Secret Origin : the Art of War

Not So Secret: It must be two sides

Real Name: Benjamin Turner
Code Name: the Bronze Tiger

True identity: Only known by the Sensei and Wong Fei

Gov. agency files: the foundation of the character was set up by creator Dennis O'neil, Jim Berry and artist Leo Duranona.

the Tiger was transformed into an ass kicking super spy, assassin and hero by John Ostrander, Kim Yale and artist Luke McDonnell. Bronze Tiger DC Universe.

Bronze Tiger, Rick Flagg and Nightshade

The forward progression of the Bronze Tiger as a master martial artist with the powers of mystic Wu-Shu

was shown in Batman, The Brave and the Bold episode, where he and Batman took in the powers of the

Wu dang totem.

"Return of the fearsome Fangs."

Head of the body, leader of the team

Favorite Mission Team:

Bronze Tiger

Nightshade

Vixen

Lashina

Deadshot

Plastique

Oracle

Captain Boomerang

Multiplex

would have added Shade but his uniform is corny.

What's yours ?

Gunz and Onez: the 23rd Chamber

Tools of the TRADE:

What's the weapon of a living weapon? I don't know exactly, but I do know that every great superhero not only has theme music, but their own trademarked weapon of choice; magic lasso, Billy clubs, utility Belt..... the mighty Mjolnir. Now I don't have to tell you who these weapons belong to and the same holds true for the ceremonial battle mask of Benjamin Turner. It's without a doubt the tiger mask.

Having traveled from Atlantis to Apocalypse the tiger mask has served BT well.

But I have a love hate relationship with this particular piece of head gear.

Most artist can't draw it correctly, it either looks stupid and awkward or the mask

makes the man look like an actual tiger. A redesign is needed for sure.

Mia Cabrera over at Deviant has the best version to date.

A stylized tiger with elements of a Japanese Samurai kabuto 

and the Wakidate (side crest) could represent

the Clan of Sakanoye NoTamuramaro.

On certain missions and at random times the Bronze Tiger uses weapons

of his Shogun roots. Which leads to a question.

Should the Tiger have another trademark weapon?

The Last Man Standing

Deathstroke vs the JSA

My nephew and action figure collecting partner sent me these fight pictures and second round drag out of Slade vs the JSA. I guess they wanted some get back from the beat down he gave em from Identity Crisis. Either way, here we go....FIGHT!

Slade Wilson, the Terminator aka: DEATHSTROKE
Mercenary assassin and scourge of the DCU. Possesses various enhanced abilities at an almost superhuman level. These include strength of ten men, heightened speed, agility, stamina and reflexes.

Deathstroke can use 90% of his brain making him a tactical genius, adept at turning an opponent's own abilities against them. He has years of military training and possesses a healing factor that enables him to heal from physical injury much faster than a normal person; however, it does have limitations. He cannot regenerate entire limbs. So he can be killed.

Slade is expert hand to hand combatant and a weapons expert, but his signature weapon is a power staff, that fires lethal and non lethal energy blasts from both ends. He could probably use it right now to keep from getting kicked in the face.

Oh well, that kicking stuff didn't last.

Looks like these guys have just got the business done to em. And Deathstroke needs some new guys to fight. Maybe beat the crap out of some marvel guys? Deadpool, Blade, Taskmaster, who knows. Thanks Jake for the pics man. And until your guy meets the Bronze Tiger he gets the win.

Red Dead Redemption: the Regulators

"Try to keep an eyeball on my blade"

This is not a review; a recap of sorts, a definite celebration of the video game and a fan request for a red dead 2 with upgrades. The game opens up with John Marston in the clutches of corrupt govt. agents that he never escapes. How cool would it have been if you could have been able to go into character creation mode and build your own Outlaw, or choose one of the characters from the outfitter that can only be played in multiplayer.



What if you could choose Dr.Lane Davies and start the mission from Tumbleweed or Fernando Naranjo from Chuparosa? You know what it would be.....FIRE! One of the unplayable characters that could have easily been a main character choice is Americus Roe.

Imagine starting in Armadillo as bounty hunter running with a group of Cowboys for your game training. Marston had MacFarlanes Ranch, Roe could have the Regulators.

These guys could become playable after Roe's training. The Regulators were my idea after looking at the other groups of characters in the outfitter. They were modeled after a Black cowboy outfit from Texas, my favorite cowboy movies and Skyrim. Skyrim is another video game that allows you the option to choose how you start the game. Ultimately you would go down the same path to redemption, just from a different point of view.

YIPPIE KI YAY 

A Warm Ophidian Welcome

As the Tiger descends into the bottomless snake pits of Basilisk, a deathtrap falls

 the Bronze Tiger is ultimately bitten by Kobra

and

the most dangerous hunt has turned into........ Suicide.

This is one of the team ups that should be a no brainer.

Bronze Tiger and Iron Fist

What would YOU name the title of this cover?

The best title will become the name of this post.

Red Dead Redemption

Traveling on a constant loop thru space and time, I Benjamin Turner aka the Bronze Tiger arrived in the American west. The year 1911 and the experience of the wild west is much wilder, more beautiful and more deadly than they show you on the western channel or in a spaghetti western from Sergio Leone. John Marston.....a man I rode with on many occasions trying to find my way back to the future.

Marston was an Outlaw turned family man, rancher that has gotten caught up in a government conspiracy to rid the territory of a criminal gang of killers he use to call friends. Marston's wife and son's life hang in the balance as he desperately fight for their lives and his own redemption for past crimes and regrets (sound familiar?). With this warrior of the west I found a kinship a brotherhood as we rode thru New Austin, Nuevo Paraiso and West Elizabeth: gunfighting, roping, riding and Marston showed me a new definition for dragging ass.

the Red Dead Redemption of John Marston crossed paths with some colorful hombres, real killers some of these men were forced to do wrong others just dead ass wrong or dead ass crazy.

the women that play this game of cowboys and Indians are as tough, skilled and beautiful as the western landscape itself. One of the most prominent cattlemen in New Austin is a woman. Bonnie McFarlane, strong, focused and taking no nonsense. Bonnie is virtuous and vulnerable but is in no way wolf bait. I embody the spirit of the Tiger, Bonnie has the spirit of an unbroken mare a true prize to a cowboy that can rope her. Down in Nuevo Paraiso is a beautiful desert flower with thorns; Luisa Fortuna has the heart to fight a corrupt gov. and the highest fidelity to the cause, a real revolutionary. My little sister makes me proud to see her work. And if you don't respect her G you better hope she doesn't call on me.

Here are some more Outlaws that I know

Don't think I forgot Tuco. Captain Boomerang is the Tuco of the Suicide Squad. The misunderstood, underestimated ass hole. Tuco is aggravating but entertaining, skilled and as fatal as anyone of the men up top. Secretly one of my favorite operatives to work with on the Squad even though I have to check this dummy to often.

If Red Dead Redemption was a video game It would be the best damn game I ever played. It's escapism on steroids. This game is better than 80% of the movies these days. Matter of fact Red Dead should be a movie. The closest thing to it right now is Hell on Wheels. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's John Marston on TV.

The 5 Year Fix: Young Justice

Young Justice has been arresting animation that's been full of action from the word go. Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman has put together an animation series that's an instant classic and is already one of the greatest shows ever produced. Each episode has been one homerun hit after the other giving every DC fan exactly what we want from each young titan; and some superfriend backup from the JLA. Which leads right into Alienated. I was a little sceptical of the 5 year jump, especially after Zatanna and Rocket had just been introduced. It was some things that hadn't been dealt with, the focus was moving away from the young justice team and it was a little to much JLA. Well.....all my doubts were put to rest.

The show opens up with Bumble Bee and Blue Beetle chasing a Krolotean. The alien escapes thru the sewers and joins Black Manta on a smaller version of the Manta sub. At home base Ms. Martian returns from the zeta team mission with zeta beam intel and the answers to the missing 16hrs of the seven JLA members that was brainwashed by Vandal Savage.

A disturbing development with Ms. Martian's mindreading abilities has been leaving Kroloteans slobbering vegetables, but it leads the teams to a secret island hideout. This is where it really gets good. The island is crawling with manta men and we get to see the Darkknight detective at his kick ass best. Black Manta is revealed as Kaldur'ahm, he opens up his own can of whoop ass on the team and as it looks like the manta men and Kroloteans might overrun our heroes, Superman and Kon-El burst in with Wonder Woman and Wonder girl to turn the tide.

This episode was so good I have to give a shout out to the director MelZweyer and the writer of this episode Kevin Hopps. They get the highest reconition for this one, the ep. had everything. Aquaman had a good showing,

 Nightwing and the Bat family show all kinds of coordinated muscle and finesse.
















  Aqualad's shrewed leadership and combat skills are on full display as well. But the show stopper was the confrontation between Kaldur and superboy, it  had a grown man jumping off of the sofa like a kid. To see his power progression and character growth amplified my interest in the show and DC as a whole. I always talk about how good Geoff Johns has done with Black Manta. Vietti and Weisman are right there with him running neck and neck making Black Manta into a top flight villain.

Kaldur has now taken his fathers mantle as the Black Manta, hopefully when he really sees the light and return to being a hero he'll come back with a new codename and Garth can become Aqualad.

Nightwing has jumped up the ranks on my favorites list. His smart and empathetic leadership added to his fighting and tactical skills are just ..... plus 10. Even as reluctant rivals Kaldur and Nightwing really don't want to hurt each other. Dick showed this by not ambushing him and trying to talk to his friend about the situation. Kaldur showed the same by not killing Kal-El and telling Nightwing exactly how long he had to evacuate the rest of the team so they wouldn't die in the explosion.

Alienated is tough guy awesomness.