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COMICS! |OT| June 2016. The Manhattan Project

BrightLightLava

Unconfirmed Member
The thing that cracks me up about Funkos is how wide and varied their licensing deals are.

Like, Marvel and DC and Disney, those make sense. The Breakfast Club? The Dark Crystal? The Munsters? Who is buying those?
 
The thing that cracks me up about Funkos is how wide and varied their licensing deals are.

Like, Marvel and DC and Disney, those make sense. The Breakfast Club? The Dark Crystal? The Munsters? Who is buying those?

Someone is. And really, those things probably cost Funko 10 cents to manufacture. Then they turn around and sell them for probably $5 each.
 

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
Anyone read Deadpool/Spider-Man yet? Curious what everyone thinks of it since it was written by my favorite comedic podcaster/fake talk show host Hot Saucerman himself.
 

BrightLightLava

Unconfirmed Member
I don't like that the Marvel ones have to be bobbleheads.

That's my other issue. I miss Mighty Muggs.

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San+Diego+Comic-Con+2011+Exclusive+Spider-Man+with+Removable+Cloth+Mask+Mighty+Muggs+in+Packaging.jpg

I've got both of those.
 
Eternals

So I had been wandering around, tempted to look into to cosmic Marvel, but unsure of what to pick up, when I stumble upon Eternals. Now, I was familiar with the term through cursory dealings with the cosmic side and of course the term had been dropped here and there, so naturally I was curious. Even more so that it was done by Neil Gaiman, who is a critically praised writer and very renowned for his dealings in higher concept beings within the big two. The Sandman books are indicative of this. Though I had only read one of his stories, entitled Murder Mysteries, and I really enjoyed it. Naturally, his writing combined with property I was incredibly curious about was an offer I couldn't pass up. And boy, did it pay off.

The story begins with Mark Curry, a medical intern, dreaming of two people fighting demons away from some god. He then wakes up to continue struggling through his day when he is accosted by a man named Ike Harris, who claims that Mark is an Eternal like him. Mark waves him off, and Ike returns while Mark is at home. Again, Ike is waved off and decides to meet Mark at a rooftop landing, however this doesn't work out. Two creepy guys show up and blow Ike up and Mark never shows. Ike then turns up at the hospital as a patient, and informs Mark of everything. Basically, they are Eternals, immortals created by the Celestials to maintain the Earth. The Celestials also created the Deviants, which the Eternals ended up murdering. Mark apparently is the being known as Makkari, and Ike is Ikaris. The two creepy people show up and ask Mark to hand Ike over, which Mark complies. During this, several other plots involving other unawakened Eternals are occurring: Sersei, a party girl, attempts to start up her own party planning business. Her first big gig is to make a party for the Vorozhekian embassy, to promote the country. The ambassador's name is Druig, who wishes to use this party to push the country into a political power. Thena, a married mother of one is working for Stark Industries' weapons division, having just made a breakthrough on a weapon that Stark found it impossible to perfect. There is also a giant push for a new celebrity named Sprite, whom Ike had claimed was also an Eternal.

Continuing onwards, Mark is suspended from the hospital for his actions earlier (handing Ike over to the two creepy bros), and meets Sersei at a coffee shop. They exchange words, feeling a familiarity between each other. Sersei invites him to the party. At the party, a hostage crisis goes down. Mark's powers activate, and he helps take out most of the bad guys, in addition to developing a mental link with Sersei. Thena's husband is killed and she, along with many other scientists, is taken hostage. Iron Man shows up to the party, and interrogates everyone. Particularly Sersei, who he claims to have been a former Avenger, though she has no memory. During THIS event, the two creepers that are answering to some one, are apparently trying to figure out how to kill an Eternal, and eventually Ikaris is killed. He is regenerated, regaining his full memories, and decides to set out to rebuild the Eternals. The two creepers are revealed as Deviants, now referred to as the Changing People, and they begin to pray to an image of a golden Celestial, who was basically the Deviants' god, as he protected them and kept them from being completely slaughtered.

We return to the other characters' lives, where we learn how they got out and their powers begin to awaken: Druig reveals he can both read and control minds, having found out that the hostage attack was engineered by his right hand and that he was betrayed. He then resigns to taking control of the political party they are associated with, and sets out to do so. Thena managed to break her way out of her prison, and was rescued by Iron Man. Sersei's conversation with Iron Man is revealed, and she is chilling at home when it's revealed she has the power of transmutation: manipulating matter into various forms. Mark goes to see Sprite to confess everything that's happened, including the dreams he had been having earlier in the story. Sprite brings him to Golden Gate Park, and reveals the hidden location of the Dreaming Celestial, imprisoned there for millions of years. It turns out that, back in the day, the Eternals were left on Earth to protect it and repair it when necessary. The various worshipped gods over the years were actually Eternals, which you can tell via their names (Makkari = Mercury, Zuras = Zeus, Thena = Athena, Ikaris = Icarus, Ajak = Ajax, etc.), and that they were also left to maintain the Dreaming Celestial's prison, the same Celestial that the Deviants worship. Turns out that, in order to imprison the Celestial,a "Uni-Mind" was formed, which consists of several Eternals merging into one being. Sprite had tricked the others into forming another one, where he used the Celestial to enhanced his power of illusions to alter reality, turning a hundred Eternals, including himself, into humans -- doing so meant he could grow up and become an adult and bone some hunnies. He then baits Mark into beginning another Uni-Mind to reset things and keep the Eternals from fully awakening. This doesn't work, however, and Sprite ends up being taken hostage by the two Deviants that have now found their location.

During this, an Eternal named Ajak -- having taken the guise of a Mexican gardener -- happening upon Zuras, who's a homeless man. Ajak reveals that he was the one commanding the two Deviants, attempting to kill Ikaris so that he would be safe in stasis in Olympia, the home of the Eternals. This didn't work, as Ikaris is recruiting other Eternals to stop the Dreaming Celestial. Ajak, with the power to communicate with Celestials, fully awakens Zuras as the leader of the Eternals. They then make way to also stop the Celestial. Ikaris has also recruited a fully awakened Thena and a reluctant Sersei. Zuras and Ajak recruit Druig under the pretense that Druig gets a whole country to himself. Everyone meets up, but fails to stop the Celestial from awakening. Mark, now fully awakened as Makkari, has communed with the Celestial. The Celestial has revealed that it will judge Earth to see if it is worth preserving, or if it will need to be "cleansed" of life. Note that it is revealed by the Deviants that the Celestials used the Deviants' souls as food, which the Dreamer stopped from happening, and that's why it's imprisoned. Oh also, Hank Pym as Yellowjacket, along with Janet Van Dyne as Wasp, and Tony Stark as Iron Man show up and attempt to make the Eternals pick whether or not to register, because Civil War. Naturally, that shit don't play and they leave well enough alone.

Cut to Eternals being in Olympia, they are accosted by an army of Deviants. The Deviants challenge the Eternals. Druig kills a bunch, then fucks off. Zuras goes to "take care of something," leaving it to Makkari. Makkari makes peace with Kar, leader of the army. Kar claims that Makkari is Skadrach, which is basically an Eternal messiah of some sort. Anyways, Zuras and Thena are allowed to keep their dog and child, respectively (an unnerving conversation). Sersei continues to live in denial and refuses to be fully awakened. Stark approaches her again, attempting to recruit her back into the Avengers, which also doesn't work. Druig has a country. And the thing Zuras went to take care of? He killed Sprite, since Sprite is now a mortal and also fucked EVERYTHING. Zuras then reveals that there are ninety more Eternals disguised as mortals out there. With Ajak maintaining watch over the Celestial (which is now just chilling in Golden Gate Park like a gigantic statue), Zuras sends Ikaris and Makkari to track the rest down.

So this is an amazing story. Gaiman is a great writer, with good dialogue and strong character arcs. His obvious penchant for the concept of gods walking amongst man is in full force here, and it really works. The obvious parallels to his Judeo-Christian mythology are very much there, but the mythology also stands on its own. I also love some of the mystery of it, with them referring to the Celestials' multiple visits to Earth as both hosts and hoardes, not really clear on which one is actually correct. Having Civil War as a background to this makes the whole "gods amongst mortals" thing even stronger, since the heroes are clearly out of their depth and the Eternals give zero fucks about it. Showing the heroes how stupid their conflict is. The Jack Kirby design is in full force, and John Romita Jr. does a great job of keeping that style, while also bringing it to a more modern and "realistic" style. Seeing Kirby's designs, bright and colorful as they are, works surprisingly well in an otherwise dark book. In fact, seeing the Celestials and other tech produces more wonderment than anything. I really enjoyed this story, and may even revisit it some day. In fact, I'm even tempted to go read the OG Eternals book, though I am a bit shaky on how it'd hold up. Regardless, it's an amazing story, both as an addition to Marvel continuity, and as a standalone tale.

 
Ah yes. Loved Eternals. I read it years ago after getting back into comics thanks to Planet Hulk. So it was probably 2007/2008 when I read it.
 

TheFlow

Banned
Oh man, I'm trying to start Hellboy LE Vol.4 but this art is pretty jarring. I got so used to Mignola.



Haha No. Eternals are cosmic entities.
Ah gotcha. I think the art enhances the horror of the crooked man and witches even more. To make you happy art becomes God tier in volume 5-6
 

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
A bunch of writers and artists got asked "What is your workspace set up like?"

Btw, does anyone have any good comic related podcasts you can recommend aside from X-Plain The X-Men?

My favorite comic podcast is iFanboy. It's an hour long podcast where the guys review a bunch of new releases each week.

11 O'Clock Comics is another pretty good one. But their shows are twice as long and they tend to talk about books I actually read a bit less.
 
Bought A-force Warzones, JLA: Lightning Saga, Trinity War, Avengers 1-11 HC, Infinity HC and New Avengers vol 3: Other Worlds.

I'm hoping to collect the New 52 JL storyline from TW up to and including Darkseid War, and Hickman's entire Avengers and New Avengers runs + Secret Wars.

Then I'll get Rucka's first half of his WW run when it releases alongside the Perez Omnibus because even though I said I'd buy the latter a while back it increased in price and I was not about that life lmao.

Manga related wants include all the xxxHolic omnibuses and the Claymore collection.

Btw has anyone from Australia (or anyone outside the US really) purchased anything from InstockTrades? I wanna get X-Men World's Apart there since BookDepository doesn't have it, but I'm not sure about international shipping rates.
 
I would recommend not reading the big summer events that go before Secret Wars. They're mostly just not that good.

The good thing is that Secret Wars is the conclusion of Hickman's work for Marvel and there is a clear line in nearly all of his work that leads to it

Read Hickman's run on Fantastic Four/Future Foundation, then read his Avengers work (Avengers and New Avengers) including Infinity and then read you can read Secret Wars and enjoy it to the max.

Fantastic Four:

Fantastic Four: Dark Reign Mini
Fantastic Four #570-588
Future Foundation #1-11
Fantastic Four #600-604
Future Foundation #12-23
Fantastic Four #605.1, 605-611

Avengers/New Avengers/Infinity:
New Avengers #1-3
Avengers #1-4
New Avengers #4
Avengers #5
New Avengers #5-6
Avengers #6-13
New Avengers #7
Avengers #14-17
New Avengers #8
Infinity #1
Avengers #18
New Avengers #9
Infinity #2
Avengers #19
New Avengers #10
Infinity #3
Avengers #20
Infinity #4
Avengers #21
New Avengers #11
Infinity #5
Avengers #22-23
Infinity #6
New Avengers #12-15
Avengers #24-28
New Avengers #16-17
Avengers #29-34
New Avengers #18-23
Avengers #35
New Avengers #24-25
Avengers #36-37
New Avengers #26
Avnegers #38
New Avengers #27
Avengers #39
New Avengers 28
Avengers #40

Then just read Secret Wars!

Thank you. I appreciate this.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
Why is Slott black cat still a thing? When will Bendis admit Miles has electric powers?

The scene with Goldballs and Ganke looked bara porn waiting to happen. Also I'll be back here next year when Kitty joins the book and they give it the honest title of "BENDIS!:The Ongoing"

Yeah, I hate Felicia
 

shingi70

Banned
Detective any good, want to try it since it feaures my favorite Bat characters and Tim Drake for some reason. I just didn't want to be reading 2 maybe three Bat books with All Star coming up.
 

Messi

Member
Detective any good, want to try it since it feaures my favorite Bat characters and Tim Drake for some reason. I just didn't want to be reading 2 maybe three Bat books with All Star coming up.

Best Bat book right now and maybe the best rebirth book. Batwoman is in it. You know it's good.
 

Arkanius

Member
Batman GAF:

About to press the Buy on these books:

Batman Noir: The Darknight Returns
Batman Noir: The Long Halloween
Batman Noir: Hush

First time reader of these stories, and these books look marvelous in Black & White. Should I do it?
 
Batman GAF:

About to press the Buy on these books:

Batman Noir: The Darknight Returns
Batman Noir: The Long Halloween
Batman Noir: Hush

First time reader of these stories, and these books look marvelous in Black & White. Should I do it?

You may have better luck in the August thread.

However, I can confirm that while these books are must-read for anyone getting into Batman, you may want to get them in color first. I feel you lose something by not experiencing comic art with the intended colors. Noirs are more like collectors' items.
 

Arkanius

Member
You may have better luck in the August thread.

However, I can confirm that while these books are must-read for anyone getting into Batman, you may want to get them in color first. I feel you lose something by not experiencing comic art with the intended colors. Noirs are more like collectors' items.

Woops didn't notice it was the June thread. Going to August. Thanks!
 
So I just read Justice League #1. Wow, that was boring. Not even interesting with stupid/funny dialogue like Green Lanterns. It was just stiff, unnatural, and yawn-worthy. And the art was very inconsistent. I won't bother with the next issue.
 

CazTGG

Member
Moon Knight #5: A thoroughly disappointing ending issue to a thoroughly disappointing start for Lemire's take on Spector and crew, and that's without getting into the ending of the issue itself.
So it turns out it was all a dream...or was it just us witnessing Marc break free from Khonshu's hold on Marc's mind as he ventu-no. You didn't earn that ending, comic.
Lemire's attempt to recreate the mystery from the Moench era in a modern comic arc is certainly admirable for what it's trying to do, but between bad pacing and very light characterization, it's hard to care about any of the intruige he's trying to raise. I realize i'm in the minority since a lot of people seem to be enjoying this read and will give credit where it's due for the fantastic artwork, but this has been nothing short of underwhelming and does not instill any incentive to keep reading the ongoing that starts this September. I'll stick with Ms. Marvel since the latest issue in that series was pretty solid with a cliffhanger that left me wanting to see what'll happen in the next issue instead of annoyed that I wasted my time reading it, to say nothing about how well it holds up as a single issue.
 

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
I did for a while. I'll probably get back to it, but I'm taking a break. After 40 hours, shit gets really tedious.

I used to hit the 40 hour mark in COD on the 4th or 5th day.

But that was when I was a youngin in my 20's. Now I'm an old man in my 30's and it's taken almost 2 years to put 7 days into Destiny.
 
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