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COMICS! |OT| February 2015. No ship girls. Oh, we got a Tank Girl though!

N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Welcome back, JC.

You were not missed. By me.
Heh.

So if I wanna check out Batgirl... where do I start from? Cause apparently it was crap up to a certain point where she became a hipster and then it wasn't?

Also, Grayson. Do I need to read anything before that to get caught up or can I start at #1?
 
T

Tyrant Rave

Banned
Good write up JC, your bit on Johns leaving Supes was great. Also reminded me I'm slacking on my reading more than normal, maybe I'll try to fix that and become a cool kid again.

No hype for Starfire tho, breh?
 
G

Gambit 1138

Banned
ViewtifulJC said:
Ayy lmao how the fuck did I manage to get banned the week of a new Stray Bullets

And now for a long belated attempt to catch up on a week of comic news. First order of business, this post right here:



This post

This. Post.

I stare at the blinking cursor, waiting for words to come out, but they can’t be found. There are no words.

Moving on to comic news, DC relaunch seems cool conceptually. Like maybe they’re gonna break out that dat 90s aesthetic they love so much, but then I saw the Finches are still doing trash Wonder Woman comics and GL will keep being ass and its like “nah man nah we still bout dat life”.

-Bat-Mite and Bizarro could be funny, but who asked for a Doomsday ongoing like for real. Dan Jurgens and Scott Lobdell launching books in 2015, that’s the world we bout to enter fam. They couldn’t find Fabien Nicenza oh whoever from that washed-up veteran squad they assembled for Convergence? If you written any kind of comic before, DC got you, bruh. Even if you didn’t, they’ll put you on Wonder Woman anyway and count it as a point for diversity.

-Patrick Gleason writing his own book, hoping he can break the streak of bad-and-or-boring Batman comics by writer/artists like Tony Daniel, Neal Adams, David Finch, Francis Manuapul, and Cameron Stewart. Speaking of Batgirl writers, Black Canary is hella jocking her style, but Annie Wu is a great artist. Can’t be as boring as Batgirl tho…Brenden Fletcher pls you did that All-Star Flash comic in Wednesday Comics my nigga.

-Really great to see our boy Ed(that is his name) finally cracked the big time on Midnighter, I recognize that cover art anywhere.

-Bryan Hitch got a JL book with the Big 6 and Token. He’s been working on it for years, so he should have the first two issues done by now with a limited amount of inkers. Dream big, ya’ll.

-How the FUCK did Shazam not get an ongoing exactly? While they were filtering though the Convergeance pile of Has-Beens and Never-Was, did they not see they got fuckin’ Jeff Parker and Evan Shanier, team supreme from Flash Gordon, already doing a Captain Marvel book? Its easy, just go up to them and be like “yo, this book ya’ll doing now? We need you to keep doing it. Like, forever. Kthx”

-Real talk, only book I’m legit HYPE about is Ennis/McCrea coming back to Hitman, the finest non-Doom Patrol DC comic ongoing of all-time. I really wonder how you even do a Section Eight 6-issue mini. They’re pretty one joke characters. The kind that do their spots in the gimmick matches, crowd cheers, then they go away. Now they’re in the main event? I’m interested to see what Ennis does with that shit, besides take the piss out of it obviously.

-Giffen/DeMatteis JL will never die tho, thank God for small miracles.

Anyway, what the fuck else happen…A-Force, right? That’s a thing I guess. Superman got a new power/costume, but that got overshadowed by Geoff Johns leaving after that one story. Like he just cleaned up the character in six issues on some Warren Ellis shit and think he can disappear into the night with his cape flowing on some Batman shit. Nigga left the same day that new JMS Superman Vol 3 dropped, on some poetic ish. Like how we live in a world where he got three volumes of that bullshit but Wonder Woman Earth One aint even got a rumored release date on Bleeding Cool tho. I think Isak_Borg stopped by to do his usual thing, namedrop the comicspeoples he talks to and tease some CMX shit that didn’t amount to nothing.

Bendis left X-Men! The next step in Marvel’s destruction of the X-Franchise has come to past. Si Spurrier’s time to step up to the plate and go down with the ship. He’s a skilled writer with an obvious love of X-Men, only problem is he keeps getting stuck on C-tier books starring C-level characters with C-list artists for C(anceled)-sales. Put him on the flagship with somebody dope like Stuart Immonen, and problem solved, superstar writer time.

Finally, lets get to last week’s batch of comics, which were some good ones, let me tell you. Savage Critics ratings do apply.

You know I had to plug Stray Bullets #50 from the jump, right? Sometimes folks, comics will make you angry. “Comics will break your heart”, as the King once said. And sometimes, they just make you so apathetic towards the damn thing that you’ll file them away on your bookshelves and spend weekends during impromptu starring contests with them. You don’t want to read em, think about em, nothing. Fuck ‘em! But then in the back of your head, you think “breh, you live in a world where Stray Bullets still gets published regularly. A perfectly paced crime comic that always gives your money’s worth, always treats violence with consequences, always sounds like a million bucks, always on point with its sequential 8-panel grid storytelling. Like damn b, life aint that bad”. And you feel good, ya know? Real good. You say, “Yeah, imaginary conscience in a made-up fiction of JC’s design, you’re right! I’m gonna read comics and feel good about it!” Then you pick up the latest Green Lantern trade, get halfway through and think, “what the hell am I doing with my life this was the only Saturday I have off fuck Fuck FFFFFFFFUCK”

But as good as Stray Bullets was, and it was EXCELLENT like always, it wasn’t the best of the week. No, I have to give that honor to Hawkeye #21. You can be this late when you’re the hardest working superhero comic being published today. Every single element of the creative team, right on down to the lettering and the coloring choices, are working in complete unison to tell a story filled with thrills and tragedy, tenderness and intrigue, humor and humanity. There’s a honest warmth to Clint/Jessica’s short conversation, a combination of Fraction’s script, Aja’s body language and framing, the deaf reading of words and lips that puts us right into Barton’s perspective in a distinctively comic book way, the color choices as lips kiss and depart. There’s a sequence where the visual iconography of a bike’s tail light disappears into the distance as the coming of vans filled with Tracksuit Draculas approaches dramatically. There’s a sequence of a scared civilian at the door, intersped with flashes of approaching addias and Uzis, drawing closer and closer on his face until the tension is released with a big splash page that’s stylized like a window of the building itself. There’s a sequence in which puts us right in Clint’s perspective after a terrifying ambush. In between black outs of undetermined amount of time, you get brief glimpses of what’s happening. Comics have no motion, no real sound, we only see these important panels that tell a story in some sequential order. By putting us behind Clint’s eyes, its marries that form to function, as Clint and the reader put the still images we’re seeing in order, imagining the motion in-between them to tell a narrative. Its final two pages are powerful, a crushing defeat mixed with fist-pumping optimism. Cathartic victory that only can be bittersweet, and raising the stakes even higher on what should normally be a rah-rah finale.

It is, in all its essentials, an EXCELLENT comic, a perfect comic. The kind of comic that only happens when you combine a writer, artist, colorist, and letterer that have been one of the best in their respective fields for years, and had the time to hone their craft. It is the platonic ideal of the 21st century Marvel superhero comic. Hip and cool, but doesn’t let affectations stand in place of real people. A story of a flawed person trying to be a hero. Like Casanova, what started as a pop done-in-one adventure serial evolved into an experimental genre comic masterpiece that married disparate influences like Edgar Wright, the Rockford Files, and Will Eisner’s Contract with God into something unique and modern. The next issue can come in 2016 for I fuckin’ care if its this good, but I hope it doesn’t cuz I need to read the conclusion like yesterday. Good luck following this shit, Lemire/Perez.

Like anything popular, there are imitators. In the wake of 2011’s Hawkeye have come a string of comics that lift its surface elements but rarely seem to put in the hard work required to build it. Its not enough to get an artist who’s just this side outside the mainstream but just inside the contemporary hipster design sensibility, graft on a chippy inner monologue and a pet animal and call it a day, but books like Black Widow and Secret Avengers seem to think so. You can add Ant-Man #2 to that group, too. Its not bad, not really, there’s just no spark to anything. No life. Another down-on-his-luck Marvel superhero with irreverent jokey narration captions and he ends up adopting a pet at the end, too. Its derivative, and it wasn’t for the inherent likability of Scott Lang, you wouldn’t need to read it. And even then its, $4 bucks, nigga. You aint that likable, man, you’re just OK.

Squirrel Girl #2 is different, tho. Its not pretending to be fun like Nick Spencer comics, it IS fun. It’s a silver age comic done with a modern web comic sensibility. It balances a tricky line between parody and pastiche; between mocking its character and her world and genuinely believing she’s awesome. The kind of stupidly charming book you’re not in a rush to read, and then you pick and think “why the fuck did I wait so long to read this”. Well on its way to stealing the crown of “Just The Most Delightful Damn Thing” from Silver Surfer, real talk. Its GOOD, ya’ll.

Couple things go through your head reading Spawn #250. A) “Wow, 250 issues of Spawn! I didn’t even know they still published this shit in 2015!” and B) “Wow, this comic is trash! Like, REALLY trash! Maybe even impressively trash, maybe? Good use of disposable money there, me”. Its like somebody kidnapped this mothafucka when it was a child and raised it on a steady diet of early Image 90s comics and afternoon television. Like it lived off the reservation, completely unaware of Image’s current creative renaissance and it still thinks its 1992 on some The Village type shit. Did I just spoil the Village for you? Let me spoil this comic for you, too: CRAP!

Superman…yeah we off that, DROPPED!

Grayson #7 continues to be that one DC book for people who don’t like most of what DC is putting out nowadays. It’s a grounded spy comic, a dense read with great characterizations that imply interesting character backgrounds married to cool Morrison comic booky elements. That said, this is the worst issue they’ve done yet. Fill-in art is real fill-in here, lotta minor storytelling hiccups that start to add up by the end. Its an OK issue to what’s usually better than that.

Star Wars #2 was even better than the first issue, after setting up a string of fireworks, it now gets to start lighting those badboys and giggling as they explode. Big damn hero moments sit alongside hilariously inept Threepio scenes, and Luke starts a developing a real character arc here, in that shaky middle ground between blowing the Death Star but a long way from being a real Jedi. The issue belongs to Darth Vader tho, who frankly hasn’t been this badass in God knows how long. You can practically hear the Imperial March reading this shit, and you’re reminded me why he’s such an iconic villain. That’s the best thing you can say about this Star Wars comic, that it feels like the original trilogy. Hilariously decompressed, yes, and not attempting to break any new ground, most definitely. But through a combination of Aaron’s voices for the cast and knack for pulp material, Cassaday’s realistic characters and widescreen panels, Laura Martin’s rusty colors bringing the world to life, and Eliopoulos’ lettering that makes people talking on a radio and Threepio talking distinctive from one another, it succeeds in crafting a breathless cinematic pulp adventure feel of Star Wars. As totally commercial product that can’t really change any of its principal characters, its about as GOOD as it can realistically be. About 10x as exciting as Brian Wood’s relaunch was, holy hell that was boring.

Lady Killers #2 continues be a perfectly OK genre exercise. Not really a story yet, just a concept. 1950s house wife who’s secretly an assassin. Mostly works as a showcase for Joelle Jones’ sexy women and Laura Allred’s pop colors. They tease some drama for next issue, which might amount to something, might not. Very surface level appeal here.

Two VERY GOOD Grant Morrison scripted comics came out on Wednesday, but illustrated in totally different ways for similar horrific effect. Annihilator is brought to life by Frazier Irving, who goes the route of making it look like some of kind of plastic dollhouse nightmare. He uses odd perspectives and rubbery faces to make the story more artificial, more of a “performance”, which is great for a story-within-a-story that’s happening here. This kind of meta, self-aware ground has been mined by Grant again and again since “The Coyote Gospel”, but its never quite looked like this, and it makes it seem fresh and anew. Meanwhile, Nameless is more of a straightforward boys’ adventure title. Well, “straightforward” for a book that invokes the Occult, dream logic, alien invasions, and really fucked up shit on random subreddits. First issue is very much in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark, there’s an in media res opening that showcases the world, who the main character is and what he does on some exciting incident, then switches over to a lot of exposition. The great thing about Raiders of the Lost Ark is that even the exposition scenes surge with energy or have a forward momentum to them, and in Nameless Burnham/Fairbairn keep finding new ways to make all the scene setting visually interesting. There’s a good link to some of Chris’ thought process on how he crafts certain scenes, but in general its really, really strong stuff. I’m in for the ride.

I think Cheska put it best describing Saga #25 as “comfort food”. Every single time you get a new issue of Saga, you’ll get a regular dose of well-defined, visually distinctive characters doing various soap opera in space things, with Hazel’s spoiler-filled narration framing it as an fable that actually happen, and had an ending, and BKV has plans for all this. Fiona Staples is what really makes it tick, of course. Her art makes even the most esoteric or outrageous sci-fi/fantasy design seem accessible and logical. There’s something to be said for a good that always consistently GOOD, in pretty much the same way every time. The dependable anchor of pullists everywhere. All I can hope is Ghüs doesn’t get killed any time soon.

Shaft #3 was GOOD, too, mostly cuz of Bilquis Evely’s evocation of 1970s. I think they got the one good Dynamite colorist on this shit, a muted color palette for that 70s crime movie feel. Chick draws the best noses, which is a weird thing to point out, but its true.

Karen Traviss is writing this anti-GI Joe book, and its just a big ol pile of ponderous, poorly paced garbage. Gotta stop giving Karen Traviss chances, she burned all them bridges. AWFUL! Comix.

Finally, Miracleman #15 came out. Well, technically it came out back in 1988, but Marvel’s reprint is finally here. The most sought after issue of this most sought after legendary title. It’s the comic Mark Millar thinks he’s been making for the last twenty years. Identity Crisis wanted so BAD to be Miracleman #15. SUPER dark, edgy as shit…whole goddamn London gets destroyed, niggas hanging from barbwire on twisted poles, kids being murdered, cats and dogs living together; mass hysteria. The superhero concept taken to its natural conclusion. Alan Moore earns all of, every single bit of it, even the religious side bits of characterization. Marvel edits out the N-word in here which is…bizarre. Of ALL the things to edit in this issue. This is a comic where Marvelman throws a car filled with people in at a Kid Marvelman, where a homophobic slur is on the same page, where dude brags about shitting in skulls, but the N-word was that “nah pls edit think of the children” moment. Shit is still EXCELLENT though, because its Miracleman #15, and even after years of dark-ass superhero comics even by Alan Moore himself, this is still pretty much the apex of that particular strand.

And I think that’s it. I know you’re all been worried about me, or Marvel’s reboot, or DC still releasing Dan Jurgens and Scott Lobdell books on unsuspecting masses in 2015, but rest easy friends. No matter how many bans, censorships, or reboots are out there, there will always be…COMICS!

Casnova-Gula-4-Ending.jpg
Click to expand...

Can we please stop with the street talk? This is a family website
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Kipp said:
Yes you do.
Click to expand...

used to be one of my yearly traditions, along with watching all 9 seasons of x-files. Also haven't done that in a few years... I'm old man :/
 
Bloodember

Bloodember

Member
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Welcome back, JC.

You were not missed. By me.
Heh.

So if I wanna check out Batgirl... where do I start from? Cause apparently it was crap up to a certain point where she became a hipster and then it wasn't?

Also, Grayson. Do I need to read anything before that to get caught up or can I start at #1?
Click to expand...
Batgirl #35, new creative team, new costume. Grayson #1 should be fine.
 
G

GAMEPROFF

Banned
ElNarez said:
They're all post AvX, yeah, but I think also more importantly post-Hawkguy. It's basically using the same framework of letting a creative team run wild, except with added constraints and sometimes fill-ins to make sure it comes out on time.
Click to expand...

I rather think, 30-40 Issue Runs are now a thing for high profile books.
Maybe those books you mentioned had the problem that Secret Wars forced a end. Without Secret Wars, I think that they would last longer.

Anyway, I am still not conviced that every book gets a #1 after Secret Wars.
 
G

Gambit 1138

Banned
MHWilliams said:
Scott Lobdell still getting work means I can expect to write a DC comic by 2017.
Click to expand...

Lobdell was the Geoff Johns of the 90s. He wrote some badass runs on Generation X and X-Men among other things. It may not seem like it now but he was a hot seller back then. It's the same thing with James Robinson I don't think people realize that dude was up there with Gaiman back in the day after he wrote Starman, The Golden Age, and Firearm.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
I asked before but was ignored like a Wonder Woman cosplayer at a X-Men convention, does OHC stand for Omnibus Hardcover?
 
G

GAMEPROFF

Banned
Rhaknar said:
I asked before but was ignored like a Wonder Woman cosplayer at a X-Men convention, does OHC stand for Omnibus Hardcover?
Click to expand...

Oversized Hardcover.
Its the same size like an Omnibus, but not that many Issues, normally around 9 - 20

Also, they are far cheaper than Omnibus, I usually pay 20-30€ for a new released OHC and 60-75€ for an new Omnibus.
 
B

BuddyJoeHooker

Member
I wonder why marvel is dragging its feet on collecting Remender's Captain America run in a bigger format.

An OHC with the Dimension Z arc would be nice.
 
F

frye

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
Anyway, what the fuck else happen…A-Force, right? That’s a thing I guess. Superman got a new power/costume, but that got overshadowed by Geoff Johns leaving after that one story. Like he just cleaned up the character in six issues on some Warren Ellis shit and think he can disappear into the night with his cape flowing on some Batman shit. Nigga left the same day that new JMS Superman Vol 3 dropped, on some poetic ish. Like how we live in a world where he got three volumes of that bullshit but Wonder Woman Earth One aint even got a rumored release date on Bleeding Cool tho.
Click to expand...


I thought these last two issues of Superman have been butts so I ain't too mad about him taking off like he's Warren Ellis or something. Geoff Johns going for the Geoff Johnsiest possible ending to show us that in 2015 Superhero Stories Have Stakes (they gotta mean something, mannnn) and sapping all the good will I had for the book in no time at all. I thought there would be a swerve but that shows what i know i guess

I'm gonna give the new guy a shot though, if only because he looks like me and shit, how many guys working in mainstream American comics can I say that about, right?

e: also wb dude
 
R

Raife

Member
On the topic of Omnibus/OSHC books, is there a way to know which ones have super low print runs? I seem to get lucky once in awhile, but most of the time they sell out while I am trying to save up enough to get one or I hear about it late. A recent example would be Rick Remeder's Uncanny X-Force. It goes for $190-200+ on Amazon and eBay now. Other ones seem to stay in print forever or there just isn't a demand for them and they never sell out?
 
G

GAMEPROFF

Banned
Raife said:
On the topic of Omnibus/OSHC books, is there a way to know which ones have super low print runs? I seem to get lucky once in awhile, but most of the time they sell out while I am trying to save up enough to get one or I hear about it late. A recent example would be Rick Remeder's Uncanny X-Force. It goes for $190-200+ on Amazon and eBay now. Other ones seem to stay in print forever or there just isn't a demand for them and they never sell out?
Click to expand...

Its always some kind try and error. Most the time, it helps to look into the hardcore collectors boards like the marvelmasterworks board or the collected side on Comicbook resources.But nobody can say for sure.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
wetflame said:
These are supposed to be amazing, right? These Don Rosa Scrooge comics? I hear a lot of talk about them but it's not something I've ever come into contact with.
Click to expand...

Hell yes. Clever and fun writing, great humor and amazing art. There's also Carl Barks who inspired Rosa's Duck stories, but I personally prefer Don Rosa more.
Regardless, get the Don Rosa collection, some of the most fun and well written comics ever.
It is thanks to his works that Scrooge ranks among my top 10 comic book characters of all time.

Also
4208_1250.jpeg
 
T

ThyMusicMan

Member
Comics Be Thy List

DC COMICS:
BATMAN ETERNAL #45
F.B.P. #18

IMAGE:
EMPTY #1 (dcbs order)
SOUTHERN BASTARDS #7

MARVEL:
DARTH VADER #1 (dcbs order)
 
T

Tyrant Rave

Banned
KoruptData said:
Is it on purpose that the Beard Hunter looks like the Punisher? #DoomPatrol
Click to expand...
Yep, he's a parody of the Punisher. Hilarious issue.
GAMEPROFF said:
Since here are a couple of people waiting for it, Superior Foes of Spider-Man OHC was kinda confirmed by Tom Breevort!



http://brevoortformspring.tumblr.co...o-tom-will-superior-foes-of-spider-man-get-an

Yeah. Destroying the Industry turned out to be the right thing to do.
Click to expand...

Good

Now all of you Kipps have no excuse
 
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