Henchmen used to be a big deal. In decades past, a villain was only as good as his henchmen. The villain’s role was to simply come up with a fiendish plot for world domination. Then all they would have to do was lord over their buffoonish henchmen as they carried out their ruthless schemes. Of course, henchmen are much easier for superheroes to defeat, and a few whams and bams later their evil plot was foiled and peace was restored to the world. Eventually, super-villains realized this weakness and started carrying out their diabolical acts on their own, making the henchman a relic of the past. This week, Paul, Brent, Fleet and I are going to honor those forgotten masters of evil and discuss our favorite henchmen in comics.

My favorite henchmen would have to be in Skeletor’s roster of minions from “Masters of the Universe.” Maybe it was the fact that Mattel needed plenty of henchmen to fill out their toy product line, but it seems like Skeletor has the best list of sheer ridiculous goons in the history of henchmen. There were so many weirdo characters that attacked Eternia from the peaks of Snake Mountain:

My 3 personal favorites include:

Beast Man – This is your stereotypical henchman. Skeletor’s right-hand servant, Beast Man is a dolt who takes the brunt of Skeletor’s abuse when his evil schemes fail. Consequently, he takes out his rage of the animals he summons and one day hopes to overthrow his nagging master.

Tri-Klops – I don’t know if I can think of a henchman stranger than Tri-Klops. This minion has a rotating helmet with 3 different cycloptic eyes, none of which are really effective at pulling off Skeletor’s evil plans. Yeah, Tri-Klops might be able to see well in the dark or see through walls, but he’s just not evil enough to ever be anything but a henchman.

Stinkor – This one is all in the name. Stinkor is the humanoid skunk henchman who is the evil master of odor. Though the character never made it on to the Filmation animated show, the Mattel toy was actually chemically treated to smell musty. Skeletor was really digging in the bottom of the barrel with this stinky henchman, but he might be my personal favorite.

With all these bizarro henchmen, it’s surprising that Skeletor never conquered Eternia. However, with Man-E-Faces, Orko, and Ram-Man among He-Man’s sidekicks, the heroic warriors give Skeletor’s henchmen a run for their Mattel money.

-Jon

Ohhhh, I’ve been waiting a long time for this one. I stumbled across a couple of import issues of Pat Mills and Simon Bisley’s Sláine the Horned God in the early 90s, but like most 2000 AD comics, finding anything consistently proved impossible. But a very fine hardcover version of this masterpiece was released to the US market the last week of May, allowing me to see how the story ended after a 20-year gap. Was it worth it? Look at this and take a guess:

Yes. Most definitely yes.

Sláine (the comic book) is Pat Mills’ masterful reworking/exploration of Celtic mythology, which is enjoyably weird and starkly beautiful, as it’s rife with wondrous objects, dark poetry and a mystical reverence for the natural world and humanity’s place in it. It’s definitely not your standard barbarian fantasy, as the Celts are correctly portrayed as intelligent and sophisticated people who exult in the arts, culture and personal freedom, as well as enjoying a bit of wild violence. This self-contained story follows Sláine (the character) as he and his sidekick/diarist Ukko the dwarf attempt to unify the five tribes of Tir na nÓg; Sláine’s doing this not to claim power for himself, but to restore the mother goddess, Danu, to her rightful position of power in society. This means waging war against the Lord Weird Slough Feg, a deathless monster who seeks to destroy the people and the land as a final sacrifice to the giant maggot-god of death, Crom Cruach. All of this is rendered in Simon Bisley’s inimitable, high-energy style. The fact that more of Bisley’s art is not available in this country is a crime, but this hardcover (only $25, and it includes a small sketchbook of character designs by Bisley) goes a long way to upping to that quantity.

I must admit, the finer points of Mills’ story escaped me as younger man, probably because I was much stupider then — maybe a little of that was me being blinded by Bisley’s magnificent rendering of the action, but there’s no doubt stupidity played a role. Mills subverts the conventions of sword & sorcery heroics with Sláine. His journey is not one of endless slaughter and mass destruction, but a spiritual quest to get more in touch with his feminine side in order to help Danu. He travels to the Otherworld by entering a magic cauldron and is taught by the Goddess that if he is to succeed, he must learn to share, to facilitate cooperation and to laugh. Above all, Danu tells him that his ultimate goal should be to restore the matriarchy — only then will society be healthy. Sláine emerges from the cauldron not just a changed man but a better man, one who defers to the wisdom of women and seeks only to serve others, not himself. It ain’t Conan, that’s for sure. I’m glad I had such a long wait to read the whole series, because there’s no way the younger me would have appreciated the sophistication and beauty of much of what Mills is writing about.

Also, plenty of axe-smashing action. It’s quite the feast for mind and guts.

-Paul

Alright, so last week, I picked up a curious looking book by the name of “The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Night Powers.” As you can see by the picture above, the cover is what ultimately sold me on the purchase. A ninja in a doctor’s get-up riding a white motorcycle with rainbow flare and lightning in the background. That’s a bold move. And seeing how the creators had confidence in that kind of cover, I decided that I should have the confidence to purchased said book. Then I did. And when I got home, I cracked it open and had to force myself to put it down so that I could savor it. So, let me tell you about Dr. McNinja and let’s find out if this is something you’d want to try out.

First things first, Dr. McNinja is a webcomic and it would seem that it has a nice non-obnoxious following. It would also seem that writing a comic about a Ninja who is also a Doctor has earned the creator, Christopher Hastings, the opportunity to write the Deadpool-Fear Itself tie-in. Now, “Night Powers” is actually the fourth volume of the McNinja series, but unlike the previous volumes, this one is published by Dark Horse and it is in full color. And if you were afraid that you’d be lost without having read the comics before this book, have no fear. The book catches you up with everything you need to know in about 10 pages or so.

So what’s actually in the book? Violence and comedy. And Action. Lots of awesome action. Anyway, the overall plot of this volume sees Dr. McNinja discover a new threat to his town. The appropriately named, King Radical (see above), has come to town and he’s making changes. Big changes. And Dr. McNinja isn’t going to stand for it. Also, the King had his doctor’s office blown up, so its also a personal thing. So with the help up his thick mustached sidekick, the 12-year-old dinosaur riding Gordito and a magical motorcycle that runs on Unicorn blood, Dr. McNinja takes all of us readers on a ride that we will soon not forget. And that’s really about all I can say about it. I don’t really want to give anything away. But there’s a ton of jokes, and as an added bonus, the author includes a special commentary at the bottom of each page that takes the fun even further. So come on in and buy a copy. Don’t just read it online. Support the guy and buy a book. Plus, each printed volume comes with an additional story that isn’t on the website. That’s it.

-Fleet

The other day I bought my first single issue in months. I stopped collecting them regularly a while back, mainly because I find trade paperbacks to be a bit less expensive and a lot easier to store. Every now and then though, whether it’s due to nostalgia or sheer impatience, I find myself buying an issue or two.

This time I surprised myself by buying one of what I normally consider to be the lowest of the low in comics: the movie/video game adaptation series. These are the comics that are always released shortly before or after a major movie or video game adaptation of a series comes out. As a general rule, I’m not a fan of these creations, because even if what there are advertising is good, the quality of this promotional material rarely lives up to the hype. The writing is usually bad, the art so-so, and they add nothing to the product they’re tacked onto. However, every once in a while there is an exception to this rule. The issue that caught my eye in this instance was the five issue limited series titled Batman: Arkham City, named after the upcoming video game sequel to the best-selling game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

What made me pick up the first issue of this series was largely due to the glowing opinion I had of the original game. Batman: Arkham Asylum was the shining example of what a comic-based video game should be. It had a brilliant and well-constructed story written by Paul Dini, incredible graphics and game play, and it stayed true to the characters. It even united the voice cast of the Batman Animated Series, including Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker.

If the first issue of the miniseries is any indication, the sequel to this game is looking to be just as promising as the original. Put together by the same creative team of Paul Dini and Carlos D’Anda, Batman: Arkham City takes place a year after the events of Arkham Asylum, but this time the playground has expanded to encompass half of Gotham City.

Unfortunately, there’s not much more I can say without giving some vital information away, and I’m not one for spoilers. What I will say is that while I’m not certain how vital this prequel will be in bridging the first game to the second, it’s a series I plan to finish. There’s a long wait between now and the October release date for Arkham City, and this is just the thing to help pass the time.

Now, just for fun, here’s an epic trailer for Arkham City. Enjoy.

-Brent

I finally got around to reading Junji Ito’s “Gyo,” and for the most part, I thought it was pretty great. There was a bit in the second volume that dealt with a circus that raised some interesting questions about the intelligence of the “new-life” that appeared out of the water. Anyway, while I thought the circus chapters were useful in getting a few ideas across, I just think it’s pushing things a bit too far with there even being a circus at this point in the manga. My other small issue that I have is that the story ended a little too openly. It was as if Mr Ito had more planed but then he got tired. Or maybe there was a sales issue… I don’t know. But if ever the powers-that-be decide there should be a third volume, I’ll be there to read it. I need to know what happened to the main character’s uncle… Moving on, after I finished reading the story, I did a little search to view other opinions on it. That’s when I came across this news item. Gyo is being turned into an animated special.

There really isn’t much more to say about this. There’s going to be a lot of gross looking walking-fish and I’m going to get a chance to hear what a voice actress does with the role of the complain-y girlfriend. Man, that girl could really whine. But another thing I’m looking forward to is how they handle the sound effects. Without giving away too much, the story actually revolves around a sort-of virus that causes living things to bloat-up and expel gas as a means to replicate the virus, as well as power the machinery that allows the sea creatures to walk. Eventually, the virus spreads to humans… So… You know… All the infected parties are farting and sorta-burping continuously. There are panels in the manga that are kinda humorous because of this… In a bad way. I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did anyway. But you know, that’s a big part of the second half of the manga…. So, are we going to be hearing continuous flatulence for most of the second half of the movie? This is easily the most important question that needs to be asked of this movie. So… That’s it. Animated Gyo. I can’t wait.

-Fleet

Black Dynamite. If you don’t know him by now, then it’s about time you go and figure out who he is, because he’s coming at you with with a comic book with a story ripped straight out of the 70s. What started with an independently made homage to the Blaxploitation flicks of the 70s & 80s, has become something of a modern cult classic (which is a stupid term… “modern-classic”) with a following as large as a canceled sci-fi television show (That means a lot of followers). Everybody knows that if someone is hit with a boomerang whilst standing indoors, clearly someone must have thrown the item before they walked into the room. Classic. But Micheal Jai White’s (Spawn, The Dark Knight) little movie-that-dared has earned enough praise to have earned itself a 48 page one-shot as well as a season of a cartoon series set to debut on Adult Swim in 2012. (That’s the plan, anyway) And while I can tell you nothing about the cartoon, I can tell you about the comic, Black Dynamite: Slave Island.

Ordinarily, when I think of a “Slave Island,” I tend to think of a place that is filled with buxom lady-servants and muscled man-servants that would be taken straight out of a 60’s sci-fi comic book or a movie that plays about 16 times a month on Cinemax. This story does not feature that Slave Island. No. The Black Dynamite comic features an island resort designed for white folks who yearn for the “glory days” of the pre-Civil War South. Undisturbed by the rest of the world, there exists an island where the North American slavery of Africans never ceased. Anyway, our story begins with a slave escaping the island and making it to the shores of America. He is later found and examined by Roots author, Alex Haley. Black Dynamite makes a promise to Mr. Haley to find the sinister Slave Island and burn it to the ground.

From there, the story goes the way you pretty much expect it too, with a few unexpected turns here and there. For instance, Black Dynamite has a fight with a Shark while underwater. And to be honest, out of all the human/shark fights that I’ve seen, this one has the most absurd ending. Granted, I’ve only been witness to 4 or 5 other shark vs human fights, and one was actually shark vs zombie… But yeah… Like most comedies or satires that are built on the foundation of racism, Black Dynamite isn’t for everyone. If you feel that there is no humor in what I’ve just described, then there’s no hard feelings. But the content in the story is displayed with such an absurd level, that really, there’s nothing to be angry or ashamed about. So yeah…

-Fleet

I don’t know if I’m still enjoying a contact high from Free Comic Book Day or if I’ve finally sloughed off four decades of cynicism — you know what, even typing that caused me to snort derisively. Of course I’m still on a FCBD high. Regardless of the underpinning reason, this week’s comics were particularly thrilling and entertaining.

NorthlandersNORTHlandersNORTHLANDERS. Hey, look: A new issue of Northlanders came out this week. Issue 40 is a standalone issue by Brian Wood and Matthew Woodson documenting the interior life of a Swedish hunter who can’t stop himself from pursuing a deer that’s very determined to not get caught. This is a contemplative, even philosophical, character study that drops you into the mindset of someone who’s not hunting just to survive, but rather hunting because it’s the only part of his life that hasn’t fallen by the wayside. It’s about addiction, honor and the survival instinct that drives humanity to dare to go ever farther, and how even when you think you’re in charge, nature is right there to remind you that you control nothing. It’s kind of the ultimate encapsulation of the Northlanders experience. Also, Woodson’s art is fantastic — he draws a preternaturally expressive deer. Beautiful and thoughtful comic book making, right here every month in Northlanders.

Mike Harvey’s See You Next Wednesday Comics once again stars Gene the Cat Genie and his human, Katie, in a story about being cool. In eight brief pages, Mike effectively satirizes what it means to be cool and how obnoxious people who believe themselves to be cool are to those of us who know we’re not cool. Also, all of the problems caused by cool people are solved by one punch to the mouth. I KNEW IT. All you cool people are due for a shot in the chops. Mike Harvey makes comics that say what I want to say, and they also make me laugh.

If there’s a greater writer/artist combo than Mike Mignola and Richard Corben to appear in the past couple years, I can’t think of who it would be. Mignola is the definitive Hellboy artist, natch, but Corben has to be number 1A on the list. His moody, creep-inducing art suits Mignola’s storytelling beautifully. Being Human is a flashback one-shot to Roger the Homunculus’ first B.R.P.D. mission with Hellboy, which involves a Southern family that keeps getting together around the dinner table despite having been dead for quite some time. It’s the sort of story that Mignola might have done as an eight-page back-up a decade ago, but now he gives it room to breathe and the results are fantastic. Roger doubts his ability to function in the real world, while Hellboy reassures him that it’ll be easier than he fears; it’s the sort of character-building story that reveals a great deal about both characters. It also made me really miss Roger.

FF 3 continues this book’s return to glory as far as I’m concerned. The unconvincing “death” of you-know-who a few issues ago really wrecked my relationship with this book, but a comic all about Dr. Doom convening a seminar of Marvel’s brightest supervillains (Mad Thinker! High Evolutionary! The Wizard!) in order to brainstorm ways to kill Mr. Fantastic, and Mr. Fantastic is present as guest of honor? Oh, and Val Richards is leading the discussion, and it’s all taking place at the Baxter Building? This is the sort of Fantastic Four I want to read. It seems all the alternate versions of Reed Richards have done some bad things in the future, and this world can only be saved by destroying the Reed Richards responsible for the worst of it. Dr. Doom loves the idea, to say the least, and Jonathan Hickman once again picks up plots he set aside a few months back in order to move the story forward (remember the stuff with the various Inhumans and Atlantean/undersea peoples from about six months ago? Totally relevant now.). I admire the breadth of Hickman’s ambition, but I sometimes wish there was a little more humor in the book. FF has been very dark and serious for quite some time now, and I miss the lighter touches Hickman used to throw in here. Remember when Johnny fought a supervillain in a toy store amidst a sea of Fantastic Four action figures? Oh, right — that’s why it’s so heavy all the time in FF. Dead brother/uncle/friend/brother-in-law.

And yet, Dan Slott writes an FF story that features all sorts of jokes and shenanigans while still delivering action and suspense in Amazing Spider-Man 660 as the FF take on the Sinister Six — go figure. Slott also delivers a great page that demonstrates the fundamental difference between the FF and Spidey; Spidey always laments what he does wrong in any situation, while the individual members of the FF focus on the larger picture and concentrate on their successes. It’s Slott’s attention to the human beings inside those ridiculous costumes that makes him such a fun writer. Two things about this issue, though. One: Having Peter Parker be the calm, let’s-talk-this-out half of a romantic partnership is a nice thing. Too often male superheroes do explosive anger or the stoic thing, so it’s refreshing to see him be a grown-up about his relationship troubles. Two: I don’t know who retouched the tattoo on Carlie, but it looks worse than a Colorform stuck on the page. Additionally, I don’t want to think about Peter Parker being aroused by the sight of his own mask.

The only Green Lantern I care about less than Kyle Rayner is Alan Scott — nothing about that dude makes sense, up to and including his magic ring that doesn’t affect wood. And yet how much did I enjoy The All New Batman the Brave and the Bold 7? Very much, thanks. Alan Scott shows up to school a younger Batman on the proper way to fight crime in Gotham, while Batman takes Alan to task for always fighting evil magicians and deranged burlesque queens (I’m basing this on a single panel of his rogues’ gallery in this book; I have no idea who Alan Scott’s nemeses are, nor do I care to find out) instead of taking on the thugs and hoods who run the town. It’s as interesting and as elegant a depiction of the difference between Silver Age and Bronze Age superheroics as I’ve seen. Also, Justice League as babies? Oh, I’d buy that book if it were a monthly. Sholly Fisch and Rick Burchett are not just making a great kids’ comic book, they’re making a great comic book. I think I’ve said that four months in a row now about TANBTBATB, but it bears repeating.

I loved reading each and every one of these books, no lie. I also picked up the new King Conan vol 2, collecting Marvel’s King Conan comics from the early 80s, and I know I’m going to love that. This FCBD afterglow is amazing. All right, here’s the deal: If I have to pick just one of these as the best — and I’m basing this on which one I want to re-read right now — I have to say Amazing Spider-Man. Dan Slott is crafting an immensely enjoyable arc, and the fact that the entire extended Richards/Grimm clan is in it being awesome is just too much for me to resist.

-Paul

When I was younger and as avid a fan of comics as I am today, I often wondered what it would be like to live and work in the comic book universe. Back then, I mostly fantasized about being some kind of badass superhero, kicking butt and taking names. However, seeing how much grief superheroes get nowadays what with government intervention, mythological menaces, and strange white lanterns killing you and bringing you back to life at a whim, being the hero just doesn’t have the appeal it once did. The funny thing is that no matter how bizarre or stressful being the hero of a comic book would be, it’s not the worst occupation I could imagine; that spot I reserve for lawyers.

Just think about it; how many laws that govern the comic book politik actually make sense? In a universe where entire cities can seemingly be destroyed and rebuilt in a matter of months, people die and come back from the dead several times a year, and space aliens can be granted united states citizenship, what laws still apply?

It turns out that there are two people out there who were asking themselves that same question and decided to do something to address it. In an amazing blog called Law and the Multiverse, Ryan Davidson and James Daily, two comic book enthusiasts turned attorneys, tackle the questions that we all want to ask but lack the legal knowledge to answer.

I could probably think of at least a dozen things that have occurred in that last few years that I wouldn’t mind asking about. Law and the Multiverse covers everything from the repercussions from Marvel’s Civil War story line to more current events like Superman renouncing his United States citizenship.

The only downside of this otherwise remarkable piece of work is that it makes you realize just how powerful suspension of disbelief can be. For example, who out there has ever wondered whether having an animal as a sidekick could constitute animal cruelty? I always thought Superman’s dog had a pretty good life, but does he really? If he belonged to anyone else, would he be locked up or put down?

The answers to most of these questions are kind of surprising, and add a new dept to the increasing political world within all of our favorite comics. So if you want to learn a little something about the law or just want to check to see whether the writers at Marvel and DC did their homework, Law and the Multiverse makes for some good reading.

-Brent

What makes a hero THE hero in a story? What makes the villain THE villain? One could argue things like morality, methods, and even common sense, but sometimes it’s more subtle than that. Sometimes the hero or villain is determined by who is telling the tale, because let’s face it, no one believes they’re the villain. That’s why this week I’m going to draw the spotlight to the darker side of the comic book and the lesser known “villain narrative.”

Sometimes all is takes is a fresh point of view to make you see parts of a story that you never knew were there before. For example, anyone who’s ever picked-up a Batman book could tell you why Bruce Wayne’s life went into the crapper, but can the same be said of the Joker? If it took the death of his parents to make Batman dress in a bat costume and fight crime, what motivated the Joker to dress in a garish purple suit and kill people for his own sick amusement?

Alan Moore’s epic story, The Killing Joke, is a prime example of what it means to tell the villain’s side of things. In one depraved act, the Joker tries to prove in his own twisted fashion that all that separates him from the rest of the world is “one bad day.” It’s also the origin of one of the most memorable quotes in Joker history, which can be heard in the video below.

Another fine example of what a villain’s narrative can do is Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories. Based off of Joss Whedon’s much acclaimed short film, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, it shows a strange take on the world of heroes and villains where you find yourself questioning which is worse.

The beauty of this take on the villain verses hero paradigm is that it doesn’t just make you pity the villain, it makes you relate to him. Dr. Horrible is just a normal guy trying to find a place in the world around him. True, he’s not very good at it, but for him it beat the alternative.

And last but certainly not least is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Loki series, a four issue mini-series featuring Marvel’s favorite trickster that debuted late last year. The series is a story about how a child born of monsters and raised by gods grew to be one of the treacherous characters in Marvel’s history.

For a character who has been proclaimed a God of Lies, it not hard to see why the truth of his life is shrouded in deceit. Like all stories based in myth, the truth behind Loki’s origin as it is told in this series is open to broad interpretation. Is he a misunderstood trickster, or a con-artist so deep in his craft that he believes his own deceptions?

The greatest strength of all these stories is that their roots lie deep in the realm of moral ambiguity. You walk a mile in the protagonists shoes and by the end what you know is wrong almost seems right, and the guilty almost seem innocent. If you feel like taking a walk in the shadows, these are the stories to begin your journey.

-Brent

Generation Hope, the comic that follows the exploits of Cyclops’ (The King of Mutants) adoptive granddaughter, Hope Summers. If you’ve picked up an X-Book in the past 5 years, then you know that there are less than 200 mutants left in the Marvel Universe. Thanks to a wish by the Scarlet Witch, mutants were sentenced to an EW conservation-level status. There were to be no more born, that is, until baby Hope was born. There was a war or two fought in her name, and in the end it was Cable, Cyclops’s son, who came to the rescue. Cable, being the time-traveling deus-ex that he is, took Hope to the future, where in real-life time, Hope went from being a baby to a teenager in about 3 years. Anyway, with her arrival into the present and the manifestation of her mutant powers, 5 new mutants (The Five Lights) manifested their powers… But they had no control over their power. It wasn’t until Hope was able to physically touch them, that their powers became controllable to the host. So now, that we are caught up, I can get to my point.

What the hell is Tetsuo doing on the team?

You see, the last of the Lights manifested in Tokyo, Japan. There we find a painter who suddenly loses control of his body, and he starts killing everybody. At some point, he comes across a red curtain or sheet and uses it as a cape. And most absurdly, he fires his arm out at someone, just like Tetsuo in the Akira movie/manga. And yes, his arm is all gross and stuff. Hell, the kid, Kenji Uedo, even has the same haircut. Ultimately, his powers ended up being a little different from Tetsuo, but come on. A X-Men comic was the last place I thought a Tetsuo homage would pop up in. But ultimately, I’m kinda ok with it. I’m sure it could’ve been a lot worse, and its not as if the creators were trying to pass him off as an original design. I imagine that the whole point of the Akira recap was just to get the comparisons out of the way, to get us to accept that yes, they really did just rip off a character. So, at the very least, they get points for being upfront about it.

But this isn’t the only time Tetsuo has popped up in things that aren’t Akira. Gaara from the Naruto (The creator of which has stated to have been influenced a bit by Akira) books got a little Tetsuo-armed from time to time, South Park featured an episode about Eric Cartman’s trapper keeper gaining sentience and eventually assimilating the things around it and Cartman to become the giant blob version of Tetsuo, (This episode also featured a theme that was very similar to the theme in the movie that played during Tetsuo’s transformation). And then there’s the character from King of Fighters 2001 & 2002 named K9999 (pronounced “Kay-Four-Nine) who is another direct copy of the Tetsuo character, even going as far as to be voiced by the very same man who was the original voice actor for Tetsuo. He also has a funky arm move. Todd Ingram, from the Scott Pilgrim series features an attack in the videogame where he has a funky Vegan-Psychic arm attack, just like Tetsuo as well. And I know that there are more Tetsuo clones out there, maybe one day, I’ll make a website that features Tetsuo copy-cats, but for now, I think I’ll go draw my own Tetsuo copy-cat character. But in fairness, all these characters, including Akira’s Tetsuo (whom which he was named for) are based off of another Tetsuo, Tetsuo the Iron Man. But whatever.

-Fleet