Author Topic: Comic books (Read 11993 times)

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #75 on:** July 10, 2015, 07:57:27 AM »

Quote from: Shale on June 24, 2015, 12:05:06 PM

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.

Grefter · « **Reply #76 on:** July 10, 2015, 10:47:45 AM »

Sims mentioned that panel on a podcast weeks ago and I have been so pumped.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #77 on:** July 13, 2015, 01:40:53 AM »

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.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #78 on:** August 20, 2015, 06:39:49 AM »

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.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #79 on:** August 24, 2015, 02:01:00 AM »

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.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #80 on:** August 26, 2015, 10:37:20 PM »

Open Question: Whedon's Astonishing X-Men or Gillen's Young Avengers?

Grefter · « **Reply #81 on:** August 27, 2015, 03:48:38 AM »

Gillen.

NotMiki · « **Reply #82 on:** August 27, 2015, 04:26:47 AM »

Whedon.

Haven't read Young Avengers, but Astonishing includes one of the most satisfying moments in X-Men history, so there's that.

Grefter · « **Reply #83 on:** August 27, 2015, 04:49:15 AM »

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).

Shale · « **Reply #84 on:** August 29, 2015, 01:50:43 PM »

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!)

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #85 on:** September 01, 2015, 09:57:39 PM »

Quote from: Cmdr_King on August 26, 2015, 10:37:20 PM

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.

NotMiki · « **Reply #86 on:** September 09, 2015, 10:34:21 PM »

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?

??

Grefter · « **Reply #87 on:** September 09, 2015, 10:53:53 PM »

because i didnt know

why would i be reading dc still other than this

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #88 on:** September 09, 2015, 11:40:05 PM »

That actually seems legit amazing.

Shale · « **Reply #89 on:** September 10, 2015, 02:11:26 AM »

Wait, you didn't know All-Star Section Eight is happening?

BASK IN ITS GLORY.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #90 on:** September 12, 2015, 08:11:30 AM »

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.

Shale · « **Reply #91 on:** September 13, 2015, 05:17:18 PM »

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.

Grefter · « **Reply #92 on:** September 14, 2015, 01:22:20 AM »

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.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #93 on:** September 14, 2015, 03:19:26 AM »

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.

Grefter · « **Reply #94 on:** September 14, 2015, 04:06:20 AM »

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.

Shale · « **Reply #95 on:** September 22, 2015, 10:42:30 PM »

Coming next year: Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther.

NotMiki · « **Reply #96 on:** September 23, 2015, 12:36:53 AM »

What a world, what a world.

Shale · « **Reply #97 on:** October 05, 2015, 01:28:33 PM »

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 that came out today with an impressive cast.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #98 on:** October 19, 2015, 09:19:41 AM »

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.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #99 on:** October 20, 2015, 03:33:38 AM »

Quote from: Cmdr_King on October 19, 2015, 09:19:41 AM

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.

News:

Author Topic: Comic books (Read 11993 times)