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Author Topic: Useless comics news, discussions, and recommendations  (Read 202490 times)
Sir T
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Reply #35 on: June 22, 2013, 06:03:41 PM


Hic sunt dracones.
Simond
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Reply #36 on: June 23, 2013, 01:44:00 PM

I need an emoticon for "stroke-inducing skullfucking stupidity."
headache

"You're really a good person, aren't you? So, there's no path for you to take here. Go home. This isn't a place for someone like you."
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #37 on: June 26, 2013, 09:05:35 AM

Careful with spoily for TPB readers *ahem*  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

Finished up a couple more.

Thor - holy crap. Phenomenal art and nice strong story. This one really set the quality bar high. Might be one of my favorites ever. The art alone put it onto my 'painting inspiration' shelf.

Superior Spiderman - Very pleasantly surprised by this one. Good art and a great story. This also might be one of my favorite comics ever! I was up until 2am because I couldn't put it down.

Between these two and Hawkman, Marvel is really onto something great. I hope they keep things tight and allow books to end rather than trying to string things along past their expiration date. Something like Superior Spiderman is a phenomenal execution of a good idea, but I can't see it running for years.
Fordel
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Reply #38 on: June 27, 2013, 12:26:20 AM

What is this Thor story I keep seeing people jizzing over? Which set of issues is it or which collection or whatever its called.

and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
Velorath
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Reply #39 on: June 27, 2013, 03:31:11 AM

Haven't checked out Thor at all recently but just got caught up with Mark Waid's Indestructible Hulk, and it's good. It's very good. I've had an occasional issue with the art at times, but as far as doing something interesting with the character this currently ranks between Peter David's run and Planet Hulk. It hasn't proved to have the longevity of the former yet, but it's surpassed the latter in that it's made Banner into an interesting character which typically has proven a challenge. Beyond that it's just a lot of fun. The potential downside is that it sounds like the focus is getting shifted slightly due to Age of Ultron, but it sounds like it was Waid's idea, and it wouldn't be the first time someone has crafted some of Bendis' shit into a story worth reading. Hell, Peter David himself did it by making Layla Miller an actual character. So yeah, very much recommend this.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #40 on: June 27, 2013, 06:56:27 AM

What is this Thor story I keep seeing people jizzing over? Which set of issues is it or which collection or whatever its called.
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-God-Thunder-Vol-Butcher/dp/0785168427

Fordel
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Reply #41 on: June 27, 2013, 01:06:45 PM

Cool, thank you.

and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
Fordel
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Reply #42 on: June 29, 2013, 09:20:10 PM

What's the deal with the Marvel Unlimited subscription thing? What's the catch there?

and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
MediumHigh
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Reply #43 on: June 30, 2013, 06:42:18 AM

What is this Thor story I keep seeing people jizzing over? Which set of issues is it or which collection or whatever its called.
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-God-Thunder-Vol-Butcher/dp/0785168427



That's actually pretty damn good.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #44 on: July 01, 2013, 08:16:34 AM

The new X-Men Legends is pretty cool. Definitely one of the better books thus far. Interesting art style and the take on Legion is awesome. He was a bit after my time or maybe had just been introduced, but I dig this version.

I'm two 'issues' into the A+X book, ugh. It's bad. Avoid.

Has anyone read the Now Captain America?
MediumHigh
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Reply #45 on: July 01, 2013, 08:57:35 AM

I haven't picked up an x-book ever and really not tempted to, unless magneto is a bad guy again.
Sky
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Reply #46 on: July 01, 2013, 09:09:49 AM

The new Cable book wasn't too bad. I'll probably skip the second TPB of Uncanny Avengers, though. I read the first 'issue' of the All New X-Men and didn't hate it as much as Khaldun.

I was an X-Man kid, though. I was 11 when Days of Future Past came out. Mind-blowing. Unfortunately, I did get to ride along as the X-Men got turned into the mockery they are now, so I get the hate. I used to subscribe to a bunch of books, Alpha Flight was decent at times and even the New Mutants wasn't wretched (as I remember it, reading it as a teen). At least with Now there is a more finite amount of X-options. I looked at the regular books and holy crap there's a gajillion.

I don't set too high a bar for comics, though. So when I think something is bad, it's probably REALLY BAD. :) I even enjoyed AvX. Caveat: good art can also keep me interested through bad writing.

Also, my favorite team was the Defenders. Strange, Valkyrie and Gargoyle ftw.
Khaldun
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Reply #47 on: July 06, 2013, 12:26:07 PM

I should read the new Captain America--I like the writer well enough and it's a different take than Brubaker's.

X-Men Legacy continues to surprise me--it's really different.

I am also liking Young Avengers--very different feel to it.

Everybody, and I mean everybody, needs to read the latest issue of Hawkeye. It's one of those issues that ten years from now people will say, "Oh, man, do you REMEMBER" about.

I had a long period where I wouldn't touch Marvel--the 90s were worse there than even Image in some ways (at least Image came by their Liefieldisms honestly)--but right now they are fucking knocking it out of the park. It might be the most enlightened period of comic editorial laissez-faire at the Big Two in...maybe ever...barring dumb event stuff like Age of Ultron.
Velorath
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Reply #48 on: July 06, 2013, 02:38:33 PM

Yeah, the new Hawkeye issue was good stuff. The series is also a decent mid-range seller so hopefully it doesn't get canceled anytime soon.

I'm also a little over halfway caught up with the current run of Daredevil and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'd been intending on straying away a bit more from reading stuff from Marvel and DC, and yet I now find myself following Daredevil, Hulk, and Hawkeye, and Thor to a lesser extent. So far the main non-Big 2 thing that's stuck with me is Saga, but as mentioned previously that's on hiatus at the moment. And of course I'm still following Walking Dead despite it's inconsistent quality, to put it mildly. Apparently it's going bi-weekly in October for the 12 issue All Out War arc.
CmdrSlack
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Reply #49 on: July 06, 2013, 07:41:11 PM

The latest Luther Strode installment ain't bad. Some other indie titles that I am enjoying are Nowhere Men, The Massive, and Fatale.

Matt Fraction just started a new book on Image called Satellite Sam. The first issue was good.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
MediumHigh
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Reply #50 on: July 07, 2013, 07:01:55 PM

As unmanly is for me to say this, but Supberia is pretty damn delicious. Basically what happens when you a nerd girl riffs off real house of show.
Sky
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Reply #51 on: July 08, 2013, 03:33:23 AM

Indestructible Hulk is the best take on the franchise I've seen. It's about time Banner got his shit together, and I hope we see more Stark, the interplay between them nerding out was a lot of fun. And the art is nice.

I'm reading the TPB of Marvels (Alex Ross art) right now, and it's really amazing. Good story and the art is on another level.

Out of current TPBs, a few had their release dates pushed back.
Fordel
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Reply #52 on: July 14, 2013, 03:04:14 PM

I got the first two collections of Captain Marvel, about a dozen comics bundled up there I believe.


The writer does a pretty good job in bringing me up to speed on the character, but there's still that weight of 50 odd years of continuity that you just can't seem to avoid. There are a few moments where I have to end up reading a wiki to figure out who is who to who and why this or that conversation holds real weight or not.

The books change artists like every 3-6 issues, and the styles vary wildly. They keep the same artist for each little story arc though, so it's not jarring or anything. It's all very stylistic though, no matter who is drawing it all and I can see some people being turned off by that. I don't mind it, there are enough comics with that pseudo realistic art that this one can branch out way more.


The actual stories are fun, if just a bit loopy. Captain Marvel is basically as lost as you are most of the time. Lost might be the wrong word. The comic is not terribly concerned with the HOW of anything, just the WHO and the WHY. "Who do I punch to fix this?" is the first step in the Carol Danvers problem solving process. The writer does a good job of throwing problems at Carol that she can't punch her way out of.


Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers herself is enjoyable. She's super competitive, incredibly stubborn and an adrenaline junkie... and all of that is made moot by her powers. Any competition or record she might hold is made null and void because she has incredible super powers giving her an unfair advantage. Any joy and thrill from taking incredible risks doing dangerous stunts or pushing the limits of her skills are also made moot because she's virtually immune to actual risk thanks to her powers. She knows, she knows her powers are a incredible gift and let her do things most people can't even begin to dream of and she loves them and what she can do with them... but there's still that part of her, that part of her that just wants to go "I did that, me, not the powers, just my hard work, skill and daring. I won, I beat you, I went the highest/fastest/furthest!". She very much wants to WIN on her own merits and not have the little asterisk on the record books beside it.


Her super life in contrast to her regular life are probably my favorite bits though. Her identity is NOT secret, she's not trying to keep a double life straight or anything like that. She's a super hero, it's literally her day job, but she still has a regular life too. Like, being a super hero doesn't mean you don't take care of a sick friend, or watch out for the little neighbour girl that just adores you utterly, or have to take your pet cat to the vet.

It also has a lot of little touches with the actual hero'ing. Like when she had to punch the shit out of some dinosaurs that were rampaging through the city, she beat them down, but then it showed how she basically had to just hang around until the proper dinosaur wrangling authorities had the dinosaurs locked back up. Or when she had to carry a subway train out of a collapsing tunnel, after all the commotion was over, she was at the scene signing forms and waivers for her participation in the rescue. Like, this stuff is only maybe half a page, but I really liked that it wasn't just Fly in, punch thing, fly away leaving a giant mess without any accountability. It's WAY more believable to me this way, that there's like actual paperwork and procedure in this universe in regards to super heroes and super problems.


My only gripes with the books, are there's still a lot of lingering continuity weight. It's not overwhelming or unmanageable by any means, but it's there. It's not really hurting my enjoyment of the actual plots by any means, it's just... *I* want to be familiar with all the little things the reference around, but there's a lot of god damned history here, fuck.

The other thing, little thing... in general the art is good and the design is good, but one specific artist, at least once an issue, just drops in a gratuitous ass shot. Like, cmon! Did we really need that!  why so serious?


I'll pick up the next collection whenever that's released to keep up with the story. I think it's crossing over into the Avengers book or something right now? I don't want to play comic book tag so I'll just wait for the bundle.



On an aside, NYC in the Marvel Universe is like, one of the most terrifying places to live imaginable.

and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
MediumHigh
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Reply #53 on: July 15, 2013, 04:34:39 PM

After reading fatale I wonder if their more lovecraftian seemed comics. And yes, hellboy is lovecraft light on tuesdays.
palmer_eldritch
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Reply #54 on: July 17, 2013, 03:05:41 AM

What's the deal with the Marvel Unlimited subscription thing? What's the catch there?

I got myself a tablet recently - never had one before - and a Marvel Unlimited account and its great. I don't think I'll buy a MArvel trade paperback again.

The catch as far as I can tell is that you have to wait at least six months for new comics to become available and there's no actual guarantee they ever will be.

For example, I've been making my way through All New X-Men. Marvel Unlimited is up to issue 6, while I think the newest issue in the shops right now is number 13. But while I'll be behind the times, I'll save a lot of money.

And as well as newish comics, there's a massive back catalogue to read. Eg, I never did read any of the Astonishing X-Men books after Joss Whedon left (issue 30) but I'm now making my way through back issues and it's a lot cheaper than buying the collections.

But there are, annoyingly, some gaps in the back issues. You don't have any recourse if a book you want to read is missing - you have to accept what they give you.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #55 on: July 17, 2013, 08:08:17 AM

If I had a tablet, I'd be on it. I'd still buy a few TPBs for art reference, though. There's a lot of retro Kirby-esque stuff going around right now that I want to learn to pull off on the minis I paint because it's in a whole nother realm from the metals I'm currently painting.
CmdrSlack
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Reply #56 on: July 17, 2013, 07:30:48 PM

Sky, you should get yourself a copy of this week's Deadpool release. It's set in the 70s. The art is roughly that era. Cover has Deadpool with a 'fro. Issue includes Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Be there.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #57 on: July 18, 2013, 08:32:43 AM

Already pre-ordered the TPB on amazon. They're using that as the cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Volume-Good-Ugly-Marvel/dp/0785166823
CmdrSlack
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Reply #58 on: July 18, 2013, 06:32:42 PM

There should be two "vintage Deadpool" issues in that TPB. They're both pretty great, and are done in the period-appropriate art style.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
CmdrSlack
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Reply #59 on: August 08, 2013, 08:56:31 PM

So the new Avengers A.I. book is marginally interesting. This week featured some slapstick. It actually made me laugh.

Matt Fraction has a book called Satellite Sam. It is on the second issue, but is starting to pick up nicely. I really like the art.

The Hawkeye annual was great. As is the Daredevil Dark of Night arc.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
Velorath
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Reply #60 on: August 17, 2013, 05:05:34 AM

Flipped through the first issue of Infinity, but having not read any of the buildup in the Avengers books it just reads like gibberish for the most part. Also "The Builders" who appear to be the main threat (although Thanos is around also) feel like yet another retread of the Celestials and there can only be so many mysterious, incalculably powerful alien races who have been secretly manipulating all life in the universe.

On the plus side, Saga has returned from hiatus with issue #13.
Khaldun
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Reply #61 on: August 17, 2013, 07:39:20 PM

That was my feeling. I have great good will to Hickman, but he's trying to have the scope of Lee and Kirby on early Thor--tons of cosmic gibberish and awe and shit--but he takes it all way too seriously and intellectually to achieve that. So most of what he's been doing drips with pretention, but probably worse yet for the long-term health of the Marvel line-up, Hickman's storytelling has a serious case of Monty Haul-ism. Everybody's getting ridiculously powered-up--the Avengers are hanging around with the entire spirit of the Universe, the Celestials have been one-upped by the "Builders", Thanos now has a team of crazy-powerful assistants, Black Bolt knows something about the secrets of the whole universe, and over in New Avengers (aka Illuminati) the Avengers have been destroying rivalrous universes--yeah, whole universes.

It really does feel like one of those campaigns where you started getting astral vorpal blades of +25 smiting of all life off of a bandit you killed on the road. No way do any of these characters make sense afterwards as guys who fight muggers.
Velorath
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Reply #62 on: August 18, 2013, 05:22:09 AM

I think Hickman needs to go reread through Giffen's and Abnett & Lanning's cosmic stuff. They knew how to set up and convey threats on that level without resorting to a bunch of DBZ power level shit. I've seen some reviews saying that Infinity does a good job showing the threat the Builders pose with the Spaceknight sequence, but there was no emotional resonance there because there's not one shred of characterization in that whole part to grasp onto. It's just "look how powerful these characters I created are, they can completely and instantly wipe out a planet if they feel like it" wankery. Compare it to the scene in the Annihilation Prologue where the Nova Corps gets wiped out. And fuck, out of the 20 characters listed as Avengers, almost half of them are either characters Hickman created (Ex Nihilo, Abyss, Manifold), or characters he took old versions of and made his own new versions of them (Hyperion, Smasher, Nightmask, Starbrand, Captain Universe). If he likely wasn't under editorial mandate to use all the Avengers who appear in the movies, we'd probably have an Avengers book made up entirely of Hickman characters.

To sum up, after having done some research on Hickman's Avengers run to try and make some sense of what the fuck I read when I picked up Infinity, I've had some of my confusion cleared up. Infinity isn't just a jumbled mess which is confusing simply because I'm jumping into the middle of a story that started in Avengers. Instead I've come to understand that it's a wretched attempt to swipe Kirby's Celestials, Starlin's Thanos (complete with the Infinity branding), and Giffen and A&L's work with the Annihilation Wave and the cosmic Marvel stuff as it exists today, and then throw in his own pet characters. The only legacy he managed to honor was Bendis' legacy of using his time on the Avengers books to piss on the works of the better creators who came before him.
Khaldun
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Reply #63 on: August 18, 2013, 07:05:43 AM

Abnett and Lanning's cosmic stuff was beautifully done--it handled the contrast between the grunt level of action and the nearly incomprehensible scale of universally powerful beings just perfectly. You could go from Rocket Raccoon to Galactus in two panels and have neither frame diminished.

Hickman simply cannot tell stories where the human scale is remotely in focus. None of his Marvel characters really have personalities in any sense--they're all chesspieces on a plot board. And the plotboard is really just a piece in a larger gambit to establish a bigger, more abstract, more cosmic-for-the-sake-of-it scale. At least on FF, Hickman had the Future Foundation kids and Reed Richards to hold on to (the other members of the team got almost no real character attention in that time).

Hickman should be writing the Illuminati book (New Avengers)--that kind of stuff he's good at, and that book the mood works (though it leaves the Avengers in a very messed up place, as they are destroying universes...). The main books and the crossovers are like white noise blasting out on a single beat.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #64 on: August 22, 2013, 09:04:38 AM

Read about half the new Avengers TPB (the white event one) and yeah...it's almost annoying to read. Some nice art is saving it, but it feels like a synapses of some other stories. Amazingly little characterization.

That's what I like about stuff like Hawkeye, the Indestructable Hulk and Superior Spider-man, just some nice takes on old characters, breathing new life into them. Almost the opposite of what Hickman is doing.
Fordel
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Reply #65 on: August 25, 2013, 11:23:00 PM


and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
Teleku
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Reply #66 on: August 26, 2013, 03:12:18 AM

I think they're trolling everybody.   ACK!

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
-Stephen Colbert
Khaldun
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Reply #67 on: August 26, 2013, 07:07:12 AM

I think Justice League is the only thing that's selling well in the New 52 at this point.
Sky
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I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #68 on: August 26, 2013, 08:19:30 AM

DC doesn't really exist to me. Too bad, I know there are a few gems here and there. I really had a strong dislike of them when I was a kid, other than some of the grittier Batman, swamp thing, the horror and war stuff.

The Uncanny X-Force was pretty bizarre. I'm not sure if I like it, I think the one with Legion did bizarre mind trip hero a bit better. Not helped by the fact that I had no clue who most of the people in the book were. Storm, Puck and a brief Wolverine, iirc. And then some ninjas. It was cool seeing some Puck, I always like him. Alpha Flight was one of the comics I subbed to (the first two years, iirc) when I had enough odd job money coming in as a teen.
HaemishM
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Reply #69 on: August 26, 2013, 09:16:35 AM

I've subbed to the Marvel Unlimited thing and I want to stab their UI guy with a rusty spoon. It's just horrible. However, I'm catching up on X-Men continuity - so far I've stopped right before Utopia and am going back through the somewhat tedious X-Men Legacy stuff that took place right after Messiah Complex. I'm glad I'm starting where I did, though, because if I'd started after AvX, I would have missed the fantastic run Matt Fraction had on the Uncanny book. I LOVE the X-Club with Dr. Nemesis - very Grant Morrison. The Legacy stuff, however, which just seems to be a 6-issue clip show arc through X-Men continuity past kind of saps my will to live. Also, fuck you Marvel for crossovers with a billion different books.

I've actually been more of a DC fan since Bendis started being the voice of Marvel's flagships and if DC had a similar type of subscription as Marvel Unlimited, I'd be on that instead.

JL Canada? Really?

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