Every week Comic Vine staff writer Gregg Katzman rounds up the week's biggest and baddest fights, and posts his favorites. Unfortunately, Gregg got hit kind of hard by Hurricane Sandy, (don't worry, he's okay), so I'll be taking over for him this week. Hopefully I can do his weekly Comic Book Battles post some justice.
Now, if you come to the site each week to check out Gregg's round-up you may have noticed that he manages to narrow his post down to the three fights he liked the best. And while we know this is no easy task and that there will definitely be many other crazy, awesome fights in comics that we miss, these are my personal favorites of the week. As usual, if there is an awesome fight that I managed to overlook, be sure to post scans and examples in the forums below and share your favorite battle from this week with the rest of the community. So without further ado, onto the fights!
AQUAMAN vs BLACK MANTA (AQUAMAN #13)
This is the moment that Aquaman fans have been waiting for. In recent issues we've seen writer Geoff Johns write one nasty Black Manta; and this villain has definitely done his worst. From "gutting" Kahina to "blowing Vostok's spine apart," Manta has gone after Aquaman and The Others and it hasn't been pretty. In issue #13 Aquaman tracks his greatest adversary down and is faced with a huge confrontation. It's clear that Manta is angry and he's willing to kill any and all of the people close to Aquaman as a means for revenge.
This is a fight a lot of people have been waiting for which is what makes it so freaking awesome; but it's the end of it that is really crazy. Given the chance to kill Black Manta, what does Aquaman do? If you've been following the series then you know that Aquaman has killed before, but he doesn't do it here, even after having seen Black Manta murder two of his friends. It's an interesting decision and says a lot about the character's integrity and moral compass. Yet, is it the right decision?
At last, these two are going head to head and not afraid to really let lose into one another, but in an all-out brawl, who would win? If you're looking for the answer to that question, you won't find it in this issue, unfortunately.
Black Manta is basically threatening Aquaman, provoking the hero to kill him now that he has the chance. However, Aquaman won't be pressured to murder like Black Manta. Yet, is he really the better man of the two? Was this, in the end, a smart decision?
CAPTAIN MARVEL vs …CAPTAIN MARVEL? (CAPTAIN MARVEL #6)
Carol Danvers' idol is pilot Helen Cobb. So what happens when you're greatest hero; the person you grew up your entire life admiring decides to steal your identity when given the first opportunity? Carol Danvers may have had a hard time filling the shoes of Captain Marvel in her ongoing series, but she's not going to let some random lady come in and steal her mantle from her. Oh, hell no.
This is a great moment because Carol not only realizes that she needs to value her persona and identity as the new Captain Marvel, but that it's a huge part of who she is. So she needs to quit her whining! The issue definitely builds up to this 3-page long fight in the latest issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL #6 and serves as a great example of Captain Marvel's capabilities.
In this scene, Helen Cobb gains the powers of Captain Marvel (which, for those of you who know anything about the character…she's pretty strong). Carol Danvers is nearly invincible. She can fly, has super strength and she has to go up against Helen who has the same power set. It's clearly a struggle as the two fight -- mid flight -- in a race to the plane. The better woman clearly wins.
Yet the final caption (which we won't include here because we want you to go out and buy this issue) sort of implies that Helen did go easy on Carol, thinking she deserved to be Captain Marvel, she still managed to give the heroine the fight of her life. The layout of the battle is really well illustrated and the fact that they are flying and fighting makes it that much cooler.
ROGUE and MIMIC vs QUICKSAND, RUBY THURSDAY, SILK FEVER, SUPERCHARGER, ICEMASTER and SCHIZOID MAN (X-MEN LEGACY #275)
Alright, so maybe I enjoyed this issue more than a lot of other people in the Comic Vine community, but let me explain why. In the final issue of X-MEN LEGACY #275 we see Rogue and Mimic go up against a plethora of super-powered mutants who have started a prison riot upstate. Not only do these two take on all these mutants, but they do so pretty intelligently.
Both Rogue and Mimic realize pretty quickly that it won't be easy going up against six angry, powerful mutants when it's only the two of them. Rogue decides that the best way to solve this problem is by using her head. She leaves the battle and convinces prisoners to allow her to borrow their powers for the interim. All the while, Mimic holds off six mutants on his own! Talk about strength.
Although Mimic doesn't exactly defeat all of these mutants in this scene, he does alright holding them at bay just long enough until Rogue returns with reinforcements. Rogue manages to garner the abilities of Equinox, Armadillo, and Man-Bull; a move that essentially evens out the fight. When she returns to Mimic's side, she doesn't look at all like the Rogue that we're used to.
Not only is it impressive that the character managed to take and control at least four different power sets of four different characters; but she masters them and is able to utilize her new abilities to kick major butt. I can't imagine it's easy to gain control of super powers you aren't used to, but Rogue does it and does it really well.
It was pretty tough to narrow it down to just three, so I tried to choose fights that were not only monumental in action-packed goodness, but also battles that were vital to the development of the characters you see above. There's a good chance we missed some good ones this week, so be sure to let us know in the comments below what we may have missed.