The RPG Duelling League
Social Forums => General Chat => Topic started by: Shale on January 18, 2012, 01:20:41 AM
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So I've been using my shiny new phone to catch up on/reread comics on the bus. I'm completely up to speed on Hellboy, which somehow had the main-story books get even better since I last read them a few years ago. I've read The Goon, which is utterly fantastic for including both some really well done serious moments and this:
(http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/06/goon06.jpg)
And now I'm rereading Suicide Squad. Just finished the New Gods three-parter. It's a fantastic series, that hasn't changed. But I'd totally forgotten that John Ostrander interrupted an intense fight with the forces of evil incarnate to drop a Nick Danger: Third Eye reference. Well played, sir. Well played.
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And now I'm rereading Suicide Squad. Just finished the New Gods three-parter. It's a fantastic series, that hasn't changed. But I'd totally forgotten that John Ostrander interrupted an intense fight with the forces of evil incarnate to drop a Nick Danger: Third Eye reference. Well played, sir. Well played.
Good man, Shale. Can't say I caught that reference though, not knowing what Nick Danger is. (Totally applaud kicking off the Janus Directive finale rumble with a Talking Heads quote, though.)
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A trip to the local comic store yielded two things:
A Magic mentor for re-learning on Fridays
&
TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 0.
WHAT.
WHAT!! Will read this and then regurgitate my transmet experiences.
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Speaking of comics, Matt Fraction's Iron Man run has been pretty awesome and I'm sad it's coming to a close. He had Madame Masque quote the Mountain Goats to Tony.
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Hawkeye #3 came out two days ago. I thought issue 2 was amazing at telling a story by taking advantage of the medium rather than just coincidentally being a comic, but this one is even better. It is possibly the best single issue of a book I've ever read. I can't stress enough that you should read it, especially since if my math is correct and this trend of getting better every issue even though I don't even think its possible continues, by issue 16 all other forms of media will be irrelevant and everything will be Hawkeye.
If you had told me this time three years ago that three of the best book Marvel puts out would be solo titles for Gambit, Hawkeye and Venom I'd have called you a liar but it's true.
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Matt Fraction and David Aja working together is basically unfair to anyone else who has ever made comics.
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Fraction told me on Twitter that the only show the Avengers can all agree to watch is something called "Dog Cops" btw.
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Jealous of Rob and people who can get Hawkeye.
You should be, because Hawkguy #6, "Six Days in the Life of Clint Barton," aka "DVRmageddon" is a fucking masterpiece, just like every issue.
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I've talked at length about some of the comics I'm currently reading and how awesome they are, Hawkguy in particular (also Gambit). Also anything by Hickman, who just started on Avengers, is going to be a must-read, but I digress, because I'm here to talk about Thor: God of Thunder. Jason Aaron writes it, and he's currently known for the generally-pretty-offbeat Wolverine and the X-Men. Thor's not really like that, though. It's about Thor at three different points in time and an unaging murderer who is killing every god he can find. The perspective jumps between timeframes at various points (usually visiting each time more than once in a story) but it's never really confusing and the time jumps get used to good effect. It reminds me of the finale of ST:TNG in how the jumps are used, except that the Thors aren't all the same consciousness. But there's way more Vikings.
Also it looks like this.
(http://i.imgur.com/RQgv0.jpg)
So read it.
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I could be reading Cetaganda or playing Persona 4.
Y the Last Man - a friend at work leant me volume 1 of this in hardcover so I felt I should read it and give it back. It is good but frustrating in ways I associate with Brian K Vaughn. It is all mystery mystery mystery and then suddenly someone acts kind of stupid and no resolution to long term problems but the monster of the week is beaten.
It is a damn fine comic though.
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So a while ago I read Final Crisis, and it didn't make a damn bit of sense. This weekend I read it with the tie-ins, and lo and behold, it makes....well...sort of sense? It flows a lot better, anyway. Superman Beyond (iiiiiin threeeeeeeeeee deeeeeeeeee) should have just been two issues of the main series - nothing in the last issue is remotely comprehensible without it. And the ending isn't nearly as bizarre. Kind of hilarious that the Legion of Super-Heroes one, which takes place before the sixth issue of seven, didn't finish until the next big crossover was in full swing. Ah, DC. Even when you succeed, you're still mockable.
Anyway, the actual series is good, but the follow-ups are surprisingly worth reading. "Escape" is The Prisoner starring Suicide Squad alumni and tons of Kirby references, and if that doesn't sound like a good time to you I can only feel pity. "Run" is just over-the-top ridiculous and very frequently funny in its abuse of the "protagonist." Also it has the Condiment King in a major supporting role.
Also read the Mistborn sequel, Alloy of Law. Solid little Western fantasy-action thing, kinda bogged down by the pro forma romance subplot but overall very enjoyable. Not sure it needed the sequel hook, but I'll probably read the next one anyway, whenever it comes out.
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(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyabxasWIn1rngizko1_400.png)
I'm an adult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhelBTjRYcE
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Might as well post here for the first time like ever? I could be lying about that!
Kingdom Come: Found the trade of this and read it. I...wouldn't say it's OMG BEST THING EVER!!! like some hype, but it's definitely a good read nonetheless and don't regret picking it up. Maybe part of my response to it was the whole hype around it making me expect more than it was.
On a more neutral level, it wasn't what I was expecting and took directions I didn't really expect when I heard the premise. Big one being Magog, where reading brief summaries made it sound like he was the primary adversary to Superman, when all he really was is the catalyst character of sorts. I do like how they made it clear he was NOT a bad person, and meant well, just took things a little too far, contrast to what you'd expect of the "Killing Heroes are cool!" kind of guys.
Megaman Comic volume 1-3: Fun fluff reads. Ian Flynn really shows off his colors as a major fan of Megaman, to the point of actually incorporating memes into the comics, be it the comic itself (Iceman having a crush on Roll)or just the character bios (a quip about "Airman cannot be defeated.") It also did what I hoped they'd do in actually keeping the MM1 Robot Masters (Oil Man and Time Man included) as regular good guys after the early arcs, just to beef up the cast, rather than making all Robot Masters exist for their own game only to stop mattering once that arc is done.
The other Robot masters (namely MM2) are fun when you read them, but forgettable once you're past them. I guess that's to be expected for one scene wonders.
It's clearly intended for younger audience, but really, it's fun to read if you're a fan of Megaman at all, as it's written out of pure love for the series, and is clearly part of the fan-base (...the non-whiny part anyway)
Superior Spider-man: I decided to take a chance and keep up with this because...well, honestly, I don't know, bought it at a whim at mini-meet, been keeping up since!
The premise is kind of working, but the end of the 3rd issue leaves me with a bit of unease in the direction it's going to take.
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Superior Spider-man: I decided to take a chance and keep up with this because...well, honestly, I don't know, bought it at a whim at mini-meet, been keeping up since!
The premise is kind of working, but the end of the 3rd issue leaves me with a bit of unease in the direction it's going to take.
The sad thing about Superior Spider-Man is that he's a much better character every time he's written by someone who's not Dan Slott.
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I read Y: The Last Man from beginning to end, then I started reading it from beginning to end again the next day. That is one hell of a comic book. It probably helped that I was spoiled going in on the fact that the ending doesn't actually tell you what caused the plague that sets everything off, so my attention was focused from the start on the characters and adventure-story elements, which are both stellar. Ending still wasn't great, but it worked.
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The Dark Knight Returns: I had a lot of free time between classes where I was subbing, so went to library and noticed this in their Graphic Novels section, and figured it'd be worth reading since, well, I could potentially finish it in that time (and if I didn't, take a bit of time after school to do so.)
It was...ok, I guess. It wasn't bad, and some good moments, but I feel it wasn't as amazing it has been hyped. I guess the thing that bugged me was the over-usage of newscast style exposition. It worked in the first 1/4th to help build the setting, in a manner that kept things "in-world" without resorting to heavy narratives, but later on I found myself just skimming them and not really missing anything because it's just driving the point far deeper than needed. Reminds me of the Pirate Stuff in Watchmen, only less symbolically annoying but far more omnipresent.
I suppose it was a big deal when it first came out, and it wasn't bad just...wasn't as great as had been hyped. Watchmen, it's contemporary "Dark Gritty Comic that changed the face of comics for the next 10 years!" was significantly better in that regard.
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Dark Knight Returns was a big deal because that is what made Batman dark and gritty pretty much.
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It and Watchmen had a huge hand in ushering in the grim-n-gritty era, and Watchmen is better at standing apart from its sea of imitators. DKR has been picked apart and emulated so thoroughly - and by good creators, to boot - that about the only thing you can find in there that hasn't been done well (though not as well, for my money) elsewhere in the last 25 years is the constant talking heads.
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It's also a Batman story where Batman himself is the emotional crux. There's only like four Batman stories where that's happened.
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I'm with Meeple. I've read maybe 6 comic books in my lifetime, but it includes The Dark Knight Returns, and... while I can intellectually see why it was an *influential* book, that doesn't mean it's actually good. The good: the bravery to actually have Batman age (as this was super-rare at the time, and apparently is still rare), and the fact that Batman has his own cult which is something that more actual superheroes would likely have (and the fascist nature of the vigilanteism is treated at least as appropriately scary here). Okay, I guess the first Two-Face plot was okay if against my leanings - someone who's been a villain for that long is, well, a villain. (This is why the idea of Two-Face only works for a short period of time, like a movie. Once you've been a villain for too long all the nice things start just becoming a cover.) Look at silly liberal Bruce Wayne believing that criminals might be reformed, they have to be fought, etc. All three of these plots can ring true - yes it's a comic book, but it's a comic book treating things at least SOMEWHAT seriously rather than doing the old slapdash style "stuff happens whee then everything gets better and is reset." People age, actions have consequences, "successful" vigilantes will spawn imitators and admirers.
As for the bad: everything else, which rang false, but even worse was in a story that was acting all serious and thus surrendering the usual excuse of "it's mindless entertainment relax." I'm sort of okay with Miller pushing his, well, fascist story about how one man with courage cuts through all the flabby bureaucracy of an inept government that only makes the problem worse by going out and directly doing what the people need, which is to fight the Bad People who are the cause of all of our problems. Not my politics, but you can still write a good story from that perspective (I must admit I like some of Yukio Mishima's novels, and he's totes a bring-back-the-Japanese-Empire guy.) However, he could have done it in a way that didn't have beyond ridiculous strawmen. An evil gang known as the Mutants are just wrecking shit and killing people, because that's totally what those crazed urban types do, and one of the few female characters, the chief of police, knows that the real threat is that Batman who's daring to enforce justice on his own. Batman single-handedly beats them up and arrests their leader, but the mayor, some wimpy liberal, decides that he has to uh "negotiate" with the Mutant leader. Who is in jail and facing 9999 years in prison. And negotiate means "enter the cell unarmed with no guards." And then the mutant leader tears the mayor to shred despite all the witnesses, and gets away with this, rather than getting summarily executed. Then liberal psychologist types come on TV to tell us all that this is all Batman's fault and these psychotic criminals who murder for fun are just misunderstood. This is like some kind of grotesque parody of the worst kind of flaky 1970s liberal, in a totally incongruous context, combined with some kind of fever dream of how the 1970s crime-ridden inner city works. Ayn Rand would be positively jealous of this level of strawmening. And then suddenly we see that Superman, the person who "follows the rules," is just a tool of the man, and does the weak government's bidding, because they FEAR a man of bravery willing to do what they can't, and Batman could totally beat up Superman and does so to let him know he's the better man (because better in combat = better in life), but then spares him 'cuz the Mighty Batman is merciful as well as magnificent. Yeah whatever dude.
And oh yes. The art sucked. Seriously, comics should be fun to read. The art I recall being grey, drab, and uninspiring. They should have at least gone for something like Sin City (Note: I only saw the movie) which shows that you can be gritty and hard-boiled but still be stylish.
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Since I like to talk about comics in this thread sometimes, let's talk about my comic of the week: Deadpool #7.
Deadpool #7 is a stand-alone story (which is part of why I picked it up) set during the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline from Iron Man (which is the other reason). Since the story is set in the late Bronze Age of Comics, Deadpool looks lke this.
http://i.imgur.com/td5CwB7.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/td5CwB7.jpg)
Long story short, Deadpool is hired by a demon because the demon heard Tony was about to get his act together and he needs someone to keep him drinking. There's a twist at the end. Anyway, it's great fun. There's a Hostess Fruit Pies-style page at one point. We get to see what Tony's checkbook looks like (do you know how much Jarvis' year-end bonus is? What about the Stark budget for "Drinky boo-boose"?) And we get to see the most intoxicating Avengers adventure yet.
It's three bucks so you should read it.
e: Changed that image to a link cause it was bigger than I remember.
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I have to question why I haven't started getting into Deadpool's series myself. That one page you linked to only further proves that I am foolish for not doing so.
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And that's after he fights Zombie FDR (http://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_0038.jpg). Yes, the current series is what we all hoped Shadow Hearts 3 would be, in Deadpool form!
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I have to question why I haven't started getting into Deadpool's series myself. That one page you linked to only further proves that I am foolish for not doing so.
We also find out that Stark Industries' preference for digital media rather than physical is a result of Deadpool talking to him about Laserdiscs (while Tony is clad only in one glove and the crotch+ass piece from the Iron Man).
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Sounds like an average day for Deadpool.
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Megaman Volume 4: So this is between MM2 and MM3, they introduce Dr. Cossack early, alongside Kalinka, and he Pharaoh Man is apparently his signature Robot Master. Sure, why not! They also made a random female scientist out of nowhere whose a colleague of the others who has a "Quakewoman", who was apparently made from "Tempo" only-...you know, I'm getting a little too detailed!
What matters most is that somehow a robot conventions turns into Mega Man (and Rush), Pharaoh Man, Elec Man and Quake Woman vs. Terrorists. Antics ensue, law of robotics get in the way, and Elec Man gets tasered.
Oh yeah, Protoman tease and MM3 Robot masters started getting made...and the MM2 guys got revived because I guess Wily needs a group incompetent henchmen.
In short, fun and simple read, and as I probably said before, clearly written by someone who loves Mega Man and actually did his homework on both the more obscure facts and the fanons.
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Squadron Supreme: Read the entire series and such.
Good: It was an actual respectable take on the Justice League by competitors. It didn't try to take any cheap jabs that were mean spirited (They called Hyperion "Super-man" once, but that was just a cute "c wut i did thar" moment), and more came off as Marvel trying to use someone else's characters in their own way, though, still technically original characters thus they could do whatever they want with them without people calling "foul" since no continuity and all that.
The basic premise was neat and pulled off decently too, and it's interesting how the story could see so bubbly and colorful for 90%, then the last few pages take an extremely dark turn that makes you feel uncomfortable, yet doesn't feel out of place. Series ended on a lighter note than I expected, though still generally a dark one, as given all the talk about it I was seriously expecting Arcanna to have a miscarriage given she was doing exactly what she said she shouldn't do. but in contrast, it did work as a "but it's not all bad!" point to end with.
The Bad: I guess just the series shows it's age in the sense of it's writing. It's very...80s. The narrative is hard to read without the deep, over-dramatic exposition voice in your head (DAMN YOU LINKARA!), the characters have to think out every action, so there's a lot more "Tell" than "Show" at times. There are definite times where I feel they are saying "5 words when 2 will suffice" (yes, I know the irony of that coming from me), you get the jist. I feel like the series deserves some sort of updated Re-imagining as a result.
Also, seriously, POWER PRINCESS? That was the best name you could come up with the Wonder Woman proxy? The others aren't too bad; I guess the only other questionable one is the Whizzer (Flash proxy), but whatever. Others all worked, but man, Power Princess just stands out as a huge case of "THIS IS THE 80s!!!" if you ask me.
It was a decent read, though because of the bad, sometimes it was a bit of a chore.
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Public service announcement: It's Free Comic Book Day! (http://www.freecomicbookday.com) Go to your local store, get free stuff. Preferably including Atomic Robo 'cause it's awesome. (Also buy something because it's the nice thing to do)
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Public service announcement: It's Free Comic Book Day! (http://www.freecomicbookday.com) Go to your local store, get free stuff. Preferably including Atomic Robo 'cause it's awesome. (Also buy something because it's the nice thing to do)
I grabbed whatever I saw that was free, and bought Action Comics #775. Does that work?
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Indeed it does!
I bought all the issues of Hawkeye/guy I was missing, some Hulk comics co-starring Thor and drawn by Walt Simonson, and a few random trades. I'm looking forward to seeing how China Mieville did with Dial H For Hero.
Also my local comic shop has no limit on FCBD books so I came out with a stack that was close to a foot tall when all was said and done. Good day.
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Bought a ton today.
The OMAC Project and Villains United parts of Countdown to Infinite Crisis, plus Infinite Crisis. 52 Vol 1. Fairest 12-15.
Also got through Generation Lost and Identity Crisis last week.
Gotta say, DC is much better when it focuses on the less powerful/iconic.
And Max Lord is one Magnificent Bastard.
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Superman is a Dirty Commie Red Son: Read it, good stuff, can see why it's one of the usual hyped "awesome Superman Elseworld stories" alongside Kingdom Come and All-Star Superman.
I do like how it legitimately kept everything grey. It's really hard to tell who you're suppose to cheer for at any given point. For example, Batman shows up, tragic back-story, you pity him, but then you remember all he's trying to do is overthrow a regime that, while having taken things TOO far, isn't actually evil at it's core at all (just has a few douches within it's ranks, who are Batman's REAL targets.) It makes it hard to cheer for him to win, but also hard to not at least sympathize with his stance.
Also handled the Democracy vs. Communism thing well due to not trying to glorify either, but basically say "Both methods have their advantages while being fundamentally flawed" with the resolution being a 3rd option that can only exist in fiction being superior to both, while keeping the actual details of that rule never actually explained other than Lex Luthor is in charge and they did actually set up the scenario in a nice subtle way early on (went back and read a few earlier moments to get some clarity on events.)
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I bought all the issues of Hawkeye/guy I was missing, some Hulk comics co-starring Thor and drawn by Walt Simonson, and a few random trades.
This is way late but they had Mark Waid on WarRocket Ajax shortly after one of the Hulk issues came out and he talked about how basically originally he had an idea for a Thor story and he wanted to get Simonson to guest draw it, but he was very intimidated to approach him, because for the Marvel bullpen, Walt Simonson is "the hot girl who can have ANYBODY so why would a loser like me talk to her?" Eventually he pitched Simonson the idea and the dude loved it. Some highlights:
-Originally it was going to be two issues but Simonson liked the story so much that they talked to editorial and expanded it out to three.
-The Hulk "picking up" Thor's hammer was Simonson's idea because he wanted to draw the Hulk with Mjolnir.
-The time travel aspect was a result of Simonson wanting to draw 60s Thor because he hadn't drawn 60s Thor in FOREVER.
So it turned out that, after all that worrying, Simonson was actually a real cool, approachable dude who was fun to hang out with and who Waid had stuff in common with, just like in Weird Science.
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The thing I loved about that was how Mark freaking Waid, one of the most consistently great writers for the last 3 decades of comics was too star struck and scared to approach him.
I mean he isn't Grant Morrison, but Mark Waid is really riding a great wave these days.
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My favorite part of that interview was how Waid talked about Simonson continually calling to ask if they could use 60s Thor, if it could be a three-issue arc, if Waid would mind some suggestions for Thor's dialog, etc., and it sounded like it was all Waid could do not to just yell "You're Walt fucking Simonson, why the hell would I ever say no to any of that?!"
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Speaking of Mark Waid I thought maybe I'd put this thing he wrote here.
http://thrillbent.com/blog/how-dc-contracts-work/ (http://thrillbent.com/blog/how-dc-contracts-work/)
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Directors and managers of corporations have the legal leeway to benefit their employees even to the detriment of shareholders (to a degree, at least) even without demonstrating that such acts generate goodwill or anything beneficial to the bottom line. And corporations may not be people, but they are run by people. At the same time, it is OK (and by OK I mean not criminal) for corporations to breach their contracts and force aggrieved parties to waste time and money suing them for it. So Waid is being a little too credulous when he acts as if the way corporations behave in practice is set in stone.
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I think it is more a statement of how things are now and have been for years than this is the way things have to work for forever. He is on the record for the current business model not really being sustainable forever.
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Mega Man Volume 5: It's hard to call this an arc or anything like that because it involves 3 separate stories.
First one is Protoman's back story. Actually does a decent job of making you feel bad for the guy and justifying the angst (in as much as Robots can have angst?) and all that. Granted, it does start from the annoying "only hears the first half of conversation which is all negative, misses out on the whole "but" statement that completely negates the first statement!" shenanigans, but then, I guess they needed to give Protoman (or "Blues" as he was called at that point) a reason to doubt Dr. Light without compromising Dr. Light's character as the Benevolent Father-like Figure, and this cliche is the easiest way to do it without wasting too much time, so whatever.
Second story is ship-wreck nonsense! Roll and Quake Woman to the rescue! Also introduces Splash Woman in a fitting manner. Oh yeah, Oil Man sort of finds his way in there because why not? For the record, I approve of them introducing the MM9 Robot Masters earlier, speaking of which, Concrete Man got introduced in an epilogue story-line where he and Guts Man start a SHONEN RIVALRY ending in joint karaoke after the fix a dam.
Last story is basically "Let's tell all Mega Man's from 3 to 10, including some of the game boy games, in one issue!" This was really silly, but it does have an Afterword by the Author, who explains that the original plan was Game Based plot -> original arc pattern, but as the series evolves, this plan has to change, so recognizing this might happen, just toss a whole issue of fanservice for a snapshot of the entire series at once. I suppose they also needed one last issue to finish the volume because they're keeping plot arcs at 4 issues a piece, and don't want to end a volume by starting a plot arc.
Fun stuff in any event, and Ian Flynn never ceases to amaze me on how much of a fan he is, and the research he's done. Tossing a legitimate reference to Wily Wars of all things in there caught me off. Also, cute nod to MM9/10 lacking Mega Man's slide.
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Hawkeye #3 came out two days ago. I thought issue 2 was amazing at telling a story by taking advantage of the medium rather than just coincidentally being a comic, but this one is even better. It is possibly the best single issue of a book I've ever read. I can't stress enough that you should read it, especially since if my math is correct and this trend of getting better every issue even though I don't even think its possible continues, by issue 16 all other forms of media will be irrelevant and everything will be Hawkeye.
Turns out your math was off by five issues. Hawkeye #11 is basically the crowning achievement of human civilization.
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I need to read Superman and Friend (or something), Lois Lane Nov. No. 106. She turns into a black woman. "I am curious (Black!)" Hope it isn't some ridiculously rare issue.
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Do you like digital comics? You should read Batman '66 issue 1. Much like Marvel's Infinite comics they occasionally do, it makes use of the medium as more than a way to read comics panel by panel. Batman '66 incorporates all the sound effects and weird angles and shit from the 60s series and ends with a literal teaser for next week. In it, Batman fights the Riddler on a stolen biplane because why not.
Read this book because it is 99 cents.
e: When the biplane crashes it explodes in to a FIREBALL SHAPED LIKE A QUESTION MARK.
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Crisis on Infinite Earth: Read this and such. Good story, though I do have to complain about one thing.
That being the 80s style of writing. As I illustrated with Squadron Supreme, I'm not a fan of majorly wordy expositions narrating every scene transition, as well as characters saying 5 words where 2 would suffice. There were certain cases that were a chore to read because it is just characters saying stuff, and it's not character development or important details. Just "Oh no, the enemy is too strong! My attacks are bouncing off them! What can I do?" which can be either illustrated in artwork, or just stated in "My attacks aren't working!"
I get it, it was the standard for the time, but makes reading it that much harder, and diverts your attention from the panels because of the oversized captains and text bubbles.
Otherwise, it was good stuff.
Apparently, I haven't mentioned it earlier so...
Deadpool volume 1 Trade: Deadpool fights Abraham Lincoln in a boxing match, using guns. Really, do I have to say anything else about this comic?
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So on a whim I stopped in this weird shop that has a banner outside claiming it sells purses, candles, and comic books. Surprisingly, they've expanded the comics section and in addition to the odd collectible have a reasonable fully selection of current stuff and slighlty-less-than-current stuff, so I pick up Hawkeye #3.
It's fun, but I'm reminded that I should probably buy comics in trade (not that they seemed to have any at this shop) because once I sit down to read I want more than 10 minutes of material.
Oh well. It was only the 6th most awful idea I had that day.
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Hawkeye #3 is... Quite possibly the greatest single issue of a comic I have ever read in my life, and I have that fucking Marvel digital buffet subscription.
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Respect the trick arrow.
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Also the first TPB came out a few months back, and I think the second volume released this week or last week. Should take you up to issue 10?
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Just 2nding (...or is it 3rding?) that Hawkeye #3 is one of the greatest things ever written.
Or really, the entire series is just amazing.
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The trades go up to 11,which is weird because volume 2 came out this month, same as issue 11. Nooooot complaining.
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I'd consider getting the trade except I think I own up to 9 as is, so probably cheaper just buying 10 and 11 outright.
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Fuuuuuuuuuu, Cross Manage ended. I suspected it was coming since it was always near the back of Jump. But anyway, read it read it read it!
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https://twitter.com/ferociousj/status/360286288588443648
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(http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/comicsalliance.com/files/2013/08/Darrow02.jpg)
I haven't read it, but god damn, I need to. That's a fuckin cover thar.
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(http://drmcninja.com/wp-content/uploads/3414574-0+longshot2013001_dc11_lr-674x1024.jpg)
It's by the Dr. McNinja guy! And it's good! Go read it!
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Did that. Well, issue 1 anyway. Reads more like Dr. McNinja thanarvel, but definitely sticking with.
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Did that. Well, issue 1 anyway. Reads more like Dr. McNinja thanarvel, but definitely sticking with.
It's a credit to Marvel's editors - and to Hastings - that when Longshot sounds like Dr. McNinja, the proper reaction is "Yup that works. That makes sense."
p.s. issue 2 is also great.
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Hello comics topic! Um. Anyway.
Old Man Logan- okay. So this book is pretty damn cool. That seems to be the point of it, for cool shit to happen. You can't take away from it the fact it's pretty fun.
It just also makes no damn sense. Like. The character moments for Logan himself are all fine! And the imagery and extrapolations for most of the villains and heroes that survive make sense. But logically there's no way this story should ever had happened, to the point it's downright distracting. Highlights;
- The main conceit is that all the villains got together and realized if they intelligently targeted the right villain to a given hero they could basically kill all of them at once. The fights described in passing put some definite thought into this. The trouble is, this effort is spearheaded by The Red Skull, with Doctor Doom, Magneto, and The Abomination as his chief advisors. Yeah, no. That list is composed of "all the major Big Bads team up and split up america!" to be cool. None of that should ever actually happen because Doctor Doom and Magneto would sooner kill the Skull than look at him, much less accept his leadership or willing give him ANY measure of power in a world they are also ruling.
- The Hulk decides to take over the Abomination's slice of america. Um, o...kay? The Hulk wants to be a supervillain feudal landlord now? I know that severe psychological hangups are part of the Hulk's thing but straight out supervillainy? C'mon now. Maybe in the ULtimate universe, but not something that seems to be an alternate timeline to 616.
- Why the hell did Logan age 50 years in 50 years exactly?
But yeah, fun enough read but also very dumb. Kinda reads like a homage to mid-90s comics, which may well be the intent.
I'm following about four books right now, but two stand out.
Loki: Agent of Asgard- Consistently the best thing. The most recent issue ends with Loki making an overt MLP reference ("Yes. For Pureness of Heart... is the Greatest Magic of All" *turns into a unicorn*), because you see a recent stupid event comic switched his cosmic switch and all his bad traits are good but also now Thor is the God of Villainy. Comics are great sometimes.
Ms. Marvel- Kamala Khan is the biggest dork and it's great.
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Checking Wikipedia, I see that Old Man Logan was written by Mark Millar, who also wrote Wanted, which has a somewhat similar premise of "what if the supervillains won."
So, hijack: I'd really love if someone did that idea in a way that actually made a modicum of sense, aka not Mark Millar (from CK's description). I read a teeny bit of "Wanted" and it definitely sounds like the movie makes way more sense. Okay, fine, supervillains rule the world, but to drive the point home, that comic opens with this girl just massacring everyone at a restaurant, then claiming that since she has a special supervillain-approved license plate then no cops will care, then casually goes back to sipping her coffee. Bear in mind that everything seemed to be normal Earth beforehand for normal people living. Yeah no, I'm sorry, I can't accept this setting anymore. Dystopias are interesting; Your Normal Life Except You Can Shoot Everyone is maybe some kind of weird revenge fantasy but not really a *setting*.
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Age of Apocalypse maybe? Irredeemable and Incorruptible if you want less mainstream still hero stuff by a solid author?
or you could always read dark avengers if you really wantlol
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I bought a Marvel Unlimited subscription a while back and it's been great. I've been using it in part to follow along with the Rachel & Miles X-Plain The X-Men podcast, which you should listen to because it's great, but in addition to that...
Mark Waid's Daredevil: Speaking of the solid author in question, his DD run is absolutely as good as advertised - smart, fun, often poignant writing with gorgeous art. It's very much not your usual Frank Miller-ish noir Daredevil, but it works really well as a deliberate contrast to the last 30 years of the character.
Grant Morrison's X-Men: Man, I have conflicting feelings about this one. The story is, on the whole, really good. It's got a great take on the whole mutants-as-subculture issue that gives many writers fits, I kind of love the Weapon Plus retcon, and the new characters introduced are pretty great. The swerves from big-picture sci-fi to mutant counterculture and a murder mystery are well done. On the other hand, while Morrison's usual philosophical weirdness is toned down somewhat, even that level of it strikes me as an ill fit for the X-Men or even the Marvel Universe in general -- on the other other hand, I'm not sure how much of that reaction comes from identifying Morrison-ness with the DC universe because that's where I'm familiar with his superhero stories from. The art varies from “pretty good” to “total crap.” And, of course, the big negative is his use of Magneto, which has so many problems. Either he's acting out-of-character as hell, or he was meant to go out as the mind-controlled lackey of a new villain (and I like Sublime, don't get me wrong – it's the best possible intersection of that Grant Morrison high concept craziness and the superhero side of the X-Men), which is just not a good way to deal with that character. I'm glad it was retconned, even if the way they actually did it was clunky as hell.
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Rachel and Miles got good enough at explaining what they like about X-Men that I felt justified in unsubscribing because I would never feel the same way. Also, the show feels really scripted and overproduced, which I don't much care for.
It's been a while since I talked about how good Avengers/New Avengers is. The whole SIXIS AXIS thing that's going on is fucking terrible, but they circumvented it in the best possible way, by jumping forward eight months and skipping all of it, because Hickman is a master at what he does. Aaaaanyway, between what's going on with Doom, the Illuminati, the Cabal, SHIELD and the new Avengers that Sunspot put together I'm impressed he can keep all those plates spinning... but then I read his FF run and realize it's what he does and that's why he was given the books he got.
Favorite recent moment? He dispenses with most of the Deus ex Machina possibilities for the incursion with one conversation that ends with Reed being told "Franklin says he's sorry. He thinks he let you down." That, or Valeria telling the Illuminati that they can't fix everything by themselves no matter how smart they think they are.
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Axis is basically ruining everything at the moment (have you read the new Iron Man book? Don't read the new Iron Man book) so that's impressive.
I completely failed to pick up Hickman's New/Avengers when it started and now I'm hopelessly behind. I figure that'll make a good project to aim my Unlimited subscription at next.
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I cannot fucking WAIT to be able to sit down, order Avengers/New Avengers/Infinity into the master reading order that Hickman will undoubtedly put together and then just devour it.
If nothing else, read New Avengers, though. Namor is absolutely MAGNIFICENT.
e: In response to SIXIS ruining Iron Man, it's not like the book has been particularly worthwhile since Fraction left. Hard to ruin something that I have no response to.
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I've mostly been reading the entire Spider-verse event at the moment. I'll withdraw comments until it's done because, well, we're like 1/3rd of the way through the series!
I have been slowly chipping away at both Venom and the recent Scarlet Spider-Man run. SHould just finish Minimum Carnage and move on!
Oh, and there's GotG of course.
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I tore through all of Gillen/McKelvie's Young Avengers run yesterday and goddamn it was a great book. Also works as a direct follow-up to Gillen's Journey Into Mystery, which is good because that one ended way too abruptly.
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Finished Volume 8 of Mega Man. It was reading entirely like this bullcrap thing that clearly was not part of Mega Man 3 (which is about where we're up to storyline wise) with Ra Moon and all this crap, and it was annoying me...
...then I read the Notes from Author or whatever in the back and wouldn't you know it, it exists in a Mega Man Spin Off title that, outside of the existence of Beat (which Ian Flynn did not include), makes sense to fit between MM2 and MM3, that we never got in the states, so well played Ian Flynn, you yet again prove you know what you're doing when it comes to Mega Man and have indeed done your homework!
That said, I do question showing Pumpman as being a "heroic figure!" saving people when things got good again. The MM1/PU, 4 and 9 Robot Masters all make sense; MM1 and MM9 are Dr. Light Bots and well established that they were only fighting Mega Man either due to "Turned Evil!"or "Tricked by Wily" or some such, and the MM4 Bots are Dr. Cossack who was a good guy that got blackmailed being bad. I am even fine with the MM6 Robot Masters being good because I believe all 8 of them were made at various points around the world and they were just the "top 8 in a world tournament!" and the usual "Wily did stuff so now bad guys" so yeah fits.
MM10? I thought they were Wily Bots...then again, maybe it was ROBOENZA making them bad or something.
Yes, I did just analyze MEGA MAN PLOT but deal with it. In any event, still good stuff. Mega Man may not be getting much love from Capcom, but at least Archie Comics is doing something respectful with him.
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Batman: The Killing Joke- It's not often I have the reaction "and it goes on like this" to much of anything. THey managed that. Nothing else much I feel I can add that's not self-evidently true about the thing.
Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes- So this happened. What's interesting is that it almost becomes a different book in the very last chapter (if memory serves this first volume is issues 1-8? Something like). The first arc about Dream regaining his regalia is interesting and establishes the setting for lack of better word (I mean technically it's in the DCU but...) but it's all very muddled. Dream is almost generic in being this force of nature, I guess. Then Death shows up and, quite apart from being unreasonably awesome in herself, it casts a very different light on what sort of story this is and what sort of character Dream is.
Frankly it is a moment of "ah-ha, this is a Neil Gaiman production".
That said it's very personal in a way most Gaiman I've read is not, which I like quite a bit. Usually I find you have to sort of look in between the words and assemble the characters yourself, where here the principle cast and even the incidental characters (like that diner full of people) just kinda ooze personality.
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Sandman stops even paying lip service to the DCU after the first volume. It's just its own crazy thing with Lucifer Bowie and what have you.
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I got that impression yeah. But even when it was actively employing its status as existing in the DCU it was operating by a set of cosmic rules I don't think is typical of the setting. But at the same time the general ideas of "mostly earth, except all myths are true and there's a bunch of made up mega-cities mysteriously right next to actual metropolises" are present as well so... it's weird. Not a wholly new setting but still substantially diverged even from the outset.
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I'm enjoying the core conceit of Secret Wars, which has been letting creators do whatever crazy shit they want. Old Man Logan is probably the best Bendis has been in years so I'm really liking that. Planet Hulk has also gotten me really excited for more. I was really excited for Spider-Man because Peter and MJ should never have split but that first issue was SO BAD.
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Not gonna lie, when that was announced I was kinda excited, and when it came out I fliped to the back page. When it did not have Mephisto on it, I decided it would probably suck.
I've been reading Old Man Logan too and yeah, it's all the good bits of the original story without all the stupid parts. Although the second issue did make me go "Okay, I get why these X-men might not know what alternate universes are, but c'mon Logan you should know better." Most of the books I follow are Last Days titles rather than shuffling into Battleworlds though, so it's been... different.
Although Loki got considerably lighter due to the ongoing Apocalypse. I actually like Old Loki's "fuck it, maybe having a Ragnarok will preempt the multiversal annihilation event" plan though. I suspect it's going to be parallel storylines though between the new Loki's shenanigans and what Old Loki is up to for a while. I am okay with this.
Only other new title (aside from the entire Star Wars line, which... the Leia limited is ending next month, I'll talk about those then) I've been following is Thors, which... well they have my attention. It's definitely different.
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Spider-Man may suck but Spider-Verse has me hooked so far. Also, X-Men '92 really nails this world that is totally G-rated and Wolverine can't cut anything with his claws but gun barrels and nobody even knows what a punch is, let alone how to throw one. It's written by the guy who did the XTAS reviews for ComicsAlliance so if you liked that, you'll probably did this too.
What I didn't dig? Inferno. I thought the concept was interesting but the first issue has Colossus just playing the part of Worf. That doesn't fucking work, you need one issue to establish that the protagonist is awesome before you start throwing him up against major obstacles, or he just looks like a chump. Hawkeye had him solve his problem in one issue and then basically spend the rest of the run getting his ass kicked, but issue #1 showed that he could get shit done.
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Also, X-Men '92 is out in print this week but you really want the digital version.
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All-Star Superman: I have trouble believing any other Superman story could actually be as effective as this one. Like. It's hard to believe another take on Superman could understand everything Superman is and should be like this one story.
So really I could have just put the title down and left this space blank.
The New Marvel Star Wars Line
So these books have been pretty great.
Star Wars: The main title starts off as kinda... exactly what I wanted from it. It's a short story about a specific incident set in a time period I always felt was really under-served by the greater Star Wars universe. After the first three issues they've shifted over to setting up threads for continued story lines which... they're doing good so far and I hope they can keep things moving at their current pace. I feel like Star Wars doesn't want to get too bogged down in details, and I hope the main book keeps its current focus on Luke, Leia, and Han rather than going off on too many tangents. I mean.
Darth Vader: There's a reason they have multiple books under the Star Wars umbrella. I will say that Vader's book feels very supplementary; you can read Star Wars and skip Vader without missing much, but trying to read Vader without reading the main book would definitely be missing some key parts. The main focus of the book seems to be gelling the shift in Vader's loyalties between New Hope and Empire, which actually means making heavy use of prequel era stuff, but they're making it work pretty well so far. I hadn't been following the book regularly but I plan to start now.
Also I am pretty sure Keiron Gillem is a big KotOR fan.
Princess Leia: This one is a five issue limited that just finished up. The last issue is.. I don't want to say anti-climatic? But it feels a lot smaller than I expected it to. And in the end I feel like it was almost an... introduction to Leia as a character rather than a character arc for her. But it's enjoyable enough because its a side of her that we have to assume DID exist but never really got to see in the films. The artwork I just adore as well, it has a very painted look that really jumps off the page for me.
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All Star Superman is pretty much exactly what Linkara said it is. A mini-series that perfectly encapsulates everything that is Superman and WHY, when written well, he's really good. It gave me a whole new respect for the character after reading that, alongside "What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way?"
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Also, X-Men '92 is out in print this week but you really want the digital version.
This week's X-Men '92 gave us an image that will stay with me forever.
(http://i.imgur.com/gxB6zQh.png)
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Sims mentioned that panel on a podcast weeks ago and I have been so pumped.
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Kingdom Come: Interesting book. Kinda held back a bit by some artifacts of its time though. It's clever and has lots of neat easter eggs, but is also highly indulgent in that way 90s books were. There's probably a measure of irony there. Framing everything as from the perspective of the preacher is a nice touch that keeps things from getting too out of control I think despite introducing 90s jRPG levels of random biblical allusion. Probably the weakest of the written-for-the-trade books/actual graphic novels I've read in the past month-ish! But uh look at my last four or so posts, that's no insult.
Star Wars: Lando- Okay. I don't know exactly what I wanted or expected from this book. But holy shit they have very definitely been exceeded. 100% on board for the book and eager for more.
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The Death of Superman: Well that happened. It's decent, but I guess I don't have a huge amount to say about it? It's a gimmick concept executed well enough to sell said concept. The most interesting part, going in not knowing too much about the actual book, is that it was the JLI rather than more classic Leaguers. Makes me want to read more Booster/Beetle bromance stories.
Infinity Gauntlet: It's astonishing to me how well they actually sold the horror of what was going on in this book. Everyone dies! Horribly! For the futile aspirations of one deluded fool! Then his punching bag gets unlimited power and things get worse! Ish. So on.
As with Death of Superman the window into what weirdness was going on in comics at that moment was also interesting. Like, oh, didn't realize that Thunderstrike taking over for Thor happened at this time, or that he was trying not to let on he wasn't the Odinson. It also makes all the whining about Jane Foster Thor seem EVEN MORE petty. Which is IMPRESSIVE. Guys, Marvel likes to revisit the original Thor concept, that Thor was a transformation and his power was limited by maintaining contact with Mjolnir, every so often. That they picked a lady, who in fact was previously known to be Worthy, for the role is not a big difference. Fuck off, kthnx.
I'm honestly kinda hoping that the MCU does not introduce Adam Warlock though. Find something cooler guys.
Loki: Agent of Asgard: today #17 released. It's the final issue. Sad times, because honestly this book is why I got back into comics. Got into comics in a way; I only followed comics for maybe a year as a kid, and never more than one or two books. I read them way, way more now than I ever have.
It's a pretty great ending, probably the best I could ask for. I'm hoping Loki IV finds a relatively permanent home because not having Loki adventures to look forward to each month is sad times, and Loki not having a regular book of some sort will so quickly cause them to revert back to being a straight villain, which I don't think works for me right now. Troublemaker, yes, but not supervillain.
Wait, I know what I want now. Limited Loki/Squirrel Girl series, where they go on mythic adventures defeating the most ancient enemies of Asgard with their wits and bad puns. Make it happen Marvel.
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JLA Earth 2: This doesn't feel like a complete story.
There's some other thoughts bumbling around here, but that's the biggest one. This book is an introduction or a first chapter or something for the Crime Syndicate universe, and in that capacity it tells a good enough story to launch from, but the whole thing is one mutual misadventure for each side and they part ways and then the book just sorta stops.
Supplemental reading suggests that this was the first post-Crisis work to formally reintroduce the Multiverse, and if so then it makes perfect sense, but I definitely got towards the end and went "oh, teh books ending now. Huh."
Grant Morrison was mostly just indulging in comic-science gibberish for a lot of the book, as well as twisted otherworldly logic, both topics he's good at but are a bit overdone here. The backstories he gives/implies for the Crime Syndicate are a lot of fun though, and probably the best reason to really read the book.
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Open Question: Whedon's Astonishing X-Men or Gillen's Young Avengers?
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Gillen.
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Whedon.
Haven't read Young Avengers, but Astonishing includes one of the most satisfying moments in X-Men history, so there's that.
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Young Avengers is a pretty great run by that is about teenage super heroes, some on the edge of going Super Villain because they were originally "found" by Norman Osbourne during Dark Reign where he was the head of a SHIELD equivalent. Some pretty great stuff.
Also Gillen is amazing and way less known than Whedon if you aren't reading more modern Marvel comics (He is the guy that writes Phonogram which I was peddling really hard a few years ago).
I think Young Avengers is solidly in CK's wheel house. So is X-Men (and Whedon's run especially), but YA is a bit more well... Young Adult focussed than X-Men can be and is also less bogged down in continuity than X-dudez.
Also it is the run that led into the Marvel knock off of Battle Royale which is amazingly better than it deserves to be (Partly because Arcade is rad).
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Whedon's X-Men is better superhero comics, Young Avengers is a better story, if that makes sense. Also McKelvie's art is just jawdropping at times.
(Speaking of Phonogram, Volume 3 is coming out! Like, right now!)
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Open Question: Whedon's Astonishing X-Men or Gillen's Young Avengers?
How much you like Young Avengers will be determined by how much you can stand contemporary teenagers. He can write them convincingly for good and for ill. I really like Kate Bishop because of Hawkeye so I got the first issue. I did not buy #2.
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http://kotaku.com/wonder-woman-can-t-save-dc-comics-most-disgusting-supe-1729577723?hipra_discussion_redesign=on&utm_expid=66866090-52.r5txldOmRkqnbJxnyozIeA.2&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fwonder-woman-can-t-save-dc-comics-most-disgusting-supe-1729577723
oh my god this exists why didn't anyone telllllllllll meeeeeeeeeeee??????
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because i didnt know
why would i be reading dc still other than this
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That actually seems legit amazing.
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Wait, you didn't know All-Star Section Eight is happening?
BASK IN ITS GLORY.
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Young Avengers- So this has rather a lot of problems.
- Holy crap I have never seen something as written for trade omnibus as this. Not only do zero issues have a natural stop, but you need at least two at any time to have a coherent THOUGHT, and even trades don't help because they have the climax start in issue 9 then carry on until issue 12. Fortunately said Omnibus does exist.
- The timeline jumps all over the place, which is PART of the previous problem but deserves its own mention.
- Wiccan is not a compelling lead. He's basically generic harem anime man, with a dash of generic shonen main character plot device powers.
- It calls itself Young Avengers. It is very bad at super heroing. In the sense that action sequences are confused, short, and lack a good sense of what each member is contributing to a given battle.
- You literally called it Mother? Really?
and that really matters very little because the non-Wiccan cast is fantastic, people interacting WITH Wiccan is nice even though he's a dullard, the series is MAXIMUM LOKI even though he's not technically the star, and it introduced me to America Chavez and goddammit woman why am I just finding out about you? I also contains perhaps the most Hawkeye thing I've ever seen from one Katherine Bishop "I lie in the strange bed and watch this beautiful alien boy dance to the music my parents loved, and think... this is everything I always hoped for. At which point the Skrulls attack."
So definitely no disappointment here, despite the oddities.
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If you're reading any Secret Wars stuff, you can find Miss America in Gillen's SIEGE series. Whatever you do, don't try to find the book where she was originally introduced, it will only depress you.
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You are reading stuff in physical rather than digital right? Because I could totally go to your house and read comics on comixology sometime if you were interested.
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I've been considering dabbling in digital just because the comic shops nearest me aren't terribly big and don't have some books I was following (eg y'know I bought four issues of Unbeatable at DLCon? That is why), but I'm hesitant to get in too deep there due to bandwidth. It SHOULD be doable but I want to test it out and get a sense for it first.
That said I kinda like the sense of going into the store and checking out the weekly offerings, a bit of ritual.
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Well me totally visiting you and using my account would be a good way to test.
Bandwidth use is real though. Need to check if there is a way to download lower res versions.
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Coming next year: Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/books/ta-nehisi-coates-to-write-black-panther-comic-for-marvel.html).
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What a world, what a world.
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Anybody else read Locke & Key? You should, it's really good. Great writing by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son), fantastic art by Gabriel Rodriguez. But after you're done that, there's a completely free audio version (http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/FREE-Locke-Key-Audiobook/B00YI1CTVU) that came out today with an impressive cast.
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Gosh, been too long, forgot what all has and hasn't happened since I last posted. Mm.
Event-related- Last issue of Old Man Logan was... needlessly convoluted, I suspect because it's supposed to tie into the main Secret Wars book which I'm NOT following. Sorta dissuades me from getting into his post-event ongoing though? We'll see I guess.
Ms. Marvel finished what the letters called "season 1", which feels right. #18 isn't quite as satisfying as #17 on several levels, but I can see why they ended there. Certainly feeling in for the long haul anyway.
The post-event books are starting to come out, so crazy numbers of #1s now. Ack. Checked out GotG, the new roster sounded great (Rocket, Groot, Drax, Kitty Pryde, Thing, Venom) but... ehhhh. Might get the next issue but if it doesn't pick up steam fast not really gonna keep with it.
Star Wars-related. oh my god yessss. Okay so two new books, a limited set immediately post-Endor that's about the parents of one of the Force Awakens main characters, pretty standard stuff (speaking as an EU veteran) but I get it. Chewbacca limited, dunno where it's going necessarily but the latest issue of the main book was mostly Chewbacca and he made it work so... looking forward to it.
Lando limited petered out at the end sadly. Good through issue 3, but they didn't quite have a satisfying ending. I guess they didn't want to do too much with it and leave themselves room for more stories about Lando at a guess.
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a limited set immediately post-Endor that's about the parents of one of the Force Awakens main characters
The best part about that book is the very strong implication that Poe Dameron was conceived to the song "Yub Nub" with Wedge Antilles right outside.
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I got the impression he'd already been born before the Battle of Endor but gotta say, you make a good case for believing otherwise.
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a limited set immediately post-Endor that's about the parents of one of the Force Awakens main characters
The best part about that book is the very strong implication that Poe Dameron was conceived to the song "Yub Nub" with Wedge Antilles right outside.
You just convinced me to pirate a comic book. Shame on you.
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I'm not much for comic books, but my evil SJW friend loaned me some of hers a few months back, so...
Squirrel Girl - #1 & #2, the recent run done by the "Dinosaur Comics" guy. This was really funny! I really liked it. Anyway, seems notable to bring up here since I"m pretty sure Squirrel Girl is Marvel's shot at the equivalent of the RPGDL for comic books - the people who extensively analyze every character's power set, how they match up with everyone else, why that one issue from 1996 should be ignored, why character A is totally stronger than character B, etc. But the real answer is that whoever wins is whoever the writer wants to win. Squirrel Girl, whose power is largely, um, squirrels, gets to beat up all the Avengers off-panel because that'd be funny. It's not even a big deal! She famously beat up Dr. Doom back in the day, and even Galactus isn't that big a threat. No, it's evil Norse troll god-squirrels that are the REAL problem.
Ms. Marvel - #1, the new one. It's *slightly* more serious than Squirrel Girl, but still pretty nudge nudge wink wink about taking comic evil plots TOO seriously, which is fine by me. Anyway this series is famous for having a Pakistani-American Ms. Marvel who is a Muslim, which is always tricky, since frankly religion doesn't normally combo too well with superhero universes? Either you have some alternate universe where there's hadith about how to deal with Galactus and such (and risk making it not resonant to people familiar with the "real" version of the religion), or there's some vast crisis of faith about how {Your Religion} is clearly wrong since the Norse pantheon exists and Moses/ Jesus / Muhammad/ Krishna / Buddha / etc. didn't include many teachings about how to deal with supervillains, which seems a colossal oversight. Like, shouldn't you be able to pray Galactus away? Would God really let Earth get devoured? ANYWAY, smartly enough, the book doesn't actually focus THAT much on the religious side, and keeps the focus more cultural. The immigrant experience in America & all that.
Anyway, I was amused. The only complaint is that the #1 series begins to take its villain plot slightly more seriously toward the end, and it's something that even given the usual extra "it's a comic universe" nitpicking defense, I didn't really buy. If you've seen the anime Eden of the East, it's a bit similar a note as far as "society disrespects the young generation", which is fair enough, just this was a little over-the-top. Still, a minor complaint at most.
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Ah, so you're looking at Volume 1 of Squirrel Girl then. I think the second volume (Both of which started in 2015... as in, yes, marvel published two distinct "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1"s last year.) only continues on the path of awesome and the book gets better and better continually.
I'm not nearly as in love with volume 2 of Ms. Marvel as I was with the first though. It's still solid, easily staying on my buy list, but the first storyline lost me a bit. I don't think I have a strong enough connection to urban life to really feel where the supporting cast is coming from.
Although the replicant army was amazing.
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Squirrel Girl, whose power is largely, um, squirrels, gets to beat up all the Avengers off-panel because that'd be funny. It's not even a big deal! She famously beat up Dr. Doom back in the day, and even Galactus isn't that big a threat. No, it's evil Norse troll god-squirrels that are the REAL problem.
Jesus fucking christ I wish they could come up with a new joke
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CK: Pretty sure it was #2 with the evil Norse squirrel, riots over database design, dinosaurs attacking the statue of liberty? I actually read #2 first then #1.
Squirrel Girl, whose power is largely, um, squirrels, gets to beat up all the Avengers off-panel because that'd be funny. It's not even a big deal! She famously beat up Dr. Doom back in the day, and even Galactus isn't that big a threat. No, it's evil Norse troll god-squirrels that are the REAL problem.
Jesus fucking christ I wish they could come up with a new joke
#1, I don't follow comics and I'd never heard of Squirrel Girl before, so it was new to me.
#2, if not obvious, "happening off-panel" means that the comic spends like 1 panel on it then moves on. If you're worried that it's all "lol Squirrel Girl smashes a bunch of famous Marvel characters", then no, that's just something happening in the background, the actual comic is doing its own insane thing.
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Yeah, if there's one thing Ryan North has gotten real good at it's coming up with new jokes within an established setup.
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CK: Pretty sure it was #2 with the evil Norse squirrel, riots over database design, dinosaurs attacking the statue of liberty? I actually read #2 first then #1.
Squirrel Girl, whose power is largely, um, squirrels, gets to beat up all the Avengers off-panel because that'd be funny. It's not even a big deal! She famously beat up Dr. Doom back in the day, and even Galactus isn't that big a threat. No, it's evil Norse troll god-squirrels that are the REAL problem.
Jesus fucking christ I wish they could come up with a new joke
#1, I don't follow comics and I'd never heard of Squirrel Girl before, so it was new to me.
#2, if not obvious, "happening off-panel" means that the comic spends like 1 panel on it then moves on. If you're worried that it's all "lol Squirrel Girl smashes a bunch of famous Marvel characters", then no, that's just something happening in the background, the actual comic is doing its own insane thing.
I'm just disappointed, not surprised. There's only one Squirrel Girl joke and they've been retelling it for thirty years.
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I thought we had a thread for this! Wow, it's been a while.
Anyway, got Ed Brubaker's Velvet for the birthday this year, and just read that. It is good. Very entertaining in that fast-paced, thrilling page-turner way. I'm not sure how I feel about the plot reveals, but getting to them was a great trip. I will probably have to reread later to figure out where I place it against his other work, other work read by me being Fatale and The Fade Out. Fade Out is clearly the winner and the thing I would recommend that people read, just not sure the order after that. Brubaker is bee's knees.
But mainly I've been meaning to post in this thread to hype Monstress at people (since I got that for the birthday last year). Monstress is fucking incredible shit and you should read it. The setting is an Asian-mythology-slash-steampunkish fantasy world where the human half severely one-upped Gestahl in finding gruesome ways to extract power from the non-human half. There are ninja cats and they're 100% serious and that is amazing. I love it when someone commits to material this far out and plays it completely straight. The writing walks that fine line between brutality and empathy that is extremely difficult to land effectively, but pretty much guarantees my loyalty when someone can actually do it. Also the art is mindbogglingly inventive and it's about the only series I can think of that is seriously dedicated to making you sympathize with the Lovecraftian abomination. This is one of my new favorite things.
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But mainly I've been meaning to post in this thread to hype Monstress at people (since I got that for the birthday last year). Monstress is fucking incredible shit and you should read it. The setting is an Asian-mythology-slash-steampunkish fantasy world where the human half severely one-upped Gestahl in finding gruesome ways to extract power from the non-human half. There are ninja cats and they're 100% serious and that is amazing. I love it when someone commits to material this far out and plays it completely straight. The writing walks that fine line between brutality and empathy that is extremely difficult to land effectively, but pretty much guarantees my loyalty when someone can actually do it. Also the art is mindbogglingly inventive and it's about the only series I can think of that is seriously dedicated to making you sympathize with the Lovecraftian abomination. This is one of my new favorite things.
Repost because volume 3 now exists. I'd say the pacing is off compared to the first two, but it's still good. Fucking read this shit, you nerds.