guested in Power Man and Iron Fist. O’Neil, the legendary writer and editor, and creator of celebrated storylines like Speedy’s heroin addiction and signature characters like Ra’s Al Ghul, seemingly thought there was storytelling gold to be found in Commodore Planet, but unfortunately Planet never even lived up to the low bar of another of O’Neil’s characters, Hydro-man.

Let’s start by describing him. Commodore Planet dresses in an absurd naval-style dress uniform, and is a fairly rotund fellow. Presumably his girth is where his name comes from, because there’s no other explanation for why he’s called “Planet.” He tends to go around shouting about why he’s unbeatable with the greatest of hyperbole.

But as much as he deserves to be made fun of, he could also kick some butt. He went toe to toe with Iron Fist, with Danny admitting that he could barely beat him, and then he took on Power Man and eventually Moon Knight. He’s not a guy to be messed with. Let’s look at his skillz.

Fights

IRON FIST FIGHT

irst, his size works somewhat like Kingpin’s: he’s strong and his bulk protects him from damage. Iron Fist hit him with a non-powered martial arts blow with no effect. Commodore Planet, it turns out, can also weaponize his entire body in a fashion he says is similar to Danny’s Iron Fist. Also like Fisk, Planet is unexpectedly fast.

He almost squeezes the breath out of Danny, pressing him against the wall with his bulk. Danny actually seems like he’s in real danger, but he squishes himself out and then seems to use his Iron Fist on his feet (note the glow), knocking the Commodore’s head against the wall and knocking him out. Danny actually says “He was tough…almost as tough as anyone I’ve encountered.” Given the bad guys Danny comes in contact with (even back then, he was fighting guys like Sabretooth), that’s high praise.

LUKE CAGE FIGHT

Planet later has a short fight with Luke Cage in an alley, getting all white supremacist with his “barbarian” put down. He punches Luke into a wall, sending bricks flying everywhere, so he really packs some solid striking force. Luke, however, punches the Commodore in the gut and takes him out. (We don’t see him actually knocked out, this is the only page of the fight.)

MOON KNIGHT FIGHT

In the Moon Knight issue, Marc punches him in the face to no avail, and is quickly caught and crushed by the Commodore’s “grip like steel.” Moon Knight assumes that Planet's durability doesn’t extend to his eardrums, and boxes him in both ears, which Planet calls his “single weak point.” I guess he’s immune to the ol’ kick in the groin then?

Marc is impressed, because anyone else would be unconscious from his double head tap, and Planet’s bear hug was no joke—Marc’s "chest and belly are on fire!” And if you know Moon Knight’s legendary durability, that’s saying something.

Marc does manage to dodge the Commodore’s next attack despite Planet's speed, and gets in another hit of his own, but Donny shrugs it off and gives Moon Knight a good ka-pow right in the kisser! Planet’s ready to crush Moon Knight’s head in his hands, but Marc senses that Planet is perhaps not so at home in his body after all, and is able to throw him due to his poor balance. Then Marc kicks him out the window into the ocean, where Planet almost drowns.

And that is the last time we’ve seen Commodore Planet.

Powers

Commodore Planet’s durability was such that he could take punches from Iron Fist and Moon Knight without even reacting, but he was vulnerable to strikes in his ears, and from Danny's Iron Fist/Feet and Power Man’s superhuman strength. So clearly superhuman, somewhere at the border between high street and low-mid.

Planet’s strength was capable of smashing a brick wall, holding Moon Knight (who at the time did not have superhuman strength) in place, theoretically crushing a skull in his hands, and compressing Iron Fist against a wall. Probably a couple tons.

Where did he get his abilities? When he’s talking with Iron Fist, he seems knowledgeable about K’un-Lun, and says he learned his techniques (controlling his whole body in a way that's similar to the Iron Fist) somewhere similar, which implies that his abilities are learned and skill-based ("I would imagine it's pretty much the same technique"). But when he’s fighting Moon Knight, he says he was subjected to an experiment that “greatly enhanced [his] strength and durability,” which sounds quite different. And Moon Knight thought Planet had poor balance, which you would think would improve if you had a martial arts internal-power style of training. I guess we’ll never know the answer to this grand mystery wrapped in a contradiction unless some hero of the comic writing world decides to bring him back.

Equipment

Commodore Donny Planet commands both a submarine and a shipping trawler, and does business with various underworld figures, including weapons running.

Battle Forum regulars, who wants to try Commodore Planet out in your next debate?