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COMICS!!! |OT| May 2017 - Every Empire Falls
- Thread starter Messi
- Start date
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WadiumArcadium
Member
If you like Spider-Man, you should read Ultimate Spider-Man.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Black Science - No idea
Deadly Class - No idea
Low - Somewhat of an idea, but ultimately no idea
Seven to Eternity - I think he's on to something
I disagree with all of this.
LordOfLore
Banned
What Mignola books don't you have?
BKatastrophe
Member
Wait wait wait wait wait wait back up back up
So Jason Todd was a patient of Harley Quinn in Arkham? When?
So Jason Todd was a patient of Harley Quinn in Arkham? When?
RepairmanJack
Member
Where is this coming from?
LordOfLore
Banned
IIRC he got put in Arkham for a few months after dying and his first showing as Red Hood.
MHWilliams
Member
Ladies and gents,
I've had to leave messages regarding folks fighting about spoilers elsewhere on GAF and frankly, it is beginning to tire me.
What is the spoiler policy in this thread?
Anything beyond that is your own jam. If a book is beyond one week out, it's in the clear in spoiler policy. If I'm reading Civil War II right now, I come in here, and that's spoiled for me, that's on me, not you.
A) Let's not try to force anything outside of the spoiler policy on other folks. B) Use a bit of common sense and conscientiousness. If someone pops into a thread and lands on a spoiler because folks are already discussing it, that's on them. If someone posts about Invincible Vol. 1 and doesn't specifically ask questions, you don't need to bring up stuff in later volumes. Smile, nod, and discuss whatever going on in that Volume. That's not enforced or anything, it's just nice.
We can navigate this like adults without also spoilering every bit of conversation about every book until the end of time. Cool?
Cool.
Arkham was a big part of the "Jason Todd is alive" retcon. He died, he came back, then he was in Arkham. The Harley reveal was in Red Hood & The Outlaws back in 2016.
I've had to leave messages regarding folks fighting about spoilers elsewhere on GAF and frankly, it is beginning to tire me.
What is the spoiler policy in this thread?
Anything beyond that is your own jam. If a book is beyond one week out, it's in the clear in spoiler policy. If I'm reading Civil War II right now, I come in here, and that's spoiled for me, that's on me, not you.
A) Let's not try to force anything outside of the spoiler policy on other folks. B) Use a bit of common sense and conscientiousness. If someone pops into a thread and lands on a spoiler because folks are already discussing it, that's on them. If someone posts about Invincible Vol. 1 and doesn't specifically ask questions, you don't need to bring up stuff in later volumes. Smile, nod, and discuss whatever going on in that Volume. That's not enforced or anything, it's just nice.
We can navigate this like adults without also spoilering every bit of conversation about every book until the end of time. Cool?
Cool.
Arkham was a big part of the "Jason Todd is alive" retcon. He died, he came back, then he was in Arkham. The Harley reveal was in Red Hood & The Outlaws back in 2016.
BKatastrophe
Member
MHWilliams
Member
Not anymore! DC continuity!
RepairmanJack
Member
Huh, completely breezed over that apparently.
Doesn't the whole Batman pre N52 stuff carrying over mixed with the N52 other reset stuff make most of that alignment stuff kind of tricky?
Donniewahlberg
Banned
What Mignola books don't you have?
This is a real problem I have.
I still need to get The Amazing Screw-on head collection though, which is annoying. Would really like to have read before HB in Hell for the links.
LordOfLore
Banned
Pretty much. Luckily, thanks to Superman Reborn the previous "Everything major happened in the last 5-6 years" N52 thing has now been expanded into "JL first formed 15 years ago and heroes were active before it" so now things are probably more spread out.
RepairmanJack
Member
That's just kind of expanding on the whole 10 stolen years thing really isn't it?
It seems like between Button and Superman Reborn on top of all the Rebirth stuff that all Continuity is up in the air right now.
Cause like Supergirl's book says, she's only been on earth a few months.
Tyrant Rave
Banned
Thanks for the heads up. I was on the fence since the art looked cool but I wasn't familiar with the writer or anything and I hadn't heard much about it.
Now that I finished up Persona I'm trying to go through these back issues I have piled up. Went back to The Spire since Donnie reminded me I never finished it and reread the first two issues to jog my memory. Still as good as it was the first time. The way Spurrier uses the grey text to indicate characters muttering things under their breath is such a great touch and it really makes everyone feel more human.
Also read the first issue of Spurrier's new book and it had a very strong opening issue. I liked the interview with him at the back too where he explains a bit with how he comes up with his settings. It's very interesting how he usually starts with the economy and making it work and building off that. It's a very cool way to flesh things out.
MHWilliams
Member
We don't have a site-wide spoiler policy set in stone, but generally, once a thing is out spoilers are in the clear. For major films, we offer regular and spoiler threads. The rest is honestly dependent on the OTs themselves. Long-term ComicGAF posters made the spoiler policy here and most have agreed with it.
It's not really a bannable thing. Mods only have to step in when folks fight over it and derail discussion being angry at each other. Otherwise, it's up to the normal posters in that community.
Coriolanus
Banned
i 'member when spoiler policy was, like, 48 hours or whatever. Them's good times. Good times.
Anyway
Alan Moore's Neonomicon is what happens when a dude doesn't have an editor to tell him to stop showing off his uber leet Lovecraft & Friends knowledge.
Shame, would've been a much better book without the near entirety of issue 2. And i guess the fish-guy handjob could be excised too. It's so weird, issue 1 has some very crisp writing, but then quality takes a nosedive, and only comes back up every other page just to keep you going. Hrm.
Anyway
Alan Moore's Neonomicon is what happens when a dude doesn't have an editor to tell him to stop showing off his uber leet Lovecraft & Friends knowledge.
Shame, would've been a much better book without the near entirety of issue 2. And i guess the fish-guy handjob could be excised too. It's so weird, issue 1 has some very crisp writing, but then quality takes a nosedive, and only comes back up every other page just to keep you going. Hrm.
Donniewahlberg
Banned
Totally agree, that's one of the first times I really consciously appreciated the role of of the letterer, and of course the script direction, in adding a tangible layer to the story telling. Alot of writers will go for the overly chatty/quipy Whedon style out loud talking to themselves when they want people to seem *real* if that makes sense, but I thought this was a great technique. Read more!
Also, that's a really cool anecdote about how Spurrier makes world's and makes a lot of sense. God shaper looks so good.
BKatastrophe
Member
Alright. You guys win. I enjoyed Red Hood and the Outlaws. I have to bring up a couple issues I have though: Bizarro's ice powers don't seem to have any consistency to them and I'm unclear as to how they work, but the ice is mentioned and pointed out by both Jason and Artemis that it's Bizarro's doing. I'm not sure I like Batman's voice in this. It's...weird.
One major continuity thing I want to point out is the kind of Batman we've been seeing since Rebirth. In this, he points out to Jason that, "the world has enough heroes. It could use a few more outlaws," which is effectively his acceptance of Jason's methods. In JLvSS, he tells Waller that there's a place for the Suicide Squad in the world after all. He recruits Lobo as part of his own personal Justice League.
I find these interesting. He's fine with anti-heroes and death row villain squads now? Although it could also be this "war" that Bruce is preparing for (according to Tim). That he wants as many people on his side regardless of their methods.
One major continuity thing I want to point out is the kind of Batman we've been seeing since Rebirth. In this, he points out to Jason that, "the world has enough heroes. It could use a few more outlaws," which is effectively his acceptance of Jason's methods. In JLvSS, he tells Waller that there's a place for the Suicide Squad in the world after all. He recruits Lobo as part of his own personal Justice League.
I find these interesting. He's fine with anti-heroes and death row villain squads now? Although it could also be this "war" that Bruce is preparing for (according to Tim). That he wants as many people on his side regardless of their methods.
Oh goody
TetraxShards
Member
This is exactly it. Batman's dealing with an enemy that stole years out of the timestream. He has no real idea who, or what, he could be facing down and wants as many options as possible.
Yeah, it's basically the point of Tim's story in Detective #950
my name is ed
Banned
Read some comics over the weekend.
Not sure if I talked about it here, but I read Midnighter and Apollo. I loved Orlando and ACO's run on Midnighter that runs previous to this. Midnighter is still beautifully violent and the dialogue is smart. One liners are delivered with earned snark. Orlando does a fantastic job of putting Midnighter in situations and writing him in a way that makes his arrogance compliment his vulnerability in regards to his relationship with Apollo.
Blanco is maybe a half step down from the hyper kinetic bordering-on-chaotic ACO but he's still very good and serves the story well. The colors don't stand out particularly but they certainly work with the line work to deliver the story.
I don't want to speak too much about the plot of it but I will say that it features a bit of a rare thing, a couple that will fight like hell for each other. Love it.
After chatting with Tim about M+A for a bit, Tim pointed out a homage to 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' so I decided to give that and 'For the Man Who Has Everything' a reread
Man, these are such excellent Superman stories. If you haven't read them before, do. And you have, reread them. Watchmen collaborator Dave Gibbons drew 'For the Man Who Has Everything' and it's as rock solid as you can expect from him. Curt Swan pencils 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' and is inked by George Perez and another fellow whose name escapes me atm.
'For the Man Who Has Everything' is about Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman coming to visit Superman at the Fortress of Solitude on his birthday only to find him paralyzed by an alien attached to his chest and unresponsive. It turns out a villain had sent the alien to stop Superman from being Superman. The alien attaches to a host and creates an illusion of whatever the host most desires. In this case, Superman is living the good life in Krypton with family rather than being the last son of Krypton.
Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin fight the villain while trying to figure out a way to get Superman back. Meanwhile, in his mind, small disturbances give Superman an uneasy feeling that his reality may not be real. This comes to the emotional climax.
After fleeing the city with his son after nearly getting caught in riots organized with the help of his father, Superman starts telling his son how much he loves him and how vivid his memories are of his son's childhood. Superman ends with 'But I'm not sure you're real'
This is it. This is the great character moment in this story. Superman has done the hard thing. He has rejected a falsehood that brought him great joy and pride. It gave him all he wanted and he ripped it apart. This is something I think gets lost in the character of Superman as we depict him from time to time.
Superman isn't just a good man doing good things. He fights for justice but he also fights for truth no matter how uncomfortable a truth it maybe. There's a reason he chose to be a journalist as Clark Kent.
What follows after that moment isnt as important. It's about resolving the threads of the plot and seeing some real good punching. It's great.
'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' is one of the more depressing Superman stories there are imo. But depressing in a bittersweet way.
If I remember right, this was basically the last Silver Age Superman before John Byrne got to reboot the character. I also think Alan Moore demanded to be allowed to write the last Silver Age Superman story.
There's an unnerving sense of dread during these two issues. Villains who were campy and zany like many Silver Age Villains were take a serious turn. Toyman and Prankster reveal Superman's identity and kill a friend of Superman, Bizarro goes on a rampage before committing suicide, the Daily Bugle is attacked, the Legion comes back to give a coded goodbye to Superman, Perry and his wife are fighting and losing it as a couple, Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang get superpowers to help Superman only to die shortly after, other superheroes are helpless after Lex Luthor-Brainiac put up an unpenetrable force field around the Fortress of Solitude as they lay siege.
It's a really really well fit story for the last Silver Age Superman. It's like everything that was fun is now serious, reflecting the changing attitude of comics at the time.
Its perfectly encapsulated by the reveal of the villain behind all the sudden escalation of events. Its the only thing that I don't really feel like spoiling if you haven't read it yet.
Much like in 'For the Man Who Has Everything' we get the character defining moment at the climax of the story as Superman is fighting the villain behind it all. Except, it's not quite right and Superman knows it. After defeating the villain, Superman decides there's only one thing to do as he feels unworthy of the title Superman and of the power and responsibility that go with it. He walks to a vault with gold Kryptonite and locks the door behind him. Lois Lane has to wait for the superheroes outside to finally get past the force field so that Captain Marvel/Shazam can rip off the door.
They find the room empty of Superman. He has gone through a backdoor after losing his powers and into the Arctic wilderness presumably dying.
At the end, there's a pretty neat twist with regards to how the story is framed and this is where the homage from Midnighter and Apollo comes from. It's the kind of end that makes you put the down the comic, take a breath, flip backwards through the book and say 'comics are good'
There's another story I read this week but I think these go together rather well so I'll leave the last one for another post.
Not sure if I talked about it here, but I read Midnighter and Apollo. I loved Orlando and ACO's run on Midnighter that runs previous to this. Midnighter is still beautifully violent and the dialogue is smart. One liners are delivered with earned snark. Orlando does a fantastic job of putting Midnighter in situations and writing him in a way that makes his arrogance compliment his vulnerability in regards to his relationship with Apollo.
Blanco is maybe a half step down from the hyper kinetic bordering-on-chaotic ACO but he's still very good and serves the story well. The colors don't stand out particularly but they certainly work with the line work to deliver the story.
I don't want to speak too much about the plot of it but I will say that it features a bit of a rare thing, a couple that will fight like hell for each other. Love it.
After chatting with Tim about M+A for a bit, Tim pointed out a homage to 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' so I decided to give that and 'For the Man Who Has Everything' a reread
Man, these are such excellent Superman stories. If you haven't read them before, do. And you have, reread them. Watchmen collaborator Dave Gibbons drew 'For the Man Who Has Everything' and it's as rock solid as you can expect from him. Curt Swan pencils 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' and is inked by George Perez and another fellow whose name escapes me atm.
'For the Man Who Has Everything' is about Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman coming to visit Superman at the Fortress of Solitude on his birthday only to find him paralyzed by an alien attached to his chest and unresponsive. It turns out a villain had sent the alien to stop Superman from being Superman. The alien attaches to a host and creates an illusion of whatever the host most desires. In this case, Superman is living the good life in Krypton with family rather than being the last son of Krypton.
Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin fight the villain while trying to figure out a way to get Superman back. Meanwhile, in his mind, small disturbances give Superman an uneasy feeling that his reality may not be real. This comes to the emotional climax.
After fleeing the city with his son after nearly getting caught in riots organized with the help of his father, Superman starts telling his son how much he loves him and how vivid his memories are of his son's childhood. Superman ends with 'But I'm not sure you're real'
This is it. This is the great character moment in this story. Superman has done the hard thing. He has rejected a falsehood that brought him great joy and pride. It gave him all he wanted and he ripped it apart. This is something I think gets lost in the character of Superman as we depict him from time to time.
Superman isn't just a good man doing good things. He fights for justice but he also fights for truth no matter how uncomfortable a truth it maybe. There's a reason he chose to be a journalist as Clark Kent.
What follows after that moment isnt as important. It's about resolving the threads of the plot and seeing some real good punching. It's great.
'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' is one of the more depressing Superman stories there are imo. But depressing in a bittersweet way.
If I remember right, this was basically the last Silver Age Superman before John Byrne got to reboot the character. I also think Alan Moore demanded to be allowed to write the last Silver Age Superman story.
There's an unnerving sense of dread during these two issues. Villains who were campy and zany like many Silver Age Villains were take a serious turn. Toyman and Prankster reveal Superman's identity and kill a friend of Superman, Bizarro goes on a rampage before committing suicide, the Daily Bugle is attacked, the Legion comes back to give a coded goodbye to Superman, Perry and his wife are fighting and losing it as a couple, Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang get superpowers to help Superman only to die shortly after, other superheroes are helpless after Lex Luthor-Brainiac put up an unpenetrable force field around the Fortress of Solitude as they lay siege.
It's a really really well fit story for the last Silver Age Superman. It's like everything that was fun is now serious, reflecting the changing attitude of comics at the time.
Its perfectly encapsulated by the reveal of the villain behind all the sudden escalation of events. Its the only thing that I don't really feel like spoiling if you haven't read it yet.
Much like in 'For the Man Who Has Everything' we get the character defining moment at the climax of the story as Superman is fighting the villain behind it all. Except, it's not quite right and Superman knows it. After defeating the villain, Superman decides there's only one thing to do as he feels unworthy of the title Superman and of the power and responsibility that go with it. He walks to a vault with gold Kryptonite and locks the door behind him. Lois Lane has to wait for the superheroes outside to finally get past the force field so that Captain Marvel/Shazam can rip off the door.
They find the room empty of Superman. He has gone through a backdoor after losing his powers and into the Arctic wilderness presumably dying.
At the end, there's a pretty neat twist with regards to how the story is framed and this is where the homage from Midnighter and Apollo comes from. It's the kind of end that makes you put the down the comic, take a breath, flip backwards through the book and say 'comics are good'
There's another story I read this week but I think these go together rather well so I'll leave the last one for another post.
RepairmanJack
Member
Batman's been very weird all over, I think it was the very next week in GL's he was scolding Simon for bringing a gun into Gotham.
BKatastrophe
Member
It's great that they're keeping such consistency there. I really like it.
It seems he's still defensive of Gotham itself. It's his city after all. But as far as the world as a whole? Nah fuck that.
LordOfLore
Banned
whatsinaname
Member
Code:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/CxE15kt.png[/img]LordOfLore
Banned
Tyrant Rave
Banned
I know exactly what you mean with the quips lol. And you'll really enjoy Godshaper if the rest of it is this good!
I'm more bothered that we never got the big Aracely story Yost wanted to do. She's such a fun character and she would have been a great character to highlight for the last Marvel Now. We don't have enough Latin superheroes out there.
What is Namor up to at the moment?
I haven't kept track of him since Secert Wars 3.
RepairmanJack
Member
Is he alive?
RepairmanJack
Member
I want that poster so god damned bad!
whatsinaname
Member
Ooh, thanks. Couldn't make it to RSD this year and this was the only one I wanted.
I miss seeing Bachalo art on a book. Say what you will about some of his photoshopping and such but he is so good most of the time. Townsend and Al Vey also stunning on inks.
Props to him for Eva Bells final Marvel appearance. At least we know she survived the Secret Wars. Come back Eva
Props to him for Eva Bells final Marvel appearance
. At least we know she survived the Secret Wars. Come back Eva Some Comic Industry Stock Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsykqt5D8yg
Maybe someone think its interesting. I love stuff like this.
He is leading a team in a mini for Secret Empire.
Maybe someone think its interesting. I love stuff like this.
He is leading a team in a mini for Secret Empire.
RepairmanJack
Member
Wonder if it will stick or if it's just a cosmic cube type thing.
I think he has been brought back a couple of weeks already, so I think it should be for the next time
Did you read the also excellent Superman/Swamp Thing team up story Moore wrote?
I have no idea if it's true or not, but there's a long standing rumor that the adaptation of For the Man Who Has Everything that JM DeMatteis wrote for the Justice League cartoon is the only adaptation of his work that Moore likes. I wonder what he'd think of Supergirl's take on it from last season.
RepairmanJack
Member
Didn't piece this together until listening to a podcast, but the new Suicide Squad might be another hint that Lex is turning bad. Which has been hinted at in other books but has been questionable.
Minor SS spoilers, but meh
Do you mean just the New 52 Superman and the Lois & Clark Superman? Cause that is kind of easy, with pre-52 Supes and Lois going through the convergeance event and being spit out in N52 with their son Jon so basically fans could have "their" Superman back.
It can get even harder to explain with the doppelganger Superman that was around in last days of Superman that was a result of his solar flare power(I think?) and apparently the other one that the doctor in China and involved in New Super-Man had captive.
Minor SS spoilers, but meh
Red Hood and the Outliaws has been pretty explicit about that Bizarro being one of the last ones because all the rest were decommissioned, but then in SS there's a lot of Bizarro's.
Do you mean just the New 52 Superman and the Lois & Clark Superman? Cause that is kind of easy, with pre-52 Supes and Lois going through the convergeance event and being spit out in N52 with their son Jon so basically fans could have "their" Superman back.
It can get even harder to explain with the doppelganger Superman that was around in last days of Superman that was a result of his solar flare power(I think?) and apparently the other one that the doctor in China and involved in New Super-Man had captive.
BoogieWoogie
Banned
Pro-Tip: Don't read Neonomicon.
Aizo
Banned
So there are currently two Kal-Els? The new 52 one is doing what now, then?
RepairmanJack
Member
Well that makes it a little more complicated. That was basically up to the point of N52.
N52 Supes died right before Rebirth and Pre-52 took back the role and came into the light. As to new events they're kind of the same person and it's left up in the air as to what did and didn't happen exactly. Were still in kind of a nebulas as it just happened a couple issues ago.
Storm Chamber
Banned
New Super-Man is awesome.
Please tell me sales are good because I want to see where this story goes
Please tell me sales are good because I want to see where this story goes
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
This is good advice.
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