shadie: December 2011

Friday, December 23, 2011

Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett^[1] and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin at an accelerated rate. The healing factor also slows down his aging process, enabling him to live beyond a normal human lifespan. His powerful healing factor enabled the supersoldier program Weapon X to bond the near-indestructible metal alloy adamantium to his skeleton and claws without killing him. He is most often depicted as a member of the X-Men, Alpha Flight, or later the Avengers.
The character first appeared in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (his first full appearance is in issue #181, November 1974) and was created by writer Len Wein and Marvel art director John Romita, Sr., who designed the character, and was first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe. Wolverine later joined the X-Men's "All New, All Different" roster in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). X-Men writer Chris Claremont played a significant role in the character's subsequent development,^[2] along with artist/writer John Byrne, who insisted on making the character older than the other X-Men. Artist Frank Miller collaborated with Claremont and helped to revise the character with a four-part eponymous limited series from September to December 1982 in which Wolverine's catchphrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice," debuted.
Wolverine was typical of the many tough anti-authority antiheroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War;^[3] his willingness to use deadly force and his brooding nature became standard characteristics for comic book anti-heroes by the end of the 1980s.^[4] As a result, the character became the clear favorite for fans of the increasingly popular X-Men franchise.^[5] Wolverine has been featured in his own solo comic since 1988 and has been a central character in most X-Men adaptations, including animated television series, video games, and the live action 20th Century Fox X-Men film series, in which he is portrayed by Hugh Jackman.^[6] In May 2008, Wolverine was ranked #1 out of Wizard magazine's "Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time"^[7] and was ranked #4 of "The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters" by Empire magazine in July 2008.^[8] On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Wolverine at #21.^[9] In May 2011, Wolverine was ranked 4th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.^[10]

dommeren nr.6

Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence and even execute criminals on the spot. He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, although editor Pat Mills also deserves some credit for his early development.
Judge Dredd is amongst the UK's best known home-grown comic characters. So great is the character's name recognition that his name is sometimes invoked over similar issues to those explored by the comic series, such as the police state, authoritarianism and the rule of law.^[2] Judge Dredd was named the seventh greatest comic character by the British magazine Empire.^[3] In 2011 IGN ranked him 35th in the "Top 100 comic books heroes".^[4]

dommeren nr.5

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers nr.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are a trio of underground comic strip characters created by the U.S. artist Gilbert Shelton. The Freak Brothers first appeared in The Rag, an underground newspaper published in Austin, Texas, beginning in May 1968; and were regularly reprinted in underground papers around the United States and in other parts of the world.
Their first comic book appearance was in Feds 'n' Heads, published by Berkeley's Print Mint in 1968. In 1969 Shelton and three friends from Texas founded Rip Off Press in San Francisco, which took over publication of all subsequent Freak Brothers comics. The first compilation of their adventures, The Collected Adventures of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, had its first printing in 1971 and has been continually in print ever since. In addition to underground and college weekly newspapers, new adventures appeared in magazines such as Playboy, High Times, and Rip Off Comix; these too were collected in comic book form. Shelton continued to write the series until 1992, in collaboration with Dave Sheridan (1974–1982) and Paul Mavrides (since 1978). The work enjoys a sizable cult following, and the magazines are widely available in comic stores.
While most underground comix are humorous, the Freak Brothers live a slapstick existence reminiscent of the best silent comedies. Their entire lives rotate around the procurement and enjoyment of recreational drugs, particularly marijuana. None of them have the slightest concern about gainful employment, and the only use for money is to procure some food and lots of drugs without getting "burned" by unscrupulous dealers or busted by the police. Other storylines involve Fat Freddy's Cat and a military empire of cockroaches in the kitchen. The stories often satirize the establishment and right-wing politics. For a counterculture production, the standard of artwork is exceptionally high; Shelton's striving for accuracy and attention to detail have earned him comparisons with Hergé.
The majority of the titles in the series consist of one or more multi-page stories together with a number of one-page strips. Many of the latter have a one-row skit featuring Fat Freddy's Cat at the bottom of the page. Some of the titles also contain a small number of strips featuring completely unrelated characters.
In 1972, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers appeared in the full-length XXX-rated adult film Up in Flames. The story involved the brothers attempts to raise cash to make their rent deadline or get thrown out of their apartment. The film also featured Robert Crumb's character Mr. Natural as a health food store owner where Fat Freddy attempts to gain employment. The soundtrack featured music by The Grateful Dead and the movie can be purchased at http://www.somethingweird.com as a double feature with the XXX-rated comedy A Star is Born (not to be confused with the Judy Garland Film.)
The comic is currently being adapted into a clay animation movie entitled Grass Roots. But so far there is no release date or information about when the movie will be released or if it will be released at all.

Lobo is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Omega Men #3 (June 1983), and was created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen. An alien, Lobo works as an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter. Although introduced as a hardened, rarely used noir villain in the 1980s, he languished in limbo until his revival as an anti-hero biker in the early 1990s. The character enjoyed a short run as one of DC’s most popular characters throughout the 1990s. This version of Lobo was intended to be an over-the-top parody of Marvel Comics superhero Wolverine (in issue #41 of Deadpool, another Marvel series, Lobo himself was parodied in the likeness of Dirty Wolff, a large blue skinned man who drove a demonic motorcycle. He was also parodied in the Image Comics series Bloodwulf as created by Rob Liefeld).