Comments on: Ghost of Van Lente Past: Supervillain Team-Up/MODOK’s 11

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:25:42 +0000

He was MODOK because of her and can never have a normal life. He volunteered for the project to prove he wasnâ€™t a loser.

I think that’s exactly what Greg was talking about. Like you say, he volunteered for the project. He became MODOK because of his insecurity and desperation, not because of her. She was the motivation, yes, but not the cause.

By: brian hancock

brian hancock — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 11:19:51 +0000

It wasn’t just to kill her, but also get money from her. He was MODOK because of her and can never have a normal life. He volunteered for the project to prove he wasn’t a loser.

He also screwed his minions over some money at the end at well by not splitting it evenly.

This book established MODOK as a threat again.

And in comics, no body = not dead

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:35:57 +0000

My bad, BDaly – I was doing so many of these puppies last night, I must have forgotten the spoiler warnings for this one.

By: BDaly

BDaly — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:26:13 +0000

If there are going to be spoilers, can we have warnings please? Anyway, I still plan to pick this up in trade. Looks and sounds like fun.
(Nextwave, where art thou Nextwave?)

By: Djed

Djed — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:23:29 +0000

Best mini of the year. I loved every page of it. Kudos to Mr Van Lente! And Portela’s art was much more than just ‘decent’. He did an excellent job; some of his facial expressions were absolutely priceless.

By: Somebody

Somebody — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:26:03 +0000

A billion dollars buys you a lot of henchmen. That ending’s for real whether or not it’s the Real AIM (™ Livewires).

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:08:42 +0000

This was my favorite Mini of the year! I echo pmpknface’s comments; that ending bowled me over. Like J. Paul said, I loved how the ending brought us full circle and re-emphasized the opening “thesis statement” if you will, that MODOK is brilliant but a petulant child out for revenge for a perceived wrong. What seemed like a throw away character moment became the reason for the whole thing. It’s great writing when you can look back and say “I should’ve seen that coming, but I didn’t.” Just great stuff.

I too thought that Monica must have survived, but definitely got screwed (which is what got her in trouble in the first place, heh heh heh).

I took the “Hail MODOK!” ending to not be him retaking AIM, but living in his own fantasy world and reveling in it. Brilliant, petty, and quite insane, thankyouverymuch.

By: pmpknface

pmpknface — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:07:12 +0000

The ending to this had me laugh out loud! I can’t fault that. I didn’t see it coming, and that’s why I enjoyed it.

I just hope the Spot comes back from whatever freakish dimension he was left in (if I’m remembering correctly).

By: yo go re

yo go re — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:56:52 +0000

Yeah, Greg is totally reading his own issues into the end of the story. The “killing” was just one of the side effects of MODOK’s Xanatos Gambit, a plan calculated just to get himself back in a good position at his ex’s expense. If all he did was take her money and blow up her base, he’s still screwed Monica.

I’m also in the camp that doesn’t think she died. That was a Looney Toons explosion – if the comic had three more pages, we would have seen her wandering out of the debris with scorch marks and smoke damage, but no other injuries…

By: J. Paul

J. Paul — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:31:48 +0000

I had no issues with the ending, because in a round about way it brought the story full circle. The first page of the first issue is pre-M.O.D.O.K. getting rejected by Monica and turned into a Killing Mental Organism because of her.

If I was a spurned dork turned into M.O.D.O.Killing, then naturally at some point I would get around to killing the woman who not only spurned me but got me turned into an oversized head in a chair.

By: jazzbo

jazzbo — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:30:20 +0000

I thought Greg was off base, too. And as MODOK points out, he gets his ex, and therefore AIM, to pay him a billion dollars for nothing, and then kills her. So I’d say the convoluted plan was needed. And the goal was not just “kill my ex-girlfriend.” It was “Get a ton of money, cripple/take-over AIM, and as a bonus, kill my ex-girlfriend.”

I was unfamiliar with almost all of the villains other than MODOK and SUper Adaptoid, and I loved this series. Maybe my favorite mini of the year.

By: jccalhoun

jccalhoun — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:50:54 +0000

I didn’t think heis main goal was to kill her at all but rather to get control of AIM again.
I liked the series even though I wasn’t familiar with most of the villains.

By: avengers63

avengers63 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:39:21 +0000

M.O.D.O.D.’s 11 was easily one of, if not the, best reads this year. I can forgive a wonky ending due to the great characterization throughout the rest of the series.

FWIW: I was OK with the ending. I thought the entire ploy was really convuluted if all he wanted to do was kill her, but that’s what makes him the evil genius. Yes, it could have been LOT better of an ending, but I’m not gonna hate on it.

By: Alex_W

Alex_W — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:38:49 +0000

Wow, Greg thought that?

I think Greg was COMPLETELY off-base.

Great series though, how do we go about making an official Van Lente Day holiday?

By: E.D.

E.D. — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:35:34 +0000

While I agree with you about killing off Monica being a waste of a good character, I think Van Lente left it vague enough to bring her back without too much trouble. We see the explosion, but no body.