Manic Monday--Barry Windsor Smith Was Trippin' Straight Balls

Thor and Goliath (Clint, not Hank) encounter Ultron-6, for the first time made from adamantium...

Whoa. Blowing our minds there, Barry Smith...

The result?

Ouch.

Don't worry, kids, the Avengers eventually triumphed, when Hank Pym totally Kirked Ultron. Because in the 60s & 70s, illogic and/or emotions always made computers blow up...

From Avengers #67 (1969)

Manic Monday--The Tennesse Williams Age of Ultron!

Most people have forgotten this version of Ultron:

The angry, Southern, drunk old man robot languishing in a New Orleans bar, listening to jazz:

Bonus points: this version of Ultron actually appears in this mini-series, as opposed to the non-entity who hasn't ever appeared (aside from flashback) in a single panel of Age Of Days Of Future Ultrons Past.

This condition was caused by a computer virus unleashed by an alternate world's Vision (don't ask). By the end of the series, Ultron was still like this, his old personality and memories "irreversibly gone." [SPOILER ALERT--It wasn't so irreversible, after all]

So let's start a petition now for a return of the Tennessee Williams version of Ultron!!

From The Vision #1 (1994)

The Future Predicted, 22 Years Ago

Great moments in prognostication:

What, you don't see it? Look more closely:

Wow. Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #11 accurately predicted the coming of The Age Of Ultron, way back in 1991!!

Now if only they had managed to warn us it was going to be 10 interminable issues and countless spin-offs, we could have taken a time machine to prevent Bendis from starting it...

Damn You, Ultron!!

Well, the good old computer has bricked, so posting is going to be pretty minimal here the next few days as I get this resolved.

Keep reading comics until I get back....

Manic Monday Public Service Announcement--Fear Your Home Computer!!

You kids and your new-fangled home computers and iPods and tablets and smart phones that you got for Christmas--you're going to be the death of human civilization!! And I can prove it!!

Let's jet back to 1989. For several issues, Reed Richards has been raving about how sweet his new home desktop computer, the Turino XL, is. This first is from Fantastic Four #326:


And he keeps on pitching it, until he sounds likes he's doing an infomercial (This is from FF #331):


Still, all is not well, as all of the Four Freedom Plaza's systems start to go haywire. As they try to take Franklin to the safe room, however...




See, Ultron apparently subscribes to the Count Alucard theory on "secret" identities...





Yeah, he just name-dropped Transfomers.



See?!? SEE?!?!? We're all doomed, unless you dispose of all of your technology immediately!! We can't ignore this dire plot from 1989!!! All of your electronics are just Trojan horses for Ultron!! Destroy them!! Dispose of them NOW!!!

Oh...wait. That was just a dream Reed was having? You mean the FF actually spent 4 issues in suspended animation, just dreaming??!! Grrrr...

Anyway, never mind about the great home computer threat. You're probably all safe. Probably...

Friday Night Fights--Mis-Match Of The Century!!

It's a new year, and time for a new bout in Friday Night Fights!! Spacebooger, as a mindless thrall of international evil, has declared that this time our theme is Bad Boys--Villains Victorious!! Which means, we've got to show arch-fiends whooping on heroes.

And what better way to start off then showing some heroes hopelessly mismatched against a uber-powerful menace?

And I can't think of a better mismatch than Daredevil vs. Ultron.

I know, I know, that's hardly fair. So let's give DD a little help, shall we? Let's toss in Gorgon and Karnak of the Inhumans as special guest stars. That'll help, right?

Nope.

Oh, our heroes will strike the first blow...

And Karnak will do the cute little thing he does, trying to find the "weak point" in an adamantium robot (good luck with that!)...

But at the end of the day?? Don't send a blind powerless hero and a couple of lame Inhumans to do the Avengers' job...

(click on all pictures to embiggen them to full toasty goodness).

Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr., and Al Williamson use Daredevil #275 (1989) to remind the that you can't spell "Revolution" without "Ultron."

You Say Ultron Wants A Revolution?

Hey, Ultron--what's your favorite Beatles song?

Really? Hmmm, I had you pegged as a Helter Skelter kind of guy...

Ultron is the Walrus in Daredevil #276 (1990).