Fire and Water and flying to Titan
Daily Ramble 44: Fire and Water and flying to Titan
Today’s Ramble takes me to Titan and what turns out to be a pretty bad horde of Thralls in Destiny 2. So far, Titian is not my favorite locale in the game so I’m hoping to fight through all the bad guys, complete the missions and move on to the next battle zone.
On the other side of things, I read through another issue of Strange Tales. Number 107 should really have been an issue of the Fantastic Four but I guess Stan and company had other plans for that title. In any case, all four of the team show up and even one of their main bad guys – Prince Namor.
Onward to Titan
I made it past the European Dead Zone a bit ago now I’m off to Titan, a moon of Saturn, where I needed to keep pushing to figure out what was going on with the Red Legion. I had a signal they transmitted but in order to understand what it contained – hopefully all their plans so we could defeat them – I needed to find some kind of Golden Age CPU.
In this mission I head to the Pacific Arcology which is a neat area – kinda like an atrium and gathering place at one time. Too bad all the bad guys have made a mess of it.
I was able to find a terminal that gave me directions to where I might find a CPU but it lead to a restricted area. You always know things are gonna get rough whenever you enter a restricted zone.
In any case, I fought past a bunch of Fallen and their Servitors and down, down, down. Into a swarm of Thralls who spelled the end of me.
I really like the scenes in this sequence. The Pacific Arcology is pretty nice with greens and blues making for a peaceful appearance. Of course down below you’ve got the reds and oranges of the hellish Thrall horde. They really were ready for me and I paid the price. I know, however, that I’ll get them next time.
Fire vs. Water
Strange Tales #107: The Master of Flame vs. the Monarch of the Sea!!
The Human Torch takes on the Sub-Mariner mano-a-mano. Who will come out victorious when fire and water are in conflict? And what’s up with the other 3 Fantastic Four members to let Johnny try to do this on his own?
Before the battle can begin though, the Torch has to find Namor and as he flys out to sea, he runs outta flame and must take refuge on a ship. The men onbaord don’t believe he’s the Torch and they harass him until he does a Rudolph impression and uses his flame to shine as a beacon as they are surrounded by fog. He protects the ship and now that’s he’s got his flame back, he’s ready for Namor.
Johnny finds him and uses his newly practiced agility to bring about a draw in the first round of the fight where he traps Sub-Mariner in an iceberg but they slippery fish-man breaks outta the trap. The second round is won by Namor as he hypnotizes the Torch with an ancient statue and sends him back to the mainland after punching his lights out. The third and final round goes to the Human Torch as he buries Namor in the ground under the ocean by melting the sea floor. Namor gets out but both combatants are exhausted and the fight is basically called off. Three rounds and neither Flame nor Water is supreme.
On the whole, the issue is decent though I really hope there are some reasons for conflict in the future that don’t revolve around Johnny’s fights with Ben or Reed. Also in this issue, I get the sense that there is no “bible” for the Human Torch’s powers – I’m not sure if getting wet causes him to be unable to “flame on” which has happened in previous issues or if he’s worked out how to avoid that problem as he did in this issue. In any case, I drop this issue back down to a C rating and hope for what I know will be better issues coming.
What did I learn:
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- While he only shows up on one page, the Thing looks like mush again, perhaps it’s the art by Dick Ayers?
- More trouble is caused by Johnny’s insecurities about being a respected member of the Fantastic Four than anything else in the Marvel Universe at this point.
- Second to Johnny’s respect issues is Sue’s infatuation with Prince Namor.
- Prince Namor can surround himself with electricity like and electric eel
- Johnny can retain heat even when he’s not on fire
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