Interlude: Ultron

Before reading, check out this video. Start at 2:44 and watch until 3:48. (Or watch the whole thing, cause it's awesome.)

Ultron is a Marvel villain, a robot built by Dr. Henry Pym (Ant-Man) with some help from Tony Stark. (Iron Man.) Ultron has remained in the comics for years, and was the one that destroyed the Avengers and took over the world. Yes, you heard that right. He destroyed the Avengers, the only one to do so. Yes, I am a big fan. However, I'm not hear to give a history lesson, for these interludes I do always have a morale purpose.

Ultron in his past animated incarnations has always been portrayed as an evil, emotionless villain. However, in this show, he is portrayed  as not "evil." Let me explain. Ultron was built to help humanity, but he went above his simple programming, he realized that humanity CAN'T be helped with artificial needs. The only solution was to destroy all of it and start from scratch.

Ultron was following his programming, humanity as a whole couldn't be helped, so he searched for a solution. Check out this video, start at 4:31 and end at 5:10.

Ultron says that humanity is flawed, and is encoded with chaotic and violent tendencies. Couldn't be more true. No matter what is done to humanity, if 10,000 charities were opened right this minute, it wouldn't make a difference in the long run. Why? Since we are flawed, it doesn't matter. We cannot achieve peace, we are all encoded with chaotic and violent tendencies, so the only solution Ultron could decipher was that humanity cannot be helped, and would eventually destroy themselves.

Overall, it's quite interesting when you really look at it. Ultron simply was following his programming, but seeing the bigger picture of it all. Humanity, us, are flawed and nothing can change that except the "Light" as I would call it.

Well, I hope this made sense. Thanks for reading. Be sure to check out the Avengers comics next summer, the Age of Ultron starts there.

Book 1: The Tower of Babel

I honestly almost had forgotten about this story, I was so sure that Abraham was next. Anyways, this is a turning point for our history, and it demonstrates how anti-Godly a lot of people were.

The story really begins with a descendant of Noah: Nimrod. This mighty hunter is responsible for building many cities, Babylon being one of them. Something I never noticed before was that he was the one that built Nineveh, the corrupt city where Jonah was sent. Ah, it's amazing how you learn something new everyday. So, this Nimrod built the city known as Babylon, where he started his own false religion. This guy appears to be the first "mighty" person, in the verse he is described as "mighty" three times. So this guy was the first "tyrant." (Every era has one, this guy, Nero, Stalin, etc.) He described as a mighty "hunter."  This guy set the example, and the people following him had a splendid idea.

Why not make a name for themselves and build a tower that could reach into the Heavens?!

Yeah, it's a pretty interesting concept. Instead of populating the earth like God wanted them too, they decided that would rather stay in Babylon and build a great tower. Sigh, the humanity of it all. According to one of my sources, it is said that within the tower, instead of worshiping God, they worshiped idols made of wood, stone and metal. According to Revelation, it looks like Babylon was the inspiration for all things evil after the Fall and the Flood. God even remembered the city Chapter 16:19 while the "end of the world" was happening.

Back on the main topic, the people building the Tower had one language, (maybe English, nah, probably Latin......okay, it's most definitely Hebrew) and wanted some publicity with the Tower. While building, God came down and had a look at what was transpiring. "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." In other words, with one language, what's to stop them from building more sinister towers? An evil cult would reign supreme, but God had other plans for the earth. If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself is the theme here. The workmen suddenly couldn't work, all of them were sounding different to each other. It was quite an intelligent approach, instead of simply mind-wiping these guys and sending them on their way, He changes the languages. So they spread all over the face of the earth. (Which means they were in America first, sorry Columbus and the Vikings.)

Overall, this story is very interesting, and goes a lot deeper when you sit down and really think about it. The world's first tyrant, Nimrod, serving as leader and the person people look to, a hunter, someone who is called "mighty." He probably slayed other cities, hunted down the weak. Fun fact I just read: Nimrod by scholars is identified with the god of Babylon, how about that? The infamous Tower of Babel will always be remembered as the event that made our languages different. I learned a lot from reading this story again, stuff I didn't realize before.

Thanks for reading.

The New 52: Positives and Negatives

It wasn't too long ago that DC announced that they would be "revamping" their universe with new origins and the numbers starting back at one. The fans were outraged, the comments nothing but bashing and bashing this controversial move. For me, it was just another article. I haven't bought a DC comic since Infinite Crisis, I collect Marvel and IDW's Godzilla. So this whole thing didn't bother me, DC has always seemed like a messed up continuity of elseworlds. I still had no intention of checking any of the series out, I was tied up with Marvel and Godzilla. However this changed. I was handed a free sampler of the New 52 at my comic shop. Looking through it, it seemed not bad, but something clicked when I read the Justice League one. The art was what grabbed me, it just looked like the best art I have ever seen in comics. Watching Batman and Green Lantern interact for the first time in so long was a treat for me, the comic itself  looked really, really high-quality. The sampler did its job, and I bought the first issue of Justice League yesterday. (My review here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Destroyer14/news/?a=45594)

Now that I'm done with the life and times of myself, I can really begin this editorial.

If you read my review, you would know that I thought the issue was excellent. It was everything a first issue was supposed to be. I know the Justice League from the cartoon years back, so I know the characters pretty well. See, with DC, it's hard to get into a series with so many storylines going on. Marvel on the other hand, has always been more new-reader friendly. Their events have always done a good job of making it new-reader friendly while at the same time continuing the saga for the fans. I rented DC's Final Crisis from my library not too long ago. While it was very interesting, I didn't really understand a lot of it, due to me having no prior knowledge of what was happening before.

Before the New 52 I've always read articles on DC online, it wasn't getting the best reviews. (Superman: Grounded? I mean really?) They have a history of elseworlds, different earths, it was hard to keep track. Every so often they would have this thing called a "Crisis" where it would involve a lot of different earths characters, so much, that it's just hard to concentrate when too much is happening at once. A character called Arion from a 2006 Superman comic said it best. Dialogue as follows:

Superman: "Wait. We just stopped a crisis like this, turned back a tide of darkness and chaos..."

Arion: Yes. And yet you never notice, do you, that it always returns, always worse?"

I am surprised that they do never notice. They keep happening and happening, to the point where it gets old. These crisis are just so huge, and way too many characters that for people that haven't read previously wouldn't get it that much. A new reader just wouldn't know where to begin, because too much is happening. That is why I think the New 52 was a great idea, it brought all those other versions and messed up continuities under one earth. I, someone who hasn't been interested in picking up a DC comic, is now collecting one. Though I do get why the fans still don't approve....

I'm going to pretend for a moment that the same thing is happening with Marvel. I'm going to pretend that at the end of Fear Itself, Thor goes back in time and destroys the Serpent before he was ever created. That sends a ripple effect changing the whole Marvel universe. It is then announced that Marvel will be starting over from scratch, revamping everything with updated origins and number ones. Would I be annoyed to have to read how the Avengers become a team after years of knowledge and reading them? Maybe.

For the Avengers, I wouldn't be that annoyed, cause they first banded when I wasn't around, back in 63. So it would be fun to see how an updated origin would look. To start out fresh. However, to watch Spidey get his powers all over again would be very annoying, since I know everything about him, and how far he's evolved as a character. In other words, I could see why the longtime readers would be annoyed. Will they stop buying? I don't think so, they might buy them grudgingly, but I could see them accepting it over time.

There was one thing I thought was wrong to do on DC's part. It was to release it right now. Why? Both Marvel and DC like to market their films so that the audience can run to the comic shop to purchase the movie character's series.  Let's face it, right now all DC has is Batman. They failed with Jonah Hex and they sadly failed with Green Lantern. Not much people have any interest in reading about either character. I think it would have been a much better decision to put off Flashpoint and the New 52 until 2013, when the new Superman film comes out. I can picture people coming out of the theater and not wanting to have to wait to see Superman's next adventure on the big screen. So, imagine seeing a powerful Number 1 in the comic book store. And once Batman concludes his trilogy next year, I'm sure non-comic fans of the film will want more. The following year, they'll see Batman alongside Superman on the Justice League, two of their favorite characters under one series. Releasing the New 52 alongside The Man of Steel would have been better marketing for DC. That is why I think it wasn't a wise decision to release the New 52 this year. I mean, by the time the Man of Steel comes out, the comics will be up to like what, number 46?

Writing so much about DC makes me want to buy more comics from them, but I could only afford Justice League. Alas, was the New 52 a wise move? Yes, I think it was, I know some people who are now getting into the DC universe thanks to the new Justice League series. Superman may look a little strange with the belt, but I am looking forward to future issues. Go to your comic book store and purchase Justice League number 1, it is worth it.

Thanks for reading.

Fear Itself: The Most Powerful Moment in All of Comics

Ah, Fear Itself. Any average comic fan should know that this is the current status quo of the Marvel universe. The big changer, they even dare say it to be "Almost as big as Civil War, maybe even bigger." While it does not live up to that event, it has been a fun ride. However, I'm not here to give a review on it.

I'm here to say what I think is the most powerful moment in all of comics.

For the people that have no clue what's it about: The Red Skull's daughter Sin unleashes the God of Fear: the Serpent, who Odin banished many years ago. Now the Serpent wants to take over the world and create a new Asgard. Can the heroes combat this threat, or will they succumb to their greatest fears?

It goes deeper than that, but you get the point.

Battling gods is nothing new for the Avengers, or really any of the Marvel heroes. But.....this was different. Bucky Barnes was eliminated, (no, that is not the moment I'm talking about) but really, we all saw that coming. How else was Steve going to become Cap again? The point is, though it doesn't do the best job of showing it, the Serpent and his army of heroes/villains turned evil Asgardians "the Worthy" are the strongest threat the Marvel universe has faced. Why? Well, I can finally get on to my point.

That scene was from the latest issue. After that, Spidey told Cap that he was leaving the battlefield. That was something else, but the scene right after that is the one I'm talking about.

The dialogue as follows,

Hawkeye: "Cap? Where's Spider-Man going?"

Cap: "I told him he could stand down."

Hawkeye: "Stand down?! Cap, how could--why?"

Cap: "Look around you, Hawkeye...we're going to lose."

Wow, I literally froze at that moment. Here was the great Captain America, the one ALL heroes look up to, the one who would face Thanos head-to-head, but for the first time ever, he says "We're going to lose." That's the biggest morale dropper right there. If Captain America says we're going to lose, then really, no other threat has come to earth such as the Serpent.

Though a lot of you may not agree with me on this, I think that exact moment, that panel, packs such a punch no other comic I've read has. The most brave hero that ever lived that has faced cosmic level threats saying that "We're going to lose" is truly something else.

And that is what I consider to be the most powerful moment in all of comics. Not a fight, not a death, just a single sentence.

Irene, a Tale from a Sideliner

On August 23rd, 2011, a small tremor struck Virginia.

It's impact was felt as far as New Jersey. It lasted no longer than twenty seconds, and we all were joking about it afterward. We thought it was over.

We were wrong.

Four days later on August 27th, the Eastern coast of America was struck by a hurricane dubbed "Irene." North Carolina was evacuated, and all of New Jersey and New York were affected. Floods and strong winds attacked until the morning of August 28th.

Now that I'm done with the Cloverfield-esque intro, I can begin this story.

It's been a strange summer, hasn't it? The rainiest I've ever seen. I never thought it would actually mean something of this magnitude.

I never really paid attention to the news when I was younger. Stuff like this, it kinda forces you to pay attention. It's was and still is all over the main networks. I've never experienced a hurricane, so this was completely new for me. My parents came home stocking with  two 24 pack waters, non-refrigerated food, and other things.

At that moment, I knew this would be something else.

Hearing on the news that this is record breaker for New Jersey was something, but the evacuations got to me.  I was not part of the evac zones, so I can't comment how that felt. As the air got darker and darker August 28th, it felt like an impending doom waiting to attack.

I even tweeted News12 personally and asked how bad this will affect my area, Old Bridge. They gave me a general answer, "All of the state will affected, make preps now!" (Not exactly what I was looking for, but I'll take it.")

Though you might not see it, you could just feel the panic in the air. In the afternoon of August 27th, I saw how fast the cars were zooming toward the about-to-be-closed bridges. In the Wal-Mart parking lot, our car almost collided with another that zoomed past us. When we went inside Lowes, I could see the tension and fear in the air.

My dad originally was going to work on Saturday, from 2 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday. He tried to get someone to cover for him, but no one was available naturally. So, I was tasked with being "man of the house" during this event. (Talk about responsibility.)

I've been a big crisis before. I was in the core of the infamous blackout of 2003. (I think that was the year.) That effected all of New York and its boroughs. I was on the train, and I was pretty young, so that was an interesting thing for me. When the train stopped abruptly and went dark, I did not feel fear, more like "What's going to happen now?" It was a burning summer day, can you imagine walking on the Brooklyn Bridge with over a hundred annoyed people?! That was the hard part.

But this hurricane was different, it was destructive.

The day of arrival, I was just thinking how hard it will hit. It kept raining off and on, almost as if the hurricane was taunting us. At around four, I told everyone we should watch a movie to kill the time. Watched Ghidorah, (my review here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Destroyer14/news/?a=45317) and after, the winds were a heck lot stronger. We have this huge tree in the back, and it was shaking. Soon after, the rain came down HARD. When I'm on the laptop, I'm near the window, so I could feel the hail-like rain striking the ground and window. It felt like doom outside, like something was waiting to swallow you up.

At around 11, watched some TV, and it wasn't raining as hard. After it was done, we put the news back on. Their first exact words were, "The weather is deteriorating , it will get worst."

Well, that was encouraging.

I heard that instead of category 2, it became a 1, which was a relief to the people. However, the news did warn us that expect to be disastrous anyway.

They said starting at midnight it will slowly get worst.

Not to mention there was a tornado watch for my county. When the wind bashes against the doors, you could hear these strange creaks, almost as if the wind was trying to get in. (Okay, enough with the paranoia.)

Well, that's one thing to know while your trying to sleep. When you wake up, will you see a tree in your window? Alas, I pretty much slept through the whole thing. When I awoke at around 10:30, I looked out my window.

Across the street laid an uprooted tree.

Besides that, not too much damage around here. The backyard was basically a mud puddle, my mom said that the worst part of the storm was over.

So it wasn't as bad as predicted. I know a lot of areas where flooded, so the aftermath of dealing with it will be tough. I know a lot of New Jersey lost power, even people I know lost power. Surprisingly, all I got was a taunting flicker, but I never lost it. Currently it's raining lightly and the winds have subsided., though I could hear some sirens out there.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are dangerous because you can't really fight them. You don't just shoot a missile and call it a day, it's uncontrollable and it becomes a battle for survival. Irene was like a monster, destruction followed in its path and when it was done, it "decided" to move away from the states it was attacking. Overall, this event felt like Cloverfield mixed with a bad weather film, a monstrous impending doom. Glad it wasn't as bad as predicted, props to the news for giving around the clock updates.

Interlude: Legion

Two years ago I came across the trailer for supernatural horror film LEGION. It looked interesting, I thought it was about demon possessed people with some angels thrown in for good measure. (I was wrong on all accounts.) I didn't really follow the film, it came, and it went. (It kinda bombed in the box office.) Fast forward a year later and I see this short clip from the film with two angels fighting, and I decide I will one day put this on Netflix. That day was yesterday, and......well, read on.

The plot as follows.

Apparently God doesn't like us anymore, so He's going to destroy all of humanity again. The archangel Micheal however sees hope for us, so he leaves Heaven. Meanwhile, there's this woman carrying this child that is said to be "humanity's last hope."

Yeah, it's as confusing as it sounds.

Archangel Micheal states that "God once sent a flood because He lost faith in humanity. Now he's doing it again with angels." Alright, true with the Flood but Genesis 8:21 clearly states that "Never again will I destroy all living creatures." So basically the whole premise of this film is inaccurate. I also don't get why Micheal and Gabriel show their forms while the other angels possess people. Speaking of that....

It would have made a heck lot more sense if those were demons instead of angels. Like, a lot them taunt the characters, I don't think angels from Heaven would taunt the humans. And what's with this baby?!

According to the Netflix description, the woman is carrying "the Messiah." I don't buy that, it was never said in the film. Even if it was, what on earth is that supposed to mean? Does this film take place after the End Times and that's supposed to represent the Second Coming? That doesn't make sense either, Revelation clearly states how He will come, and it's not like that.

I don't know if the script writers were making this without reading some of the Scripture for accuracy. There's a lot of references if you look deep. The guy that is the father of the baby is technically not really the father, but steps up to the plate anyway. (Reference: Joseph.) The part with the senior citizen lady saying that "All of them will burn." (Reference: King Herod.) So this film has a lot of those things, but it still doesn't make any sense. O_O

This film is interesting because we get to see the archangels painted in a new light. They each have character, and it was fascinating. Micheal is the general, but is really attached to the humans. Some great backstory he gives about being the first one other than the big G to witness the humans come about. Gabriel is the loyal one, eager to prove himself. It's quite interesting with these dynamics, I've never seen something where the angels have roles such as this.

Overall, Legion is interesting and has some pretty cool scenes. (One scene I'll never forget is the one with the ice cream man.) But the film itself doesn't make much sense and will have you scratching your head for the accuracy of it all. The film is trying to say something, but the only thing I got out of it was that don't lose hope, no matter how bleak the situation looks. Maybe this whole thing was just a test of faith for the characters?

With a little more backstory and explaining, LEGION could have been a really good biblical action horror film. It has a lot of hidden references, but whatever it's trying to tell you, it gets lost in the mess. Go watch Priest instead.

Book 1: Noah and the Flood

Here we are, one of the most well-known stories. By this time, the land was populated by lots of people. Of course......sadly, there was more evil than good, as God had seen. "Every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil all the time." That's pretty sad, and you could imagine how God felt. His once "very good" creation had turned....not so good. So, what was to be done? Start from scratch of course.

Send a flood that will wipe man and all living things from the earth.

That's one pretty darn epic solution if you ask me. However, there lived one soul that followed God. This soul was Noah. He was "blameless among the people of his time." So, God was going to let this guy and his family live. But how were they going to do that? Build a boat that would make even the Titanic proud of course!

I like in the verse how God is descriptive in how to make the boat. (Better known as the Ark.) Not only that, he commanded Noah to bring two of every living creature on board the vessel. (Saves the work of creating new animals later.)

I'm guessing while building the Ark Noah tried to convince the people of the upcoming storm and to repent. To these people, Noah seemed like some crazy old guy who was building a large boat. For what? Rain? HA! It's never rained before, why would it now? That was probably their response.

According to the verse, Noah was 600 years old when the Flood came. Wow, I'm going to have to say that people must have aged differently back then. 600 back then might have looked like 100 now. I believe this was the first time the earth experienced rain. Springs from the beneath ground burst, and the floodgates of the heavens opened. (I'm going to say the heavens refer to the sky.) So for forty days and forty nights the water covered the earth. I wonder what Noah and his family did in the Ark for that period of time. Fed the animals of course, and I'm guessing they played an early version of chess. How high were the waters? Look at Mt. Everest, the water covered more than twenty feet above that! Everything was wiped out, every single living thing. Except Noah and his family. (Can't forget the animals also.)

God didn't forget about them naturally, so when it was time, He sent a wind that receded the waters. Noah kept sending out a dove to see when it was safe to get out, imagine the great feeling of seeing it carry a freshly plucked olive leaf. When they had all gotten out, Noah made an altar to God. God then said that He will never again destroy all living creatures. Never again will there be such a large flood that can destroy the earth. (So that movie 2012? Nope.)

I'm no geologist, but the Flood did a lot to the climate. Before there was was no rain, and the inner earth was affected. Now for the dinosaurs question. I believe the Flood was the thing that wiped out the dinos. Then of course you're reading this and saying "Wouldn't have Noah brought some dinosaurs with him?" Now, due to the changed conditions of the earth due to the Flood, perhaps the dinosaurs couldn't live in the environment. How's that for an answer?!

The nice looking rainbow is a remembrance of God's covenant with Noah. Another fun fact is that God said that "My spirit will not contend with man forever, for man is mortal, (yeah, another term used a lot in later media) and his days will be a hundred and twenty years." Yup, so no one gets above that number. So make life count within those one hundred and twenty years!

In closing, the story of Noah and the Flood is still an interesting story to this day. How God got angry over his creation is fascinating, and the whole Flood concept is truly something else. The Ark still stands as the largest boat ever.

By the way, we just had a short earthquake hit Virginia, and it was felt all the way here in New Jersey. Wow, writing about the Flood and then feeling an earthquake.....uncanny stuff.