You shouldn't use the title "Fin Fang Doom!" unless Fin gets a metal mask!

From 2013, AAFES 15th Edition [Iron Man] #15, "Fin Fang Doom!" Written by William Harms, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Cory Hamscher.

This is the third AAFES/U.S. military promo comic we've seen here: Grummett had also done art for the Thor issue, and we saw Captain America's a couple months back. (Again, I got these all from the same shop's dollar bins, although not at the same time!) An illegal drilling operation from Roxxon wakes up Godzilla Fin Fang Foom, who then starts tearing up Seattle. (Fin's arm is distinctly different than Godzilla's!) Iron Man--in the slick but not often seen black-and-gold armor--tries a trick that worked before, dusting Fin with "isaria cirada," although I'm not sure where he pulled that out of. It also doesn't work, so Tony asks Pepper to research why; while he and Rhodey--in the Iron Patriot armor, which I kind of hate, although I think you're supposed to--keep Fin busy.

Pepper discovers, Fin had built up a resistance to the herb, and it would take a massive dose to stop him. A pressurized deployment device is prepared, but three soldiers have to ride in with it to activate it, which also involves fixing it midstream. Fin gets gassed, and Tony has him taken back to his underwater trench.

A fun little one-shot: I liked the Cap one better, but still good. 

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Here it is, your moment of Xen:

I've been meaning to get back to it for several years now, but I haven't sat down and read all of Earth X/Universe X/Paradise X in a while; even as I seemingly, slowly continue to randomly put together more of another run of it. (Got a cheap-but-readable Earth X #0 the other day!) From 2002, Paradise X Special: Xen #1, plot and cover by Alex Ross, plot and script by Jim Krueger, pencils by Steve Yeowell, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz.

I had to double-check a reading order for this, since there were several specials, and I wasn't sure where this fell. Also, I couldn't remember the order of the main series, and I forget there was the Marvels X prequel series from 2020, which seems like something I should be more interested in? But I kind of think it was maybe six issues of "here's where everything goes to crap and there's no stopping it," and I don't feel like getting into that? Anyway, if all of Earth X had proper numbering, prequels notwithstanding, like maybe triangle numbers like the Superman titles used to have; this would be like #41 out of #56? So, pretty deep into it, and yet there are a ton of characters this issue that readers would not have spent a lot of time with previously; as well as a few that had been involved to various degrees for much of the run.

Doctor Strange was back from the presumed dead, and gives a lengthy recap to the Xen team; most of whom openly disagree with their Lord Sunfire about this whole deal: when the Terrigen Mists mutated everyone on earth, public opinion swerved hard on earth's superheroes for their perceived failure to stop it. Strange had devoted himself to trying to figure out what happened, and didn't notice problems closer to home: Clea stabbed his body while he was in his astral form, but she had been turned against Strange by Wong, who had turned to Mephisto, seemingly in frustration over being a servant...and maybe over what his mutation had done to him. Mephisto's aid came with strings, though: the devil couldn't risk Strange's actual death, so Wong was forced into servitude maintaining Strange in a coma-like state, until discovered by Bruce Banner. Clea had been turned, with "unbridled lust" for Loki; and later Thor had banished her to Asgard: Thor and Loki had learned a lot of unpleasant truths about their father Odin, and themselves. Wong was killed by Adam Warlock, after his mutation had been revealed.

Loki and Thor advise the heroes, they can't let Odin find them too quickly; but with Strange and Xen go to Jotenheim; under the assumption that Odin wouldn't keep Clea in the city, since her magic could break the illusion of Asgard. They are set upon by Frost Giants, and Strange ponders why Xen was even a team: they weren't all Japanese, and he knew who Tao was, but didn't know why he wore a mask. The flaming Tora gives a brief origin, telling how Jim Hammond had helped her control her powers. But, this little journey had taken longer than the last few pages had indicated, and back in Japan the ghost of Fin Fang Foom is tearing up the place, while the Stark-created Seven Silver Samurai try to save the world. In Asgard, Odin feels betrayed by Mephisto, who says he's not the devil Odin knew. (Best of my recollection: "Odin" had been a storyteller, given power, to spin Asgard and the other realms besides 'Midgard' into being, setting himself up as the All-Father. Mephisto had a long game in mind; and Thor and Loki were rebelling against the roles Odin had forced them into.) While Xen fights the Warriors Three (who may have always been imaginary, creations of Odin) Tao speaks with Thor, letting him know hey, he's knows what it's like to have a villain for a dad.

Thor is distraught over the deaths of his old comrades, and Loki yells at him: none of them really "died," Odin just moved them around like pieces on a game board. At the world tree Yggdrasil, Strange tries to sense Clea, mentioning he couldn't stand to project his astral form anymore: Clea was with the Warriors Three and Balder...in Hel. Thor and Loki call foul, that Odin was changing the rules. Odin appears to them, Time Bandits-style, a giant, glowy beardy face. Thor falls back into his old role, but Loki resists, and threatens "Pops" that if he could convince Thor that Asgard was a lie, he could convince the other gods, so release Clea or else. Odin obliges, but Clea isn't overjoyed to see Strange: first, she thinks it must be a lie, or a torture, but says she'll "play along" after Strange calls her "wife." And it's brutal: Clea points out, Strange never treated her as his "wife." Strange has to admit that's true, but he's changed...no sale. Odin proclaims, someone had to take Clea's place in Hel: Loki agrees to, but Odin has no intention of letting him "poison" his realm, and takes Thor instead; sending everyone else back to earth, to the middle of the Foom/Samurai fight.

Counter-intuitively, Strange returns the ghost of Fin Fang Foom to its body; giving them the means to kill it finally. Some of Xen are still steamed with Lord Sunfire, and while Clea had supported Strange there, she didn't do it for him. Thor returns to Loki, since their plan had gone perfectly: Thor had freed all the "dead" Asgardians from Hel, even Hela. The returned Asgardians rejoice, while Odin feels his control slipping away... 

Hmm, this ends with a blurb for Paradise X #3; maybe this was issue #40 outta #56? The Foom/Samurai battle could've been a whole special by itself, too. Still, such a dense read; although I'm not positive much of Xen appeared in the rest of the run.

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Iceberg! Right ahead!

You don't need me to tell you that the melting polar ice caps are a major problem for everyone on the planet. Methane release from permafrost, animal habitat loss, drastic changes in the oceans' currents, and sea levels rising to where we would rather they not be; and those are just the possible effects scientists have come up with so far. (I hate that sinking feeling I have that more Americans would be more upset about climate change if scientists said it would cause gay marriages and voting Democrat...)

Still, bad as climate change is going to be for us, it's going to be far worse for inhabitants of the Marvel Universe. They're going to get all the downsides we get, and then some, since every time you see an iceberg in the 616, you can be damn sure something's in it. Probably Captain America, but still.

Most of you probably remember Cap was frozen at the end of World War II, to be found some years later by the Avengers. Except, if you wanna be a stickler about the continuity, Cap was frozen multiple times!

In Captain America #17-20 (volume four) "Cap Lives" we see the Capsicle not found by the Avengers in 1964, but by a U-boat full of Nazis. Waking to a world where the Allies couldn't win the war without him, Cap rallies the unpowered Marvel heroes into overthrowing the Red Skull, and ends up thrown back in time by Dr. Doom's time machine. Which was considerate enough to put Cap back where he should be, in a block of ice outside the Avengers' sub. Somehow.

Or, perhaps Cap was left on ice by a faction in the United States government, that feared Cap may oppose use of nuclear weapons on Japan. Experimented on by rogue scientists, a Lemurian, and some alien severed hand thing, Cap was eventually discovered by Namor, and thrown back in the drink.
Yeah, let's never speak of that one again.
Here's a happier occasion of Cap getting frostbite: following up on a possible sighting of his lost partner D-Man, Cap accidentally releases a giant icy worm, then ends up swallowed. Cap is rescued by another frozen hero, the forgotten Liberty Legion member (and possibly littlest frost giant) Jack Frost. Jack is forced to sacrifice himself to freeze the worm again, so he's still out there somewhere...

...although D-Man was later freed from an icy prison...so he could live with a bunch of smelly, homeless, forgotten Kirby characters. Yeah, that's much better than waking up in the future. This is pretty much the coolest D-Man will ever be. (Boo!)

But Captain America and his cohorts aren't the only bit of flotsam jetsamming around the Marvel Universe's icebergs! Not by a long shot! For example, there's everyone's favorite short-pants-wearing dragon, Fin Fang Foom!

Or for the literary types, Frankenstein's Monster!

Or...the Hulk? Really? OK, whatever...

I am like this close to grabbing a random Hulk figure and an old milk carton, filling them up with water and throwing them in the fridge...

And Leela from Futurama? The problem is worse than I had thought!


EDIT: Some nine years later, here's Hellboy from the animated Sword of Storms! If you can think of any other iceberg-embedded Marvel (or other) characters, let me know! And if you can fix polar ice cap melting, maybe you could get on that, too.

Credits after the break!

First, we've got the classic Avengers #4, "Captain America Joins...the Avengers!" Written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby, inks by George Roussos. It's been reprinted tons of times, but this is from Avengers Classic #4.

Then, Captain America #17-20 (volume four) "Cap Lives" by writer Dave Gibbons, penciler Lee Weeks, and inker Tom Palmer. It's like a What If that runs four issues, but a drastic improvement from...

Captain America #12-16, (still volume four) "Ice" Written by Chuck Austen, art by Jae Lee. (The cover to #16 was reprinted, minus the cover elements, in the Captain America poster book that came with the series VIII Marvel Legends Ultimate Cap!)

A far more enjoyable story was Captain America #384 (volume one, baby!) "Lair of the Ice Worm" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

Just as much fun: Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #19, written by Peter David, pencils by Mike Norton, inks by Norman Lee.

It took me forever to find my copy of Book of the Dead #1, reprinting Monster of Frankenstein #1, Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog adapting and expanding on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Then, we've got an Earl Norem cover for Rampaging Hulk #9, and a time-travel tripup from Futurama Comics #19, "The Time Bender Trilogy, part III" Script by Ian Boothby, pencils by John Delaney, inks by Phyllis Novin. Read more!