The Comic Book/Graphic Novel thread

#76
#76
chatsworth_vol said:
Marvel's new Thor will be a woman | The Verge
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Hmmm... Well disregard my story about Angela. This seems unrelated.

The line about it not being temporary is laughable. They said the same thing about Doc Ock taking over Spider-Man's body too. Year and a half later and Peter is back in his own body. Suprise!.... Not really.

I still doubt this makes its way to the movies.

On a side note: They actually did turn Thor into a woman in a futuristic story called Earth X in the late 90's. It was actually Thor though, not just a woman who lifts the hammer.
 
#77
#77
Interesting, and that makes sense. Like I said I know nothing about the stories other than what is in the movies.
 
#78
#78
burntorangeVOLffle said:
Hmmm... Well disregard my story about Angela. This seems unrelated.
V
The line about it not being temporary is laughable. They said the same thing about Doc Ock taking over Spider-Man's body too. Year and a half later and Peter is back in his own body. Suprise!.... Not really.

I still doubt this makes its way to the movies.

On a side note: They actually did turn Thor into a woman in a futuristic story called Earth X in the late 90's. It was actually Thor though, not just a woman who lifts the hammer.
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If people want to use it for alternate universes ok as long as it doesn't screw with continuity of the 616 universe.

Why the heck does marvel continue to turn major characters into females.
Seriously something as major as gender should not be changed as the saying goes if it's not broke don't fix it.

Now that Angela aka the hellspawn hunter is apart of marvel be great to see her fight Ghost Rider (blaze) the spirit of vengeance.

I keep seeing promos for Gotham city on Fox.
 
#79
#79
burntorangeVOLffle said:
Hmmm... Well disregard my story about Angela. This seems unrelated.

The line about it not being temporary is laughable. They said the same thing about Doc Ock taking over Spider-Man's body too. Year and a half later and Peter is back in his own body. Suprise!.... Not really.

I still doubt this makes its way to the movies.

On a side note: They actually did turn Thor into a woman in a futuristic story called Earth X in the late 90's. It was actually Thor though, not just a woman who lifts the hammer.
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Either they are convinced of the baloney this will be successful long term so it's not temporary, or it's purposely said then after returning thor to being a male the person says don't believe everything you read or hear, and you've been punkd if you believe this wasn't temporary.
 
#80
#80
Comixology is having a big Batman 99¢ sale right now.

I bought the first 12 issues of the New52 series by Scort Snyder and the classic Elseworlds tale, Gotham by Gaslight, which I read for the first time last night.

I was a little dissapointed by Gaslight (6/10)

This is one of those classic stories that I finally got around to reading. Its set in the 1880's and Jack the Ripper has moved from London to Gotham. While Mike Mignola's (Hellboy) art is solid, you never get a great look at 1880's Batman costume. Additionally, I found the story rather predictable as to the identity of Jack. Really I think it just suffered from lack of space to let the story properly develope. Generally speaking I am not a fan of decompressed storytelling but this one could have definitely benefited from an extra 48 pages or so.
 
#81
#81
burntorangeVOLffle said:
Pulled from the Star Wars thread....



I agree about Gwen. That's when I quit reading Spider-Man for a few years. I liked JMS as writer on his own properties but I was never really into his Spider-Man run. It even prevented my from checking out Peter David's Friendly Neighborhood series because it launched with the Other crossover. I didn't read the One More Day arc but picked up the first issue of BND out of curiosity. It was like a breath of fresh air that SM hadn't had in over a decade. OMIT did a decent job of explaining the Peter/MJ tweak in history. I accepted it for what it was and enjoyed the move forward. Dan Slott just lost my and stories like Spider-Island and End of the Earth. Even though I thought the Spidey Ock premise had some potential, I was just tired of the series so #700 was my jumping off point.

As for X-Men... Their continuity has been convoluted going back to the Claremont days. I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison. He shook up X-Men for the better IMO. It was in a rut of rotating writers who never seemed to find their footing with the characters. Cyclops has often been a little fickle when it comes to women (Madelyn Prior!!!) so his relationship with Emma wan't a big deal to me. I don't really feel anything was retconned in his run. If anything, he put Jean back where she belonged.... in the grave. After he left I read Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis's Astonishing X-Men runs but quit after that. I'm pretty sure Jean is still dead too, thankfully (well adult Jean anyway).
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I was not a big fan of Morrison's run. If Jean had stayed dead from the Dark Phoenix Saga I would have been okay with it, because she died the way a comic book hero should die, sacrificing herself for the greater good. Morrison returned her to the grave with a throwaway death. Didn't do the character any justice whatsoever IMO.

As for Scott having fickle taste in women, Maddie was a genetic clone of his great love, Jean. Of course he was going to fall for her. Him and Emma never made sense to me, but him and Maddie, that I understood.

I read X-Men religiously. I loved other characters, but the X-men were by far my favorite. Too many of them were ruined over the years IMO, acting totally out of established character. It was frustrating to watch that happen, which is one of the reasons I finally let go.

As for good Hulk runs, if you've never read Peter David's run on Incredible Hulk, I highly recommend it. Especially after Dale Keown took over the art duties.
 
#82
#82
Oh yeah, the reason I came here to begin with, besides sales of course, why the hell is Marvel killing Wolverine? Seems like an extremely stupid thing to do IMO. I mean, yes, they overexposed him as hell putting him in almost every title, but Logan was my favorite character. That run in Uncanny where they infiltrate the Hellfire Club and he drops down from the ceiling to kill the Hellfire Guards....boom! From that moment forward, he was my favorite character in all comics. That was back before he blew up as big as he has. And my favorite move was and always will be him and Colossus doing the Fastball Special.
 
#83
#83
Weezer said:
I was not a big fan of Morrison's run. If Jean had stayed dead from the Dark Phoenix Saga I would have been okay with it, because she died the way a comic book hero should die, sacrificing herself for the greater good. Morrison returned her to the grave with a throwaway death. Didn't do the character any justice whatsoever IMO.

As for Scott having fickle taste in women, Maddie was a genetic clone of his great love, Jean. Of course he was going to fall for her. Him and Emma never made sense to me, but him and Maddie, that I understood.

I read X-Men religiously. I loved other characters, but the X-men were by far my favorite. Too many of them were ruined over the years IMO, acting totally out of established character. It was frustrating to watch that happen, which is one of the reasons I finally let go.

As for good Hulk runs, if you've never read Peter David's run on Incredible Hulk, I highly recommend it. Especially after Dale Keown took over the art duties.
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Peter David's Hulk run is what got me into comics as 9 year old boy!

I've read through it, beginning to end, at least 3 times and some issues/arcs more than that. I was a huge fan of the Gray HulK era and hate when he is only referred to as Joe Fixit as that was only a small portion of that particular phase.

--

Agree totally on Wolverine. I think the over exposure thing is a reason to put him on the shelf for a while. And let's face it, he'll be back by next year.
 
#84
#84
burntorangeVOLffle said:
Peter David's Hulk run is what got me into comics as 9 year old boy!

I've read through it, beginning to end, at least 3 times and some issues/arcs more than that. I was a huge fan of the Gray HulK era and hate when he is only referred to as Joe Fixit as that was only a small portion of that particular phase.

--

Agree totally on Wolverine. I think the over exposure thing is a reason to put him on the shelf for a while. And let's face it, he'll be back by next year.
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I enjoyed PD's entire Hulk run, but I really liked how he and Keown collaborated. The writing and the art together took up the storytelling a notch IMO.
 
#85
#85
Read through the entirety of Superior Spider-Man recently. Have to say it was pretty good.

For those unaware, Dr. Octopus had long been suffering from a degenerative disease brought on from his years as a super villain and taking beatings from super heroes, mainly Spider-Man. In Amazing Spider-Man #700 pulled off the ultimate escape, not only from prison, but his dying body as well by swiping minds with Spider-Man and leaving Peter Parker to die in his body. Just before Peter "died" he was able to flood Otto's mind with his memories and the emotions that go along with those memories. This made Ock realize why Peter did the things he did. He took the opportunity his stolen second chance at life gave him and vowed to be a Superior Spider-Man.

Now anyone that knows comics knew good and well that Peter was eventually going to get his body back. I had quit the series mostly because it was a good jumping off point and not because I was angry about the concept. In fact curiosity was what finally prompted me to go back and read the series as whole. The idea of Doc Ock trying to be good after stealing Peter's body was actually very interesting.

The series lasted 32 issues (a little over a year and half of publication). In it we see Ock struggle to keep every one fooled that he was still Peter Parker while simultaneously changing Spider-Man's methods for crime fighting all in an attempt to be Superior. For a while it seems like he doing just that. Then his methods start over reaching and becoming a little super villainy. Ultimately his undoing comes at the hands of none other than the Green Goblin. When things don't go according to plan and he finally understands why Peter will always be the Superior Spider-Man.

The series wasn't perfect. It had some corny dialog at times with Otto-Peter calling people "dolts" on a regular basis. And then there is a lack of the Avengers truly intervening. They do show up but its like they had the dummy switch flipped.

Overall the series was fun. Developed nicely and wrapped up appropriately. 8/10
 
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#86
#86
Currently reading through Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC has some incredibly crappy characters with horrible powers. Also reading God is Dead, but it's kind of terrible. Working through Injustice: Gods Among Us, too.
 
#87
#87
VOLatile said:
Currently reading through Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC has some incredibly crappy characters with horrible powers. Also reading God is Dead, but it's kind of terrible. Working through Injustice: Gods Among Us, too.
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Crisis is like reading text book. It is dense.

I have a hard time looking past some of the character designs for the Injustice. I've heard it's very good though.
 
#88
#88
i've been in an X-Men mood for some reason and so I've been trying to catch up with what's been happening since I quite following them nearly 10 years ago shortly after Grant Morrison's run. (I did read Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis' short runs of Astonishing X-Men but those seemed a little removed from the larger X-Men line).

Figured I would start with Avengers vs X-Men since that leads directly into the current era. I just stuck to the main series and didn't go looking into all the tie-ins and stuff. Overall the 13 issue series seemed a bit thrown together and probably could have been condensed to 6 or 8 issues. There were some annoying things like Spider-Man taking a dramatic near death beat down in one issue and then seeming perfectly fine the next (this actually happened to a few characters). Also felt like there should have been more dissension among the mutant ranks earlier on. That said, the plot was decent and it kind of read like an old school crossover which was cool with me.. 6.5/10

Then I jumped into All New X-Men by Brian Bendis. This is the series that actually peaked my curiosity to see what was going on with X-Men. In the fall out of AvX, Cyclops has essentially gone rogue and is instigating a mutant revolution. In an attempt to rattle some sense into him Beast goes back in time and brings the 5 original teenage X-Men to the present. Unfortunately when the teens find out what their future holds they refuse to go back.

In generals I have problems with Brian Bendis. 1) I can't stand his dialog. He makes everyone talk the same with this stuttery cadence that is just annoying 2) he has great ideas that start with a bang but teeter out to anticlimactic ending. I'm about 14 issue in to this series (I think it's in the mid 30s currently) and so far about 4 days have passed in real time. Otherwise it's been really good. It's fun seeing how the teen X-Men and the present day characters interact. How long that gimmick can last remains to be seen. I've stopped just before the big Battle of the Atom crossover. Thus far the series gets an 8.5/10

Additionally Bendis is writing a relaunched Uncanny X-Men which runs concurrently with All New. This one is following Cyclops and his group of X-Men which includes Magneto, Emma Frost, and Magic. I'm only about 4 issues in and this one is solid but not as interesting as All New. I'll give a rating when I get caught up to the BotA crossover.

I also plan to go back and read a few key stories over the previous years that brought the characters to AvX. Namely, Deadly Genesis, Messiah Complex, and Schism. I'll be kind of going forward and backward at the same time.
 
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#89
#89
Any thoughts on the Marvel Secret Wars reboot coming in May? I'm not reading anymore and haven't since the early 90's but was considering getting back in lightly. Thinking about ordering the Civil War GN to prepare for the cinematic storyline.
 
#90
#90
95 Vol Alum said:
Any thoughts on the Marvel Secret Wars reboot coming in May? I'm not reading anymore and haven't since the early 90's but was considering getting back in lightly. Thinking about ordering the Civil War GN to prepare for the cinematic storyline.
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I'm intrigued by the idea. Seems like they are pulling all the different alternate realities, timeliness, and universes into a pot and shaking it up. Could be really fun.

There is some good stuff coming out. After years of being out off the loop I've actually enjoyed catching up on X-Men recently. It's definitely binge reading material and not something I think I would enjoy waiting a month between issues though.
 
#91
#91
I actually just read up more on Secret Wars. They are claiming they are killing off the entire MU and an ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT Marvel will emerge.

Now this is either marketing hype (which I believe it is) or this could be the MU Crisis that reboots everything.
 
#92
#92
There is a theory that they use this as an opprtunity to regain control over the entire cinematic universe. In other words, use the Ultimate Spiderman and redo the X-Men and FF to allow them to be used in their movies.
 
#93
#93
95 Vol Alum said:
There is a theory that they use this as an opprtunity to regain control over the entire cinematic universe. In other words, use the Ultimate Spiderman and redo the X-Men and FF to allow them to be used in their movies.
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They are suspending FF in protest of the new movie. Although they deny that's the reason.

I doubt they replace Peter Parker with Miles Morales. They just did a big story line where Peter's body was stolen by Dr Octopus then made a big production when he came back. Although the Ult Spider-Man is the only title from that line that is still popular.

Likewise, X-Men is there top comics franchise with their go to writer spearheading the story lines right now. I doubt they do a full on reboot there either.

My gut tells me the end result is merging the Ultimate U with the MU proper with a handful of other time/reality stragglers left behind.
 
#94
#94
So, my history professor is having us read Maus later in the semester. This makes me very happy.
 
#96
#96
Much like my impression of Marvel....they are trying to recreate a universe that can be better translated/crossed over to TV and movie storylines in "real time". Somehow all this screen success should translate to book sales. I could be all wet, though.
 
#97
#97
95 Vol Alum said:
Much like my impression of Marvel....they are trying to recreate a universe that can be better translated/crossed over to TV and movie storylines in "real time". Somehow all this screen success should translate to book sales. I could be all wet, though.
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Thing is, DC just did a soft reboot about 3 years ago. They aren't out right ditching that but instead changing focus to allow more stories not bound by continuity (or perhaps bound to the continuity of the creative teams choosing?)

As for Marvel, I hope they are not turning their comic universe intent the movie universe. They've already made subtle tweaks over the past decade (and reverted a few like Spider-Man's organic webbing). Not to mention the movies will get rebooted sooner rather than later as the actors inevitably change.
 
#98
#98
Yeah, actually bought the New 52 JL and Eternal Batman graphic novels recently. Justice League was a bit awkward given they are "meeting" each other for the first time.

I'm gearing up to read the Civil War novels.
 
#99
#99
Dc should stop having other characters take over existing names instead create new characters.

I'm still trying to figure how more than a dozen people on metropolis can't recognize that Clark Kent and superman are one in the same person.
 
#100
#100
Quick run down of some recent reads over the past couple of months.

Jumped into the Before Watchmen books. Fair or not I'm rating these on the Watchmen scale where the original book is a 10.

- Minute Men - (8) Solid story about the 1930's mystery men. Fit well into the OGN mythology. Didn't add anything mind blowing and certainly didn't take away.

-Silk Spectre- (7) decent tale of Laurie Jupiter's teenage years in the 1960's and how she could accepedt following week in her mom's footsteps. Had a really cool LSD scene. Amanda Conner's are was top notch.

-Comedian- (4) Very dissapointing story. Felt very disjointed. Seemed to contradict the character from the OGN as well as the Minute Men series. I really expected better from writer Brian Azzarello.

-Rorschach- (5) Another sorry outing be Azzerallo. Art was good. Characterization wasn't bad but the plot fell short. The sub plot about a seriel killer was more interesting than the main plot and it was wrapped up in 4 pages at the end. The main plot resolved itself while the lead character was incapacitated.

After the two BW duds I felt the need to switch gears. I'll get back to the other series eventuality but it wasn't holding my interest.

So...

- Death of Wolverine - (6/10)
I hadn't been reading Wolverine proper so maybe I missed out on a lot of the build up. I knew he had lost his healing factor but not how. That wasn't recapped but I just rolled with it. Art was good. Story hit some Wolverine high points but really seemed to plod along to the inevitable conclusion of his death. Probably could have been told in two issues or one extra sized one. The way he died was pretty appropriate. I will be curious how they bring him back though.

-Captain America: Man Out of Time- (7/10)
5 issue mini series by legendary Cap writer Mark Waid. It's a tale about Cap adjusting to the modern world after being thawed out by the Avengers. More of a quaint tale than a bombastic adventure. Great characterization. Art was on the weak side though. Not a must read but definitely worth reading if you are a Captain America fan.

-Fantastic Four by Mark Millar (Kick Ass, Wanted) and Bryan Hitch Omnibus- (6/10)
Collects Fantastic Four #554-569. I generally like Mark Millar but something about this run just didn't grab me. I didnt like his characterization of Johnny Storm at all and the plot of the first 2 stories were very predictable. The last arc, Doom's Master, was a little less so but only because the climax needed a little Dues ex Machina moment with a short bit of exposition trying to explain it. I had wanted to read this run for a long time but ultimately it was disappointing.


Up Next:

Secret Wars writer Jonathan Hickman said the series is a culmination of all his Marvel work so I decided I should catch up. I've read the first two volumes of his FF a few years ago and enjoyed them. I guess there isn't a better time to jump back in. Then I will start on his Marvel Now Avengers and New Avengers runs. That's a lot to read but hopefully I'll get caught up in time for Secret Wars.
 
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