Amanda Waller and The West Coast Avengers

 

I was expecting to see Amanda Waller appear at some point in Peacemaker season two, but she did not show up.  There was talk of a solo Waller series in the works, but I don't think that is happening any more.  Hopefully we will see Viola Davis back in the role in one of the DCU's upcoming projects.

Iron Man Vs. Solomon Grundy

 

There was a lot of clutter removal and background extension required on this cover.  Here is a look at the behind the scenes progress: 

Justice League of America and The Sentry

 

Thunderbolts* has received better reviews than most of the recent Marvel output, but the box office numbers have not seemed to reflect that.  I'll catch it on Disney+ down the road.  I hear that The Sentry isn't in it all that much, but that his scenes are pretty cool. I look forward to checking to movie out.

The Avengers and Kamandi

 

Look, I have the same questions about how Kamandi was able to get the upper hand here that Chronos has.  But that's just what would have made me pick this issue up off of the shelves - just to see what shenanigans that Kang is up to this time around.

The Falcon and The Flash

 

When heroes not only teamed up, but also traded villains, it always made for an exciting story for me. That's a big reason that Acts of Vengeance was one of my favorite crossover tales from Marvel, so many cool possibilities came out of it! I like to use the same concept on my STF covers from time to time, so here's another example.

Black Widow and Nemesis

 

I doubt I would ever read any Nemesis growing up if he wasn't the star of the back up feature in my favorite comic - The Brave and the Bold.  I'm glad I did though, It's a crackling spy adventure featuring a master of disguise, deftly illustrated by Dan Spiegel.  I've always wanted to see those back-ups collected into a TPB, but I don't know if the demand will ever be there for such a project.

The Creeper and The Inhumans

 

I always gravitated towards the offbeat heroes, so this is an issue I would have grabbed off of the stand without thinking. I can see Jack Ryder launching an investigation into what's happening on the Blue Area of the Moon and then unwittingly getting caught up in an interplanetary incident. 

The Hulk Vs. Robotman

 

The final episodes of Doom Patrol are about to hit HBO Max, and it will be interesting to see how the series ends up.  I've enjoyed it so for, although sometimes it does seem to be spinning its wheels with no resolutions to its many ongoing plot points.  Now that the end is in sight, I am looking forward to some closure for the characters.

Daredevil and The Riddler

 

I'm still waiting to see a proper live action Riddler.  The Frank Gorshin/John Astin versions were perfect for the campy TV version of Batman, but I was disappointed to see a pink haired Jim Carrey hammily channeling those performances in Batman Forever rather than something closer to the comics. I liked Paul Dano in The Batman, but there they went way too far in the other direction.  Yes, there were clues and a question mark or two, but the villain seemed more like something from a Saw movie than any Riddler story I've ever read.  Cory Michael Smith in Gotham had his moments, but the villain never felt fully formed to me. Let's hope we eventually see a version that strikes the right balance between intellect, criminality, obsession and showmanship.

Captain America and The Suicide Squad

 

Upon completing this entry, I made one new rule for myself going forward: No more barbed wire and chain link fences!  Man, this was a tough one to do.  Separating the fencing from the background was very painstaking and took much longer than I had expected.  Then I realized it wasn't working to just stick the Squad members behind that layer, and I wound up having to digitally separate them and add back in to make sure nobody was too obscured by any foreground elements or each other.  This turned out to be a pretty challenging cover, but I am happy with the final results.

Power Man & Iron Fist and Amanda Waller

The upcoming comic book movie that I am most curious about is James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.  Set photos indicate a very different look than David Ayers' cinematic outing with the team.  With some returning cast members, how much of a reboot will it be?  I hope that Amanda Waller get's better treatment this time around - she seemed to cross the line into villainy the last time, which did not sit well with me.

Martian Manhunter and White Tiger

Here's another street-level hero that would be great to seen in the MCU.  Maybe it would be cool to have an earthbound Endgame type story - once characters like White Tiger, Moon Knight, Daredevil, Power Man & Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, Blade, Daughters of the Dragon and others are introduced, bring them all together for one big Marvel Knights movie.

The X-Men and Amanda Waller

I am very interested in what James Gunn will be doing with The Suicide Squad.  As some actors and characters will be returning from the first cinematic outing, it can't really be seen as a reboot, even though it is said that he will be going in his own direction.  One aspect that I really hope he addresses is the depiction of Amanda Waller.  She is a tough as nails character, willing to go to extreme ends to achieve her goals - but the first film went even further and made her into a cold blooded killer, which did not sit well with me.  Hopefully, Gunn will find some way to fix that.

Spider-Man and Vixen

One thing that Marvel Team-Up proved to me is how versatile a character Spider-Man is.  Not only did the title show how well he works with almost any other character, the variety in guest stars meant that there was a wide variety of types of tales that could be told.  Whether the tales had an action, horror, or humorous slant, be they street level or cosmic, he fit right in.

White Tiger and Bronze Tiger

These are two characters that deserve wider recognition, and I'd love to see them branch out into live action.  Bronze Tiger did show up on a couple of episodes of Arrow a few years back, but I'd really like to see the character added to the roster of the Suicide Squad sequel (if that film still ends up getting made).  White Tiger would be prefect to show up as a supporting character on any of the Netflix Marvel shows.  

Suicide Squad and Giant-Man

My favorite era of Suicide Squad is the John Ostrander-penned issues from their 90's series.  I hope that any cinematic sequel will draw from those stories.  I'd love to see characters like Bronze Tiger, Vixen and Nightshade join and the I think that Father Kraemer would be a great addition to the cast.  My guess is that the produceers will prefer to make it Harley-centric again, though.

The Avengers and Suicide Squad

Avengers: Infinity War is sounding like it will be the most epic in scope of all of the Marvel movies thus far.  That's only fitting since it is considered to be the culmination of everything that has come before - and just about every hero introduced up until now is slated to appear.  That's going to be the biggest test - will the Russo Brothers be able to juggle dozens of character and give everyone a chance to shine, all while telling a coherent story?  It's going to be fun to find out, but I have faith in them after their excellent work on the Captain America sequels.

Iron Man and The Outsiders

I enjoyed The Outsiders on their own, but they never seemed to work as well for me as a team without Batman leading them.  Later incarnations had Nightwing and others out in front, which was OK, but none of them had any real staying power.  This was one group that had the perfect line up from their incarnation, it's too bad the original crew didn't stay together longer.

Iron Man Vs. Darkseid in :"Back in the Clutches!"

This cover serves as a direct sequel to STF #842, where Iron Man and Darkseid first clashed.

No hero changes costumes more than Tony Stark (okay, maybe Janet Van Dyne), but the classic red and gold of the 70's-80's remains my favorite.  I still hope to see a version of it on the big screen one day.  They really missed a great opportunity to feature it with all the armor variants in Iron Man 3.

Coming up tomorrow: STF #1700!

Amanda Waller and Nick Fury

Suicide Squad seems to have withstood some harsh reviews and has made over 700 million worldwide, so maybe we will see some sequels after all.  It's the kind of team that can really be changed up from movie to movie, so there are plenty of directions to go in.  I'd like to see Bronze Tiger, Nightshade and Father Craemer show up, three of my favorite characters from the John Ostrander run on the comic series.