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COMICS! |OT| February 2016. World of love and strangeness and charm.

Zombine

Banned
Maybe we should do something really mainstream next time.
Miles Spider-Man as I planed, Batman. Etc. Something that has a Movie coming up and is currently beeing hyped by the movie goers.
Our stuff seems to be to niche.

I dunno...there was a lot of positivity about Hawkeye. I mean, I figured it would have been a good time because the general public seemed to relate to it. After the initial reaction to the thread I thought we were on to something, but then it fell the fuck off after what...day 4? I think part of it is that Marvel absolutely couldn't figure out the issue order and it's different wherever you read it...
 
The coloring was done very well. The pencils, though...Anyway, it seems like it's setting up for more of a "long journey to save the world" type of story. If you like those, then I'd pick up the first issue and see if it tickles your fancy.

Hmm. I do like those kind of stories, but usually when there is a bunch of material available. I might wait for a few issues to come out then.
 

Hellers

Member
Dear lord. Fantastic Four just after heroes reborn is utterly terrible. It's bad in ways I didn't think possible.
 
Invincible Iron Man #6
It's not that Deodato is bad, it's that he isn't Marquez. Also, ever since I learned what "Bendis speak" is, it has been something I've been paying attention to it. Seeing if it pops up, So far, the dialogue has been really good. I think one aspect that has been done really well so far is the plotting. I've never felt a dull moment in the plot, and that's very good. Will keep reading.


Hmm. I do like those kind of stories, but usually when there is a bunch of material available. I might wait for a few issues to come out then.

It's what I would do.
 

Hellers

Member
Sounds bad. Do we need to put you on suicide watch?

I'll be ok. I know there's some good stuff coming up eventually. I figure I'll appreciate it more if I wade through all this shite first :)

Is the current series of Ninja Turtles worth reading? Might grab a few trades
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
Ah man, the times you want to yell at persons but cant/dont dare.
And that makes you sad until you almost cry because you feel so alone and awful and a couple of months ago everything was so perfect?
 
The Vision #4

Boy this book sure is unsettling and creepy. I like it. Still. I still like it.

Uncanny X-Fo-I mean Uncanny X-Men #3

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
 
Woot got that Gravity Rush Platinum. I'm making good progress on my 52 games in 52 weeks challenge. Already up to 15 games this year. My effort to multi task my interests is paying off and I'm finally getting use of my handheld systems. I'm also doing better at not dramatically increasing the backlog. For now. I guess next up will be Unravel or Firewatch. And my TV/Stream game is Spyro 2 on Vita

I also started getting back to my Starman reread. I'm now on issue 34!
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
I love you man!
I really feel bad. Because I really dont know if its because of me or something else. Or if anything is really going on and I am not just thinking to much, which has happened a couple of times.
And I am to afraid to ask. Because even not getting an answer would hurt enough.
 

diaspora

Member
So that newest manga vs. comics thread is... fun...

My favourite was when I thought I saw someone call manga white, and homogeneous when the massive majority of it takes place in Japan with Japanese characters. So homogeneous sure but more East Asian than anything else.
 
I'll be ok. I know there's some good stuff coming up eventually. I figure I'll appreciate it more if I wade through all this shite first :)

Is the current series of Ninja Turtles worth reading? Might grab a few trades
Yes it is!
yeah, I don't wanna say that there aren't differences because, y'know, there are, but a lot the people who are really in it one or the other seem like they haven't really engaged with the other beyond the really obvious elements

Oh yeah I totally get you. I dunno, just growing up, I would read stuff like Stan Lee Spider-Man along with comedy manga like Sgt. Frog so I just can't imagine liking one but not the other myself.
 
My favourite was when I thought I saw someone call manga white, and homogeneous when the massive majority of it takes place in Japan with Japanese characters. So homogeneous sure but more East Asian than anything else.

It's funny, I was just thinking about how incredibly homogenous Manga is, but you'd have to be pretty out of it to assume that everybody's as white as they look :p

Preferred tourist destination? Gotham or Metropolis.

Gotham fo sho. Love me some Gothic architecture.
 

diaspora

Member
It's funny, I was just thinking about how incredibly homogenous Manga is, but you'd have to be pretty out of it to assume that everybody's as white as they look :p



Gotham fo sho. Love me some Gothic architecture.

True, though Jormungand is really diverse both for nationalities and race regardless of manga/comics it's compared to. But yeah... 99% of manga has Japan as a setting so they're asian.
 
Ah man, the times you want to yell at persons but cant/dont dare.
And that makes you sad until you almost cry because you feel so alone and awful and a couple of months ago everything was so perfect?

giphy.gif
 
True, though Jormungand is really diverse both for nationalities and race regardless of manga/comics it's compared to. But yeah... 99% of manga has Japan as a setting so they're asian.

What really blows me away is when they have an international premise (i.e. team of whatevers fighting a global threat, best whatever school in the world) and every significant character is japanese or half japanese.
 

Boogiepop

Member
What really blows me away is when they have an international premise (i.e. team of whatevers fighting a global threat, best whatever school in the world) and every significant character is japanese or half japanese.

I mean, I guess that's a lot of fiction for you to some degree, like how the same thing will happen with Americans in stuff from America. Terra Formars definitely suffers from that to a decent degree too (and is another one with a good bit of nationalities sprinkled around). Oh, and I was actually just watching Michiko and Hatchin recently, which is a really interesting one because it kind of plays on that by being pseudo-Brazil (which has a significant Japanese population), which was a cool thing to see. I guess there's also a lot of stuff where race is indeterminate/fantasy, ala One Piece and the like. But yeah, would be nice to see other ethnicities see play more commonly in manga. Like, as much crap as I can give Bleach, at least it has a decent number of examples of darker skinned characters (though IIRC maybe some of those run into the old "tan, not black" thing?) Or the old standby of fantastically done international characterization, G Gundam.
I do legit love G Gundam, but stuff like "Tequila Gundam" are... yeah...

Edit: American comics definitely have that issue too, though. Like, I would not be surprised if there's more (significant?) Marvel/DC heroes from space/different dimensions/other timelines than there are from other countries than the US.
 

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
The back matter in Wayward is really good. Every issue has an essay on different aspects of Japanese history, culture, and mythology. There are also several separate background profiles on the different kinds of monsters that appear in the book.
 
I mean, I guess that's a lot of fiction for you to some degree, like how the same thing will happen with Americans in stuff from America. Terra Formars definitely suffers from that to a decent degree too (and is another one with a good bit of nationalities sprinkled around). Oh, and I was actually just watching Michiko and Hatchin recently, which is a really interesting one because it kind of plays on that by being pseudo-Brazil (which has a significant Japanese population), which was a cool thing to see. I guess there's also a lot of stuff where race is indeterminate/fantasy, ala One Piece and the like. But yeah, would be nice to see other ethnicities see play more commonly in manga. Like, as much crap as I can give Bleach, at least it has a decent number of examples of darker skinned characters (though IIRC maybe some of those run into the old "tan, not black" thing?) Or the old standby of fantastically done international characterization, G Gundam.
I do legit love G Gundam, but stuff like "Tequila Gundam" are... yeah...

Edit: American comics definitely have that issue too, though. Like, I would not be surprised if there's more (significant?) Marvel/DC heroes from space/different dimensions/other timelines than there are from other countries than the US.

Bleach is actually kind of egregious; you've got the Quincies, a group with strictly germanic naming schemes, and... they're all Japanese (or at least they were when I stopped reading). The afterlife, the one everybody goes to, is Japan themed. And so on. That said, it does get a lot better when you expand to sci fi and fantasy, but there's still issues with cultural bleedthrough. Now, maybe I'm just noticing them because I'm not immersed in Japanese, and fail to notice the Anglosphere examples, but considering how unique a lot of Japanese cultural indicators are... it stands out. So many fictional countries out there eat rice balls, etc. even though literally everything else is lifted from different basings. Gets especially strange when there's a fantasy counterpart to Japan in-universe that nobody in the main cast has been to.

You're right that there's a strong tendency towards american-centric makeups in american comics, and they do need to work more on that, but a lot of that stuff from the big 2 is down to them having roots stretching back to the 40s. Legacy and all that. Manga series generally don't have that excuse.
 

diaspora

Member
Bleach is actually kind of egregious; you've got the Quincies, a group with strictly germanic naming schemes, and... they're all Japanese (or at least they were when I stopped reading). The afterlife, the one everybody goes to, is Japan themed. And so on. That said, it does get a lot better when you expand to sci fi and fantasy, but there's still issues with cultural bleedthrough. Now, maybe I'm just noticing them because I'm not immersed in Japanese, and fail to notice the Anglosphere examples, but considering how unique a lot of Japanese cultural indicators are... it stands out. So many fictional countries out there eat rice balls, etc. even though literally everything else is lifted from different basings. Gets especially strange when there's a fantasy counterpart to Japan in-universe that nobody in the main cast has been to.

You're right that there's a strong tendency towards american-centric makeups in american comics, and they do need to work more on that, but a lot of that stuff from the big 2 is down to them having roots stretching back to the 40s. Legacy and all that. Manga series generally don't have that excuse.

jqQMpwc.png
 

MartyStu

Member
You know the best thing about The Ultimates? Just how much of a damn hypocrite T'Challa is.

It is actually a wonder to behold.

I cannot WAIT until someone calls him out on it.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Bleach is actually kind of egregious; you've got the Quincies, a group with strictly germanic naming schemes, and... they're all Japanese (or at least they were when I stopped reading). The afterlife, the one everybody goes to, is Japan themed. And so on. That said, it does get a lot better when you expand to sci fi and fantasy, but there's still issues with cultural bleedthrough. Now, maybe I'm just noticing them because I'm not immersed in Japanese, and fail to notice the Anglosphere examples, but considering how unique a lot of Japanese cultural indicators are... it stands out. So many fictional countries out there eat rice balls, etc. even though literally everything else is lifted from different basings. Gets especially strange when there's a fantasy counterpart to Japan in-universe that nobody in the main cast has been to.

You're right that there's a strong tendency towards american-centric makeups in american comics, and they do need to work more on that, but a lot of that stuff from the big 2 is down to them having roots stretching back to the 40s. Legacy and all that. Manga series generally don't have that excuse.

It's actually funny that you mention the Quincies, because
they're the big villains of the final arc so there's a ton of them nowadays, and from the naming schemes and everything said about them they're pretty distinctly not Japanese. Though the backstory has them kind of hiding in a pocket dimension for like 1000 years or something to that effect, which kind of makes discussions of such things a little iffy anyway, I guess.
But I do feel Bleach at least gives an effort on that front to some degree. Like, Chad distinctly has Japanese blood (and a Japanese full name), but the whole Mexican side of him is actually shown as pretty key to his character, and in theory he's part of the main cast (though thanks to how messy Bleach is that's admittedly kind of a questionable statement nowadays). I mean, it isn't perfect in that regard, but I at least give props for doing more than a lot of manga do (though yeah, that does kind of just show how much of an issue it is, I suppose, as the stuff you brought up is totally valid). (Also, I feel weird "defending" Bleach, as I just had a discussion with someone about how terrible and messy it is almost all the time, and that I'm pretty much just reading it out of momentum/because it's in Weekly Shonen Jump)

Oh, and on the other side I will give props to X-Men as well for actually having a pretty nice set of significant characters that aren't American. Though it's kind of interesting to note that being popular kind of seems to erode the whole aspect of them belonging to other cultures in public consciousness to a degree. At the very least, I get the feeling that a lot of people tend to forget that Wolverine is supposed to be Canadian (then again, people tend to forget he's short too, so maybe that's just a Wolverine problem?)...
 

Messi

Member
Messi List brought to you by Superball 50:

Batman #49
Batman and Robin Eternal #19
Batman Arkham Knight Batgirl and Harley Quinn #1
Black Canary #8
Catwoman #49
Earth 2 Society #9
Gotham Academy #15
Harley's Little Black Book #2
New Romancer #3
Starfire #9

Jem and the Holograms Valentines Special 2016

Low #11 (Cover A and B)
They're Not Like Us #11

Agents of Shield #2
All New All Different Avengers #5
All New Hawkeye #4
All New Wolverine #5
All New X-Men #4
Deadpool #7
Guardians of the Galaxy #5
Illuminati #4
Ms Marvel #4
New Avengers #6
Old Man Logan #2
Silk #4
Spider-Gwen #5
Spider-Man 2099 #6
Spider-Man Deadpool #2
Totally Awesome Hulk #3
Ultimates #4
Wierdworld #3

Insexts #4
Jughead #4
Dr Mirage Second Lives #3


--

Quite the week. lol.
 
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