The Best Stuff In Comics: 12-15-14

Normally this has been a VIDEO FEATUREfor over one hundred episodes. We've changed the format to a text version as most seem to prefer it this way. Let me know in the comments below.

Each week we take a look at the other Best Stuff you might have missed...this week.

SPIDER-MAN AND THE X-MEN #1

Best Napkin Note

How the heck did Spider-Man hook up with the X-Men go become the guidance counselor at the Jean Grey School? Basically it was Wolverine's idea. He's dead now, by the way. But in a move you'd absolutely expect from Logan, it appears he left the documents for his wish for Spider-Man to head to the school in the way only he could--on a napkin.

Best Way to Tell if Someone is Hiding Something Without Psi-scanning Them

The X-Men are a little unsure of having Spider-Man with them. They barely know him. Others simply just don't like him. There's also the fact that they don't know his secret identity. They can't be sure it's even him and not some villain taking part in a dastardly scheme against them. Spidey has one way of explaining why a psi-scan isn't necessary.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ANNUAL #1

Best Description of Rocket Raccoon

There's often been the question of what exactly is Rocket Raccoon? He's referred to being a raccoon but sometimes gets extremely upset if he's called one. When the Guardians come across...Nick Fury, we hear what Nick thinks Rocket looks like.

Best “I am Groot” Ending

This is at the very end, on the very last page. It's a pretty great ending for the overall issue. We can't spoil that so you'll have to check it out for yourself.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1

Best Return of a Team/Best Scene in the Rain

Eva Bell is one of the new X-Men that Cyclops has recruited for his revolution. It turns out Eva had a little adventure through time because of her powers going a little out of control. At one point, she comes across a certain group of mutants from the future. It also took place in the rain and Andrea Sorrentino's art (throughout the entire issue) was just amazing.

Best Professor's Office

Eva also wakes at one point to find herself in Professor Rasputin's office. Of course Illyana is going to have a pretty trippy place.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #11

Best “Stop Hitting Yourself” Moment

Spider-Verse is still underway. As if coming across a multitude of different Spider-people from alternate universes and being hunted by the Inheritors wasn't enough, Spidey finds himself face to face with...himself? It's actually Doc Ock during the SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN days when he took over Spidey's body. As the fight begins, Spider-Man is basically hitting himself.

HARLEY QUINN HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1

Best Reason Not to Eat too Much Candy

What can you do when you find a large pile of delicious candy and treats in front of you? Most of us know the importance of moderation. Sometimes it's just hard to resist, which usually ends in you paying the price. Harley is reminded of this fact when she, and a little girl who's house she broke into because...well, just read the issue. But here's what happened when they had too much holiday candy.

Gross. But they actually got a kick out of it.

Best Almost Misinterpreted Line

In the third story in the issue, Harley discovers a grey hair. When she's lead to believe it's because of Father Time, she sets out to find him. She likely has the wrong person but as she's trying to find Father Time's clock to prevent him from aging people, the guy's family walks in and wonders what she's doing. It was probably easy to think she said something else.

ROCKET RACCOON #6

Best use of Binary Code

Rocket takes an assignment from Cosmo and meets a big giant robot. The robot only speaks in binary code. Cosmo translates his name and it is accurate. Now you know how to spell Brute in binary.

NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #5

Best Translation Fail

According to Tollo Tollere on Twitter, the lettering on this truck translates to "big-stomached chicken." That apparently is a homophone for a big crisis in Mandarin. Not really good when the team is secretly being transported inside.

Best Reason to Steer Clear of Harley Quinn

Some people just love music. They'll listen to it anytime. Harley digs a new song but how exactly is she listening to it?

AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS #7

Biggest Character Origin Twist

You may have heard the news about the shake up in this issue. We don't like to spoil things of this magnitude right away because we want everyone to read it for themselves. We will be going more in depth into this topic and what it means for the Marvel and Cinematic Universe. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. Or stay tuned for Tuesday's article.

DEADPOOL’S ART OF WAR#3

Best Pose for the God of Lies that Doesn't Make Sense in the Story

Remember the controversy over that SPIDER-WOMAN #1 variant cover with a certain pose drawn by a certain artist? In the midst of Deadpool's crazy adventure where he wants to write and sell a book on how to fight a war, Loki takes a moment to strike a rather odd pose. There's no reason or explanation in the comic. It just happens.

Best Poll of the Week

Last week the poll dealt with the Forbidden Kick seen in the latest issue of IRON FIST: THE LIVING WEAPON. Looks like most of you (58%) felt it should never be allowed. That's why it's forbidden.

This week, let's find out what you all think of the the change to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS #7.

(Note: if you get a "session expired" notice, refresh the page).

That's all I came up with this week. Let us know in the comments below what other Best Stuff you dug this past week. Special thanks to @djfanco, @tollo_tollere, and k4tzm4n for their suggestions. If you want to participate or felt we missed some other Best Stuff, you can @reply me on Twitter at @GManFromHeck by Fridays using the hashtag #BestStuffInComics and I'll think you're pretty groovy.

Let us know what you think of this format. Answer the poll question. Be sure to always look for the best stuff and be sure to avoid eating too much holiday candy unless you enjoy vomiting on each other.

Like I said, Andrea Sorrentino needs to do the art for Justice League Dark some day.

It makes sense Marvel would change every mutant in the comics that isn't belonging to the X-Men movie licence that Fox is still sitting on, so that they can rest easy and feature them in the movies.

They just made Daisy Johnson into an Inhuman on the telly, and now Quicksilver and his sis get to follow suit.

I haven't read the issue yet so I don't know what's going on.

ANd Logan got some horrible handwriting.

Oh man, I thought it was weird and familiar, but I couldn't exactly put my finger on where I recognized that Loki pose from! That miniseries is seriously just hilarious.

Remember the controversy over that SPIDER-WOMAN #1 variant cover that ended up getting canceled?

Um...that cover never got cancelled.

I really don't understand how changing a character's origin would change their licensing rights. You would think this would've been an issue in some other licensing dispute at some point and the loophole would've been closed. Anyone actually understand how this legally works? You should never be able to just creatively write your way out of the licence you gave another company.

Best The Wicked + The Divine spoof........... Sex Criminals #9

@dan12456: they already have the rights to those characters.

@drapplebox: Seems like it did?

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=milo%20manara%20spider-woman%201%20canceled

@judasnixon: I'm behind on the series so I didn't wanna open up my copy to spoil anything. If only someone had suggested it earlier :(

Nice.

Yeah..... Sorry about that, I don't do that Twitter thing...........

It's not a legal thing as such, it's just that they are streamlining the current status quo.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have been mutants their entire printed existence, but they aren't considered part of the X-Men, due to them mostly (almost entirely) being features of the Avengers (you can actually see a glimpse of this in the opening issue of HoM, where the X-Men try to be the ones deciding the fate of Wanda, purely because she is a mutant and Cap & Co rebutting it because she's an Avenger).

As it is, Disney/Marvel are currently beefing up the Inhumans because they know they are not getting the X-Men license back from Fox, and they will slowly add every non-X-Men mutant to their ranks to have a clear divide between stuff they control completely and stuff they only have partial control over. In time it will most likely mean the X-Men will be pushed back to the Inhuman's old status as a sort of satelite that doesn't really fit anywhere.

Love the binary joke in Rocket, the issue also plays with the fact that Rocket's side kicks are always some big "dumb" muscle type guys with a limited vocabulary.

@g_man: Yeah they ended up not cancelling it

My favourite moment in any comic book this week: a wonderful bit between Peter and Gwen in Amazing Spider-Man #11.

@g_man: They cancelled future Manara variants. The Spider-Woman #1 variant still went on sale.

@staypuffed: meh don't like the moment. The dialogue is a bit "cliché". Hope to see more of Peter Parker with Mayday Parker. Also we should get more of The Jackal Gwen Stacy clone

They did put the logo over her butt... so.. that fixes it, right? lol

Serpentina!

@captainmarvel4ever: i second this motion

freaking loved X-Men 2099 showing up!!! I need more of them! I've been hoping for marvel to do something with them for ages! Let's hope for a wee bit more of them

I would like to see some non-DC & Marvel in these.

Sorrentino needs to draw the Dr Strange book that's coming out...

Whose body is that floating in Illyana's study?

@rev_sulphur: There usually are if you've seen past installments. Also, I ask for suggestions before I post since I can't flip through every single issue each week.

@g_man: I wonder how much time it would take to read every issue that comes out in a week. *day dreams*

@outside_85: Thanks that helps clear it up a bit!

@staypuffed: +1

@rev_sulphur: I try.

@bl00dwerk: The "body" looks like the Cloak of Levitation to me--it's sort of draped over something invisible, with the collar hanging down on one side.

@g_man:

http://www.inquisitr.com/1498217/marvel-cancels-milo-manara-variant-covers-in-move-unrelated-to-controversy/

Only one I found funny was the Loki one. The others felt a little flat to me. Or is that what Harley said?

If that happens, I'll miss them. :(

I am 35 years old and have been a comic fan now for 10 years. I have a one year old son. Rather than read him your typical bed time story's that commercialize the shelves, I choose comic books and he loves them. I even managed to find him a pair of Spider Man sunglasses

You have gained a subscriber :)

I am 35 years old and have been a comic fan now for 10 years. I have a one year old son. Rather than read him your typical bed time story's that commercialize the shelves, I choose comic books and he loves them. I even managed to find him a pair of Spider Man sunglasses

You have gained a subscriber :)

I am 35 years old and have been a comic fan now for 10 years. I have a one year old son. Rather than read him your typical bed time story's that commercialize the shelves, I choose comic books and he loves them. I even managed to find him a pair of Spider Man sunglasses

You have gained a subscriber :)

I am 35 years old and have been a comic fan now for 10 years. I have a one year old son. Rather than read him your typical bed time story's that commercialize the shelves, I choose comic books and he loves them. I even managed to find him a pair of Spider Man sunglasses

You have gained a subscriber :)

http://massvisioninc.com/wholesale-kids-sunglasses/kids-spiderman-sunglasses-kn8201.html

Love every Harley Quinn moment. Then again they remind me that I miss her old costume. Why must everything I love hurt me in some way?!