KoruptData
Member
So what your trying to say is Rocket Racoon is the best ongoing right now for a Guardians fix?
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COMICS! |OT| August 2014. Infinite universes, or just fifty-two? Thanos.
- Thread starter Spike Spiegel
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So what your trying to say is Rocket Racoon is the best ongoing right now for a Guardians fix?
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
Yeah, my bad for analyzing the craft of two people whose work I read and enjoy and trying to turn it into a conversation.
Would you like to share some updates from all of the bad DC books that you hoard?
shadyspace
Banned
Never have I felt more neutral towards something than the last page of Zero Year. Like, the epitome of shrug.
Rrongfield
Member
indigo-cyclops
Member
I fucking love this line man. Remender can carry complexity in a duffle bag and have no issue sorting through it. Both writers are really great, regardless of my preference for Remender at this point.
I liked the post. I don't know much of Snyder tho. welp, cya.
shadyspace
Banned
Can't wait for Rage of Ultron.
Skottie Young is f*cking killing it on Rocket Raccon. It's only two issues in and I've only read the first one but it's really that good. The art, the humor, the characters and small details that are captured with each panel is amazing. In my opinion, it's probably the "best" issue 1 in the past few months. It gives you enough but leaves you wanting more. And you don't need to read anything prior to it because the story does a very fine job of holding your hand (not too much and not too little).
I don't want to overhype it for you but do you want the Marvel digital code to #1 so you can sample it for yourself?
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I haven't read a ton of Remender stuff, but I would agree with this assessment when it comes to Punisher and Venom. Remender's Venom had a fantastic, beautiful ending. The stuff after with Cullen Bunn was just standard superhero fare again that I really couldn't get into. I didn't even read the last couple of issues that he wrote, they just sat there.
But Venom 1-17 by Remender is a masterstroke in storytelling, creating a brand new hero, giving him a brilliantly opposing villain, and creating the ties between them. I really wish Remender had written a longer Venom storyline and elaborated more on the supporting cast.
And Franken-Castle was great.
Snyder's American Vampire is fantastic though. I think he'll stick the landing.
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
Check out Black Mirror. It's Snyder's introduction to DC, and dude explodes right out the gate here. There was discussion of horror and how ineffectual it is in the comic genre, but there's this slow, psychological escalation around one character in Black Mirror that is genuinely creepy as fuck, and currently, my favorite 'horror' moment in a comic belongs to that run.
I dunno. I don't really agree in your description of Remender as "sticking the landing", especially in his recent output. Both his Cap and UA got extremely weak and then tried making up for it with huge bombast which kinda rings hollow. It's to the point where I don't even know what the fuck happened in the climax of the recent Uncanny Avengers storyline or why, and how it all fit in those characters' narrative arcs, whereas I could go back to Court of Owls and tell you exactly how that ended.
KoruptData
Member
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Looking back on Snyder's Batman, I think I disagree. The endings of Court of Owls and Death of a Family and Zero Year were fantastic (Black Mirror too). I think Snyder hits the nail on the head no problem. What's wrong with those endings?
I love both Black Science and Deadly Class so far, but Cap certainly has petered out and I think Black Mirror, Owls and Zero Year all came together great IMO so I can't really agree with this.
GrandHarrier
Member
Remender has a tendency to start off strong and then just sort of meander. It's less a perfect landing after a smooth flight than it is an erratic series of maneuvers through narrow canyon passes that only he can see, leaving the rest of us to scratch our heads in bemusement.
Take Deadly Class, for example. First two issues open up with us getting the lowdown on the concept of a school for Assassins. Except that rather than explaining certain glaring inconsistencies like why the new guy is getting put into classes with kids who've been there for years, but are still apparently learning basic concepts, we're thrown into a random drug induced road trip that completely derails from the opening laid before us in this first two issues.
Oh, and what books do you want to know about? I don't post lists in this thread so I'll assume it's one of the things I've commented on previously?
That being said I just don't understand why the comparison was even being made. I don't think either writer particularly tries to ape the other and just does their own thing.
Take Deadly Class, for example. First two issues open up with us getting the lowdown on the concept of a school for Assassins. Except that rather than explaining certain glaring inconsistencies like why the new guy is getting put into classes with kids who've been there for years, but are still apparently learning basic concepts, we're thrown into a random drug induced road trip that completely derails from the opening laid before us in this first two issues.
Oh, and what books do you want to know about? I don't post lists in this thread so I'll assume it's one of the things I've commented on previously?
That being said I just don't understand why the comparison was even being made. I don't think either writer particularly tries to ape the other and just does their own thing.
Thanks, marking this in my mind for the future.
I dunno what was going on last page, but it was kind of awesome.
And to whoever asked if this is the only comics thread, it is and thank christ for that. Have you seen the shit that gets posted when someone makes a comics thread outside of this?
And Messi, I still wanna know what someone who is working on a Master's degree looks like.
And to whoever asked if this is the only comics thread, it is and thank christ for that. Have you seen the shit that gets posted when someone makes a comics thread outside of this?
And Messi, I still wanna know what someone who is working on a Master's degree looks like.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Uncanny X-Force had a great arc for about 19 issues, but it kinda kept going into a bad pastiche of itself and petered out into whatever.
But its better to be good for that long, then not good at all for any amount of time on your long, boring-as-shit comics(see: Snyder's Batman).
But its better to be good for that long, then not good at all for any amount of time on your long, boring-as-shit comics(see: Snyder's Batman).
KoruptData
Member
I feel Remender and Snyder are equals. I feel both have strengths and weaknesses. I relate more to Snyder writing so he gets the nod from me.
Going from a purely critic standpoint.
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/scott-snyder
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/rick-remender
Plus Scott has won way more awards. Actually, it blows my mind that Remender has never won a comic award.
I don't agree with not being able to stick landings, I still think about the ending to Zero Year since I read it. It was perfect. The ending of the Eisner winning series The Wake was also really memorable.
Going from a purely critic standpoint.
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/scott-snyder
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/rick-remender
Plus Scott has won way more awards. Actually, it blows my mind that Remender has never won a comic award.
I don't agree with not being able to stick landings, I still think about the ending to Zero Year since I read it. It was perfect. The ending of the Eisner winning series The Wake was also really memorable.
I wouldn't say that it's the best. (the writing is a little bit less than average, but the art is great). It'll do until Guardians 3000.
indigo-cyclops
Member
Yea I picked it up during that huge sale a few weeks ago and I NEED to dive in. I've got a lot of Bat stuff to catch up on.
I'm pretty sure it's a requirement to be growing a beard if you're a male in post-grad, isn't it?
GrandHarrier
Member
They aren't all bad. Some of then are genuine and good attempts to highlight something delightful and noteworthy. Unfortunately, they tend to be 2-3 page affairs and drop from the front page rather quickly.
TheDarkKnight774
Member
The start. I actually enjoy dixons run more tbh but Simone got more acclaim for some reason.
And. BoP #9 is a must read for any Babs fan
I dunno, he was talking about how Barbara Gordon doesn't look like someone who would be working on a Master's degree and I'm curious what those people look like.
I love Remender's Cap. But I love Snyder's Batman even more. I couldn't get in to Uncanny at first due to the Havok speech and Remender's hobo piss tweet. I tried getting in to it with success due to the latest Uncanny issue. But the whole thing involving Remender left a bad taste in my mouth that was difficult to overcome.
GrandHarrier
Member
I think it's more in reference to the fact that she looks more like 14 than 21 in the promotional art.
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
I wrote out this long examination of why I thought each of those failed to live up to the snowball Snyder had built up until the third act, but then I deleted it because I realized, quite simply, Snyder doesn't have the emotional impact or catharsis that I want out of his stories. He's great at destroying Bruce's spirit 'til there's just am ember of it left lit, and that builds the emotional bond between reader and protagonist, and then there's a great fuck-yeah moment that comes almost directly after this, but the last third just becomes wacky and zany and Lincoln March-y. The things that get built up equate to the same ole' Batman gets his city back.
I mean, having just reread Fear Agent, like yeah, it ain't a perfect book, and there's so much crazy horseshit time-travel clone body scifi fuckery, but the emotional core to that book, and Heath's fucking journey, and that entire last issue. Man, it feels so right and reads so damn well because it was fucking earned and it was the only way it could end.
Haven't read through everything this week, but from what I have read this week:
Rocket Raccoon #2 and Legendary Star-Lord #2: I was pretty worried about the state of Marvel Cosmic these days, considering it's been stuck in Bendis hell with its headline book, but I think both of these books are going to turn out pretty good. Young's art on Rocky is gorgeous, and full of energy that really brings it to life, and the writing's pretty alright, even if the "don't call him a raccoon" bullshit drives me up a wall. Humphries writing on Star-Lord works for me as a voice for the character much better than Bendis ever has, and while he's no DnA, the last two issues have been pretty charming space adventures. Plus
New Warriors #8: Goddamn it I love this book. I love this book so much. Easily my favorite thing coming out of either of the big two- the team dynamic is just so much fun. Inhumanity has been really blegh, and the last two issues have been bogged down for having to deal with it, but the stuff outside of it- dealing with Watersnake's identity issues, Scarlet Spider being a poutey, jerkface baby and Sam being a huge loser- it's all been fantastic. This is a book where the team only decided not to go to DisneyLand because a talking dog named Jake Waffles couldn't figure out where it was to teleport a mountain there. So much fun.
Superior Spider-Man #32: I really thought Dan Slott handled Superior poorly, especially compared to literally every other single writer who touched the character through the whole year, but this issue taking place in it's own temporal bubble escaped a number of my issues with Slott's handling, and it ended up pretty fun. There's always something that rubs me the wrong way when you see stuff like
just killed to artificially boost a body count for an event, and the way it's handled here seems more petty and careless in his character killing than usual for cape comics. Regardless, that last splash page has me super pumped for
The back-up story starring Assassin Spidey was really interesting too- he's a fun character that I look forward to seeing more of in Spider-Verse, hopefully he survives the experience. (
)
Moon Knight #6: Ellis' run has been fun, but I'm not as in love with it as I wanted to be. The pitch of Moon Knight in a sweet ass suit, solving "weird crimes" in an Ellis written book, with Shalvey's gorgeous art was an incredible idea, but I think a good half of the issues ended up feeling pretty weak outside the incredible art. I think my problem with the run as a whole is that everything being self-contained meant there was so little story or "thing" happening in each issue, and nothing went anywhere. It was a neat gimmick, but not one that would've held my personal interest much longer than this point without at least having more time spent to characterization. The last two issues have really hit it out of the park though. The last one because the minimalist approach to writing really shone through with the idea of Moon Knight just going all-in on a bunch of thugs and beating the hell out of them while being suave and intimidating, and this one because I really enjoyed it as the flip side to the first one. It felt like there was more story here than the other five issues combined, but I still think the ending ended up being a little weak. These books feel like they just kind of peter out and stop than actually end to me. I've never read his stuff, but I have a friend who sings high praises of DMZ, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Brian Wood does with the series. Overall this has been a fun run, but still nowhere near the mid-2000's stuff.
New Avengers #22: Holy shit. Hickman's Avenger stuff has been all over the place, but I'm one of the people who has generally found it to be pretty entertaining, but of all his books, New Avengers is the one I feel he's always been at his best. This last issue, the way the characters react to last issue's ending, the interactions between Black Panther and Namor, are so good. I've always liked Namor for being a piece of shit, but this book sold it in a way that it never really took for me before. He just revels in it, and he puts his foot down and watching the way he
If I have only one complaint, it's that this issue's art is pretty awful, but it's not the worst looking book Marvel's put out lately, and it's not bad enough to hold back some masterful character-work this issue.
The New 52- Future's End: I continue to really enjoy this weekly, but I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff. I think the Grifter/Fifty Sue storyline is dragging on for way too long and sucking up too much time without going anywhere, but that's pretty much my only problem so far. Wish we had more time to spend with Terry's heist planning and get Cal's past out in the open, but that'll all come in time, I'm sure. This is the first issue where the art seemed iffy to me in spots, but as a whole, I still like the look of it. The new future costumes and Earth-2 designs continue to be pretty cool- much prefer Slade's new classic inspired costume here to the overdesigned bulk he's been wearing throughout the rest of the New52. I'm really excited to see where they're going with this.
Batman: Eternal #18: While I'm still enjoying it, I do feel this is the weakest of the weeklies DC's doing so far. The last few issues have been a real step up, and this one continues that trend. Throwing Red Hood into the Batgirl stuff has really been the thing that it needed to make her stuff more compelling, and Killer Croc's involvement is a lot of fun too- I've really enjoyed the New 52 take on the character so far, and things getting supernatural has really changed where I thought the endgame of this was headed. If I had to drop something, a couple weeks ago this would've been it, but it's managed to rein itself back in.
Rocket Raccoon #2 and Legendary Star-Lord #2: I was pretty worried about the state of Marvel Cosmic these days, considering it's been stuck in Bendis hell with its headline book, but I think both of these books are going to turn out pretty good. Young's art on Rocky is gorgeous, and full of energy that really brings it to life, and the writing's pretty alright, even if the "don't call him a raccoon" bullshit drives me up a wall. Humphries writing on Star-Lord works for me as a voice for the character much better than Bendis ever has, and while he's no DnA, the last two issues have been pretty charming space adventures. Plus
this issue started to touch on what happened in the Cancerverse, and what went down with Thanos and Rich, so there's that...
New Warriors #8: Goddamn it I love this book. I love this book so much. Easily my favorite thing coming out of either of the big two- the team dynamic is just so much fun. Inhumanity has been really blegh, and the last two issues have been bogged down for having to deal with it, but the stuff outside of it- dealing with Watersnake's identity issues, Scarlet Spider being a poutey, jerkface baby and Sam being a huge loser- it's all been fantastic. This is a book where the team only decided not to go to DisneyLand because a talking dog named Jake Waffles couldn't figure out where it was to teleport a mountain there. So much fun.
Superior Spider-Man #32: I really thought Dan Slott handled Superior poorly, especially compared to literally every other single writer who touched the character through the whole year, but this issue taking place in it's own temporal bubble escaped a number of my issues with Slott's handling, and it ended up pretty fun. There's always something that rubs me the wrong way when you see stuff like
The Fantastic Five and the House of M Spider-Man
Spock, Noire Spidey, Spider-Man India and Assassin Spidey getting the shit kicked out of them by their enemies.
Though I'd sacrifice him and nearly every other spider to keep Anya alive.
Moon Knight #6: Ellis' run has been fun, but I'm not as in love with it as I wanted to be. The pitch of Moon Knight in a sweet ass suit, solving "weird crimes" in an Ellis written book, with Shalvey's gorgeous art was an incredible idea, but I think a good half of the issues ended up feeling pretty weak outside the incredible art. I think my problem with the run as a whole is that everything being self-contained meant there was so little story or "thing" happening in each issue, and nothing went anywhere. It was a neat gimmick, but not one that would've held my personal interest much longer than this point without at least having more time spent to characterization. The last two issues have really hit it out of the park though. The last one because the minimalist approach to writing really shone through with the idea of Moon Knight just going all-in on a bunch of thugs and beating the hell out of them while being suave and intimidating, and this one because I really enjoyed it as the flip side to the first one. It felt like there was more story here than the other five issues combined, but I still think the ending ended up being a little weak. These books feel like they just kind of peter out and stop than actually end to me. I've never read his stuff, but I have a friend who sings high praises of DMZ, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Brian Wood does with the series. Overall this has been a fun run, but still nowhere near the mid-2000's stuff.
New Avengers #22: Holy shit. Hickman's Avenger stuff has been all over the place, but I'm one of the people who has generally found it to be pretty entertaining, but of all his books, New Avengers is the one I feel he's always been at his best. This last issue, the way the characters react to last issue's ending, the interactions between Black Panther and Namor, are so good. I've always liked Namor for being a piece of shit, but this book sold it in a way that it never really took for me before. He just revels in it, and he puts his foot down and watching the way he
reveals the things he's done to Black Panther's people and just tears him apart verbally and ideologically is masterful.
The New 52- Future's End: I continue to really enjoy this weekly, but I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff. I think the Grifter/Fifty Sue storyline is dragging on for way too long and sucking up too much time without going anywhere, but that's pretty much my only problem so far. Wish we had more time to spend with Terry's heist planning and get Cal's past out in the open, but that'll all come in time, I'm sure. This is the first issue where the art seemed iffy to me in spots, but as a whole, I still like the look of it. The new future costumes and Earth-2 designs continue to be pretty cool- much prefer Slade's new classic inspired costume here to the overdesigned bulk he's been wearing throughout the rest of the New52. I'm really excited to see where they're going with this.
Batman: Eternal #18: While I'm still enjoying it, I do feel this is the weakest of the weeklies DC's doing so far. The last few issues have been a real step up, and this one continues that trend. Throwing Red Hood into the Batgirl stuff has really been the thing that it needed to make her stuff more compelling, and Killer Croc's involvement is a lot of fun too- I've really enjoyed the New 52 take on the character so far, and things getting supernatural has really changed where I thought the endgame of this was headed. If I had to drop something, a couple weeks ago this would've been it, but it's managed to rein itself back in.
Real talk. One thread of mine turned in to a "Manga vs Super Hero comics" thread. It spiraled.
Yep. Fear Agent is an example of a perfect landing if there ever was one. It sealed the deal on it becoming one of my favorite runs of all time.
YOU HEAR THAT TIM!? Read Fear Agent vol 2 already!
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
Yep. Fear Agent is an example of a perfect landing if there ever was one. It sealed the deal on it becoming one of my favorite runs of all time.
YOU HEAR THAT TIM!? Read Fear Agent vol 2 already!
Please don't disturb Tim. He's working on his Master's thesis; White Space: The Six Lies that Warren Ellis Sold Us
slightconfuse
Banned
Remender has the ability make all his stories reach an epic level while having grounded characters
Dimension Z was fantastic story telling about a man and his son at its heart
Synder stories loose steam about halfway in. And he tries to get cute but falls flat
Dimension Z was fantastic story telling about a man and his son at its heart
Synder stories loose steam about halfway in. And he tries to get cute but falls flat
Hahaha. I'd buy that academic journal.
Screw that, I've already got two Master's degrees I have no desire for another.
I wasn't even mad at Messi, it was just such a weird thing to say I was curious what in the world he meant.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Critically acclaimed.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
You mention Young's art but what do you think of Medina's thus far? I'm a big fan of his.
Hopefully I can get #1/#2 of both of these this week. My LCS was trying to finagle me some copies with a late order.
Generally speaking I'm a fan too, and I think his work on Star-Lord is a lot better than some of the other stuff I've seen him do. I remember really liking his art on Way's Deadpool but feeling like he suffered a bit from sameface, but I've liked his stuff in both this and Nova a lot more. His faces are really expressive, and I really like the way he brings some of the crazier space stuff around Star-Lord to life.
All New Doop #3 is my least favorite book i read out of my dcbs shipment. I like the art enough, but i hate the entire plot of the book, i find none of it charming or fun and the exchanges between Doop/Kitty and Doop/Bobby are dull. Random 2/10, with two points for the art and none for the story.
KoruptData
Member
Enough of Snyder and Remender, they get enough love. Let's talk about Joshua Williamson who writes Nailbiter and some other books that get good reviews.
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/joshua-williamson
Nailbiter is 4 issues in and it has been fantastic. It's every bit as good as any top Image book without the praise. Just read issue 4 and that ending!
http://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/writer-artist/joshua-williamson
Nailbiter is 4 issues in and it has been fantastic. It's every bit as good as any top Image book without the praise. Just read issue 4 and that ending!
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
Two Master's is impressive, dude. Congrats. What are they in?
I know you said you had written up on Bosnian history during the Zero #9 discussion. Have you talked to Ales on twitter about any of it?
TheDarkKnight774
Member
It's been surpringly good. My third favorite new book I've read (shutter and the woods trump it)
I think they made a mistake with the #1 issue cover. Way to graphic and made me think it was a gore/gross out book. Which it's not
Yep, i hate gorey things so i kind of ignored Nailbiter and Colder. I was swayed to pre-order Nailbiter vol 1 tp because dcbs has it for 4.99 in the recent pre-order, I ordered it based on reviews, didn't see too much about it here until now, i'm glad to hear it's not a complete gore book though or i'd cancel.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
hottest typo on record
TheDarkKnight774
Member
Same with me. I only tried it due to surpringly good reviews and was surprised to find a very cool book behind that rough cover
Whoa, hold up: really? That was basically the first indication that he's a bit crap at them, yeah? The most interesting thing about Black Mirror is that Snyder did a legit solid job at making the reader uncertain whether this dude was a fucking nutso or not and he just murders the only really great thing with the "ooga booga imma serial killer!!!" ending.
yeah. last ish was killer though
My MA is in history and gender studies, and was about the Bosnian War and the use of rape and sexual assault as a weapon and how it goes into regional and military ideas of masculinity. That was about the most depressing year of my life writing and researching it. I mentioned to Kot that I researched the topic but nothing beyond that. Honestly that was so long ago at this point I don't feel like I could speak with any authority on it other than saying it happened and was probably worse than you can imagine.
I also have a Master's in Library Science which was by necessity and not really choice, as you need a MLS to be a professional librarian.
KoruptData
Member
I just read The Woods 4 and really liked it. I like Nailbiter a tad more. Tynion is not some mediocre writer hiding behind Snyder, he has good stories to tell.
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