For The Love of Comics

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First of all, in the interest of speeding this thing up and moving on to his next tournament, Mike is hosting the polls for both semifinal battles this week so that the final can occur next week. Make sure to get over there and vote, because both of this week’s battles are worth eight points!

Last week, Superman overpowered Hulk, but there were no breakdowns submitted, so there are no bonus points for that.

Here are the current standings:

AJ holds steady at first place with six first round points for correctly predicting victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, and Hulk; six second-round points for predicting Batman’s victory over Martian Manhunter, Thor’s victory over Red Tornado, and Green Lantern’s victory over Captain America; twenty-two bonus points for posts on his myspace blog and view askew; three more bonus points for signing up for an account on The Forums of Awesome; and the ten bonus points for breakdowns this week and last for a total of FORTY-SEVEN POINTS!

Midknight has gained some ground this week with seven first round points for knowing that Batman, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, Hulk, and Superman ain’t nothing to mess with, six second-round points for knowing that Batman and Thor REALLY ain’t nothin’ to mess with, ten bonus points for posts on ComicVine, two bonus points for pimping us on his blog, one bonus point for helping Mike search for Batboat pictures, three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome, and the ten bonus points awarded for his breakdowns the last two weeks to give him a total of THIRTY-NINE POINTS!

Midknight could easily overtake AJ this week

RJP is also still in the race in third with two first round points for supporting Batman and Red Tornado, four second round points for backing Batman and Superman, 18 bonus points for posts on Between The Staples and his Facebook account, and three bonus points for signing up for the Forums of Awesome for a total of TWENTY-SEVEN POINTS!

In fourth, Xers has four first round points with victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America, two bonus points for posts on Cre8Buzz and BlackPlanet, and three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome for a total of NINE POINTS!

Patrick D. is in fifth place with two points for backing Batman and Martian Manhunter (I wonder who he’ll pick when they fight eachother?”), two bonus points for posts on Patrick Says and his Twitter, and three more bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SEVEN POINTS!

In sixth place, DougFungus has three first round points for supporting Batman, Red Tornado, and Captain America and three bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SIX POINTS!

In seventh, Weston backed Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America for a total of FOUR POINTS!

Finally, in eighth place, Naimad89 backed Batman to give him ONE POINT!

Once again, the standings are:

1st: AJ - 47 points

2nd place: Midknight- 39 points

3rd place: RJP - 25 points

4th place: Xers- 9 points

5th place: Patrick D. - 7 points

6th place: Dougfungus - 6 points

7th place Weston - 4 points

8th place: Naimad69 - 1 point

This week, Superman is throwing down with Green Lantern and Batman is taking on Thor to see who will meet in the final round of the Awesome Arena Tournament of Champions!

I’ll elaborate in the comments on Mike’s poll, but I’ll tell you my predictions now - Thor and Green Lantern in the final round.

Protest all you like, but remember this - I have yet to be wrong on an Awesome Arena pick.

Once again, don’t forget to vote in both of Mike’s polls and tell us who you think will win and why in the comments either there or here for a shot at a total of sixteen points! And don’t forget to tell me how your pick will win for a chance at five bonus points!

Also, Mike has asked me to let everyone know that the polls close this Friday instead of Sunday.

This game is still not over, folks.

Let’s get it on!

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Hulk, Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, Thor

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Cracker’s Note: This is a repost from the new Awesome Arena Site! You now have a choice between discussing the results here or over there; you’ll be awarded your points either way. Of course, if you decide to conduct all of your Awesome Arena business on the official site, I hope you’ll stop by to visit me here once in awhile.

Batman has kicked the second round of the Tournament of Champions off in style, stomping a mudhole in Martian Manhunter’s hindquarters and continuing my streak of correct predictions. He’ll be moving on to battle the winner of this week’s battle between Thor and Red Tornado.

I had a dilemma this week. Midknight and AJ both had correct predictions and wrote up pretty good breakdowns, even if neither fit my vision of how I think it would have gone down. I don’t picture Batman taking the time to taunt or torture his opponent, especially when it’s a fellow JLA‘er, and I was severely tempted to choose against AJ’s because Batman does NOT kill, especially an ally, unless there is absolutely no other choice. Being the sole arbiter, I suppose I could have followed that temptation, but it felt wrong in a race as close as this. So I flipped a coin.

Luckily for AJ, the quarter loves him more than the eenie-meenie-miney-moe and he gets the five bonus points, resulting in yet another lead change.

Batman and Martain Manhunter step in to the Arena. They circle one another slowly and silently, both preparing to strike. The Manhunter remains intangible in preperation for an attack.
“We don’t have to do this you know.” says Bruce.
“It appears that we do.” Says a suspicious J’onnz.
“No, look, I’ve got it all figured out. You just have to trust me.”
Batman quickly and quietly explains a highly detailed and seemingly fool-proof plan to free themselves and all the other heroes from these sick and twisted geeks that have them trapped. Finally, and hesitantly, the Manhunter agrees and becomes tangible again.
BAM! Batman punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground, while at the same time pulling some kind of weapon from his utility belt and shooting MM.
Martain Manhunter reacts a few seconds to late, attempting to go intangible. He is not only still solid, but now in the worst pain of his life.
“Nanites” Batman explains, “I’m sorry J’onn, I really ment everything I said. I needed to, of course, to get you to believe me, but thats not the point.”
J’onn tries to go intangible again, and fails screaming.
“Please stop that.”
“Bruce -”
“J’onn please, this is hard enough without you pleading.”
Bruce takes a small bottle from his belt, and slowly begins pouring the contents in a cicle around Martain Manhunter, and then on top of MM himself.
“What are you doing?” he says, frightened.
“You know what I’m doing. I’m sorry J’onn. I hope you understand.”
He flicks open a lighter, and drops it to the ground. A bright flames spring to life immediatly, and J’onn screams. He tries to go intangible, only to be injured by the technology immobilizing him.
As his friend burns, Bruce Wayne walks in to the darkness, where he belongs.

Once again, I feel the need to state that my vision of a character doesn’t always agree with our guest break-down person’s vision.

Moving on…

AJhas regained first place with six first round points for correctly predicting victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, and Hulk, two second-round points for predicting Batman’s victory over Martian Manhunter, twentry bonus points for posts on his myspace blog and view askew, three more bonus points for signing up for an account on The Forums of Awesome, and the five bonus points for this week’s write-up for a total of THIRTY-SIX POINTS!

Midknight has dropped to second, but just barely with seven first round points for knowing that Batman, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, Hulk, and Superman ain’t nothing to mess with, two second-round points for knowing that Batman REALLY ain’t nothin’ to mess with, ten bonus points for posts on ComicVine, two bonus points for pimping us on his blog, one bonus point for helping Mike search for Batboat pictures, three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome, and the ten bonus points awarded for his breakdowns the last two weeks to give him a total of THIRTY-FIVE POINTS!

RJP stays in third with two first round points for supporting Batman and Red Tornado, two second round points for backing Batman, 18 bonus points for posts on Between The Staples and his Facebook account, and three bonus points for signing up for the Forums of Awesome for a total of TWENTY-FIVE POINTS!

In fourth, Xers has four first round points with victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America, two bonus points for posts on Cre8Buzz and BlackPlanet, and three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome for a total of NINE POINTS!

Patrick D. is in fifth place with two points for backing Batman and Martian Manhunter (I wonder who he’ll pick when they fight eachother?”), two bonus points for posts on Patrick Says and his Twitter, and three more bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SEVEN POINTS!

In sixth place, DougFungus has three first round points for supporting Batman, Red Tornado, and Captain America and three bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SIX POINTS!

In seventh, Weston backed Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America for a total of FOUR POINTS!

Finally, in eighth place, Naimad89 backed Batman to give him ONE POINT!

Once again, the standings are:

1st: AJ - 36 points

2nd place: Midknight- 35 points

3rd place: RJP - 25 points

4th place: Xers- 9 points

5th place: Patrick D. - 7 points

6th place: Dougfungus - 6 points

7th placeWeston - 4 points

8th place: Naimad69 - 1 point

Once again, don’t forget to vote in the poll and tell us who you think will win and why in the comments either there or here! And don’t forget to tell me how your pick will win for a chance at five bonus points!

Finally, remember that since this is the second round, correct predictions are now worth TWO points. The game is far from over, folks.

Let’s get it on!

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado

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Cracker’s Note: This is a repost from the new Awesome Arena Site! You now have a choice between discussing the results here or over there; you’ll be awarded your points either way. Of course, if you decide to conduct all of your Awesome Arena business on the official site, I hope you’ll stop by to visit me here once in awhile.

Anyway, on with the show!

Welcome, once again, to the results segment of Awesome Arena Tournament of Champions.

Midknight has picked up another five bonus points for being the only person to pick Superman and write up a breakdown of his victory. As you’ll see, this has given Midknight quite a boost.

Let’s do this…

The bell sounds as the Man of Steel enters the arena slowly floating down from the skylight. He glances down to see that Sentry has yet to show so he takes the time to mentally prepare and stretch a bit. You don’t want to pull a hammy ya know? Half an hour passes by and still no sign of Sentry. The audience looks around at each other confused. A little while longer passes by and a scrawny referee enters the ring with a cell phone is his hand. A microphone is lowered and the referee puts the cell phone on speaker and holds it up to the mic. It’s Sentry calling to forfeit the match because he’s afraid of leaving his house and blames it all on agorophobia. Superman shrugs and celebrates.

My streak of predicting victories has continued. Y’all are so lucky that my points don’t count - I’d be stomping you all!!

Thanks, Midknight - your bonus points will be reflected in the current standings. The same deal goes this week, folks. Give me your best commentary on how you think the first battle of the second round between Martian Manhunter and Batman will go. The person whom I judge the winner will receive five bonus points. As you’ll be able to see, this can give you a pretty big boost in the standings.

Speaking of standings, here they are:

Midknight has taken over first place with seven first round points for knowing that Batman, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, Hulk, and Superman ain’t nothing to mess with, nine bonus points for posts on ComicVine, one bonus point for pimping us on his blog, one bonus point for helping Mike search for Batboat pictures, three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome, and the ten bonus points awarded for his breakdowns last week and this week to give him a total of THIRTY-ONE POINTS!

AJhas dropped to second with six first round points for correctly predicting victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, Captain America, Green Lantern, and Hulk, eighteen bonus points for posts on his myspace blog and view askew, and three more bonus points for signing up for an account on The Forums of Awesome for a total of TWENTY-SEVEN POINTS!

RJP stays in third with two first round points for supporting Batman and Red Tornado, 18 bonus points for posts on Between The Staples and his Facebook account, and three bonus points for signing up for the Forums of Awesome for a total of TWENTY-THREE POINTS!

In fourth, Xers has four first round points with victories for Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America, two bonus points for posts on Cre8Buzz and BlackPlanet, and three more bonus points for signing up with Forums of Awesome for a total of NINE POINTS!

Patrick D. is in fifth place with two points for backing Batman and Martian Manhunter (I wonder who he’ll pick when they fight eachother?”), two bonus points for posts on Patrick Says and his Twitter, and three more bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SEVEN POINTS!

In sixth place, DougFungus has three first round points for supporting Batman, Red Tornado, and Captain America and three bonus points for signing up at Forums of Awesome for a total of SIX POINTS!

In seventh, Weston backed Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America for a total of FOUR POINTS!

Finally, in eighth place, Naimad89 backed Batman to give him ONE POINT!

Once again, the standings are:

1st: MidKnight - 31 points

2nd place: AJ - 27 points

3rd place: RJP - 23 points

4th place: Xers- 9 points

5th place: Patrick D. - 7 points

6th place: Dougfungus - 6 points

7th placeWeston - 4 points

8th place: Naimad69 - 1 point

Once again, don’t forget to vote in the poll and tell us who you think will win and why in the comments either there or here! And don’t forget to tell me how your pick will win for a chance at five bonus points!

Finally, remember that since this is the second round, correct predictions are now worth TWO points. The game is far from over, folks.

Let’s get it on!

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Superman, Sentry, Batman, Martian Manhunter

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Ok folks, I’m typing this out with one eye, so this post will definitely be short and possibly contain typographical errors. You have my apologies and I’ll correct any typos ASAP.

With that out of the way, here we go.

Captain America and Booster Gold both step into the arena. Gold, unable to resist bragging, starts listing all of his powers. Flight, enhanced strength, force fields, matter absorption, yadda yadda yadda. Unimpressed, Cap punches Booster in the jaw and knocks him out.

Cap wins, mofo’s.

On to the standings.

AJ (still from the vicious, vicious Civil Blitzkrieg) maintains his lead with four points for picking Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America as winners and ten bonus points for posts on the ViewAskew boards and his Myspace page, for a total of fourteen points!

RJP of Between The Staples is hanging strong for someone so frequently wrong with 2 points for his faith in Batman and Red Tornado and ten bonus points for posts on Between the Staples and his facebook account, for a total of twelve points.

Midknight is right on their tails with four points for supporting Batman, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America five bonus points for posts on his ComicVine blog and one more bonus point for helping Mike with his search for a batboat for a total of ten points.

Xers is holding strong in fourth place with four points for picking Martian Manhunter, Thor, and Red Tornado and two bonus points for posts on Black Planet and Cre8Buzz, for a total of six points

Patrick D. and Weston are now tied for fifth with four points each. Patrick has two points for his faith in Batman and Martian Manhunter and two bonus points for posts on his blog and twitter and Weston has four points for picking Martian Manhunter, Thor, Red Tornado, and Captain America.

DougFungus is standing in sixth with three points for backing Batman, The Red Tornado, and Captain America

Finally, in seventh place, Naimad89 has one point for supporting Batman in his week one victory.

As in every previous week, bonus points are making a difference - make sure you pick up an advantage by telling all your friends about this contest and letting me know about the pimpage!

Also, Mike is giving away three bonus points to anyone signing up for the Forums of Awesome! Y’all should take advantage of that one.

Once again, here are the current standings:

1st place: AJ - 14 points

2nd place: RJP - 12 points

3rd place: MidKnight - 10 points

4th place: Xers- 6 points

5th place: tie Patrick D. and Weston - 4 points

6th placeDougfungus - 3 points

7th place: Naimad69 - 1 point

This week, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) will be taking on his longtime friend and occasional partner, Green Arrow (Ollie Queen) in a battle of Galactic-level versus street-level battling.

Can Ollie find a way to overcome the overwhelming power of Hal’s ring? Let us know by voting in Mike’s poll at Panels of Awesome and then coming back over here to make yourself heard and collect your potential point.

Also, don’t forget to pick up three bonus points by signing up for a Forums of Awesome account!

As for me, I’m going to go rest this eye and see if I can become a functioning member of society once again.

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Standings, Booster Gold, Captain America, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen

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Due to popular demand - by which I mean that I wanted to do this and four people told me to go ahead - I’ll be breaking down the events of each week’s fight.

I already did Batman vs Iron Man in the comments to the Week 1 Results post, which means that I owe you Martian Manhunter vs Flash and Thor vs Spider-man, so let’s get those knocked out and get me caught up.

Flash vs Martian Manhunter

I see this as a mostly defensive fight, with neither fighter landing many blows due to Manhunter’s ability to become intangible and Flash’s ability to vibrate his molecules to the point that he is, in effect, also intangible. The result is a battle full of skillful attacks that simply pass through their target.

The climax of the battle comes when Flash vibrates the oxygen molecules at a sufficient speed that they ignite around the Manhunter, taking advantage of his weakness to fire. Manhunter - barely - keeps his wits about him enough to launch a psychic attack making Wally see his children instead of J’onn. Wally, distraught at the idea of setting his children on fire, drops his guard long enough for J’onn to put his intangible fist into Wally’s skull.

J’onn then simultaneously splays his fingers and makes them tangible, scrambling Wally’s brain and ending the battle.

Spider-Man vs Thor

Spidey has the speed advantage and uses it to its fullest extent. He uses his web to snag Mjolnir and yank it away from Thor, taking away the god’s most-utilized weapon. Spidey then outmaneuvers Thor, continuously moving in from seemingly random directions, landing a quick combo, then swinging, jumping, or flat out running away before Thor can throw a punch.

This works at first and it seems like Spider-man just might pull off an upset, but Thor gets in a punch every five or six times Peter comes in close and that starts to have an effect on Spidey - he gradually becomes slower and clumsier and his spider-sense gets more and more muted, giving Thor more opportunities to connect with his attacks and a chance to slowly edge closer and closer to Mjolnir.

By the time Thor grabs his hammer, Spidey’s taken a lot of hits and is almost out on his feet. It’s a simple matter for Thor to crush Spider-man’s head like one of Gallagher’s watermelons.

And that’s how I see it, folks. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!

This will be a regular feature for the rest of the Awesome Arena Tournament of Champions. If the fights go the way I expect them to, the breakdown will most likely come with the announcement of the victor and the current standings. If there is an upset, the announcement and standings will go up first, followed as closely as possible by the breakdown.

Regardless, make sure to tune in every Monday and participate for your chance to win fabulous prizes!

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Thor, Spider-man

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Week three has come to an end and, as I predicted, Martian Manhunter is victorious! He’ll be facing Batman next round and I already have a prediction on who will win that battle, but we’ll save that until later. Just remember this, folks - I have yet to be wrong on an Awesome Arena, even before this tournament of champions.

This week, Thor will be taking on the devil-dealing Spider-man. I’ve already aired my thoughts on who would win an actual battle between these two, but will people vote with their heads or their hearts? Thor is far more powerful, but Spidey is far more popular.

I dub this battle Power vs Popularity!! Which will take it, folks?

On to standings.

In a tie for first, we have a tie between the dreaded RJP of Between The Staples and AJ of the dreaded Civil Blitzkrieg with 5 points each. RJP has 1 point for knowing that Batman is a badass and four bonus points for 2 posts each on Between The Staples and his Facebook account. AJ has 1 bonus point for knowing that Martian Manhunter is not to be trifled with and four bonus points for 2 posts each on his myspace and the ViewAskew boards.

Those bonus points are proving to be very effective, kids… START PIMPING!!

In second place is Patrick D. with four points - 2 for respecting the power of The Dark Knight and Martian Manhunter and 2 points for pimping us on his blog and on his twitter account.

Dropping down to third, MidKnight has 2 points for his faith in Batman and his pimp skills on Comicvine.

Annnd tied for fourth with a point each, we have Xers for his prediction of Martian Manhunter’s win and Dougfungus and Naimad69 for their faith in Batman.

Once again, the standings are:

1. RJP and AJ
2. Patrick D.
3) MidKnight
4) Xers, Dougfungus, and Naimad69

Don’t forget to head over to Panels of Awesome to cast your vote for this week’s winner and then head back over here to lock in your vote and discuss who you think will win and why!

Technorati Tags: Awesome Arena, Tournament of Champions, Standings, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Batman, Thor, Spiderman

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The Omniscient Rich Johnston of Lying In The Gutters has some new rumors of impending doom for some DC “Heavyhitters”:

So. If Warner won’t let DC Comics kill off Batman in “Final Crisis,” who can DC get away with introducing to the Grim Reaper? I mean it has to be decent names, but it also has to be someone that a major franchise license isn’t totally resting on.
From Geoff Johns’ CBR interview: “There are still tons of characters to write. Aquaman is a big one. I have very specific ideas for him. Very specific.”

From the letters page of this month’s Johnny DC “Justice League Unlimited,” in response to a young reader who doesn’t like the changes made to Aquaman: “Fans of Aquaman’s original look can look forward to a new comic book later in 2008.”

May be the original look, but will it be the original character?

I only ask, because the two names marked for karking I’ve been given by a DC source are Martian Manhunter and Aquaman.

I can only assume “karking” is similar to “killing”.

He also has rumors of an impending resurrection:

Frenzied old school DC fans may be placated by another series. What I hear is… Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, “Barry Allen: Rebirth.”

It’s hard for me to get overly excited about any of this news, because I’m not exactly a big fan of any of these three characters, but I’m kind of annoyed on principle. A common theme in my opinions lately is that the publishers really need to quit messing around with the characters. There’s a reboot, death, resurrection, time-wall punching, or unexplained magic every time I turn around lately and it’s getting both boring and highly annoying.

STOP IT!!

Technorati Tags: Comics, DC, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Barry Allen, death, rebirth

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Popularity: 7% [?]