Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170788 times)

Thad · « **Reply #180 on:** July 07, 2008, 05:39:56 PM »

Astonishing #25 is a whole lot like #1: introducing the new creative team, the new roster, and the new status quo, lots and lots of talking without much plot, and even a bit where Cyclops explains why they have to dress a certain way so as not to piss off the locals. A pretty thin story buoyed by good dialogue and great art.

I'm ambivalent about the whole "all the mutants move to San Fran" angle. On the one hand, it's one more step in the heavyhanded "mutants = gays" allegory that's been an albatross around the X-Men's neck for the past 20 years. On the other hand, moving them to a place where everyone accepts them has exactly the opposite effect; it neutralizes the very ham-handed allegory that it stems from.

Anyway. Too early to tell whether this run's going to come out well, but it's good enough that I'll pick up next month's. Which, given the fact that I hate the fucking X-Men, probably means it's pretty damn good.

Thad · « **Reply #181 on:** July 12, 2008, 12:09:47 AM »

Trinity #6 gets a little didactic as the characters themselves start to talk about their mythological significance and the qualities that make them a trinity. However, I think it suits the story -- someone babbles some mystic prophecy about how they're a trinity, they're going to try and make sense of it.

It's not full-on Grant Morrison winking at the fourth wall, nor is it quite the characters explaining the obvious to the readers. But it's a hard line to walk, and I'm hoping Busiek goes back to being slightly more subtle about the metaphor in the coming issues.

Cannon · « **Reply #182 on:** July 12, 2008, 04:55:44 PM »

Booster Gold's about back to form now. It was an honestly well-balanced issue with a heck of a reveal, and it was great to both see things looking up for Booster ([spoiler]but... Uh... He does know that she has to be "on loan," right?[/spoiler]) and (more) proof that Bruce has a sharp mind and a big heart.

Arc · « **Reply #183 on:** July 13, 2008, 03:00:32 PM »

Saw Trinity #6 and Joker #1, but instead picked up a rare, untranslated Spider-Man tankōbon.

~~It has major nudity and ultra-violence!~~ Japan!

Thad · « **Reply #184 on:** July 13, 2008, 03:10:13 PM »

I have most of the version Marvel translated and published in the 1990's.

Thad · « **Reply #185 on:** July 13, 2008, 04:16:43 PM »

Quote from: Cannon on July 12, 2008, 04:55:44 PM

Booster Gold's about back to form now. It was an honestly well-balanced issue with a heck of a reveal

I expected [spoiler]Rip to be Booster himself[/spoiler], so I was at least in the ballpark.

Quote from: Cannon on July 12, 2008, 04:55:44 PM

and it was great to both see things looking up for Booster ([spoiler]but... Uh... He does know that she has to be "on loan," right?[/spoiler]) and (more) proof that Bruce has a sharp mind and a big heart.

And always, always knows more than he's letting on.

I loved the cover -- it is of course nontrivial that this book hasn't just been about time travel through the DCU, but also about time travel through the real-life history of DC. Over the last few months we went back to the 1980's with the JLI, and this month it's back to the 1990's with a One Million issue.

Anyway. Johns leaves on a high note; the art team stays. I like the idea of a rotating writing team; it'll be like The Brave and the Bold with time travel (and, hopefully, more of the aforementioned clever metafiction).

Incidentally, a peek at the Wiki Booster article says:

Quote

During the Millennium Event, Harbinger reveals to Martian Manhunter that Booster is descended from The Chosen, and that he must be protected due to his involvement in elevating the human race. In fact, it is revealed Booster was destined to come to the past to protect him from an unknown event in the future. (Source: Booster Gold #25 (Feb1988))

Since there's no reference to any resolution on this prophecy, I'm going to guess it hasn't happened yet. And given that ol' J'onny was recently killed off in a story by the first writer I would expect to be bringing up twenty-year-old loose ends...

Another topic: Action #867. I don't like the "Superman has only met drones, never the ONE TRUE BRAINIAC" premise, and I like the "What happened to the ONE TRUE KANDOR?" bit even less. I had to hit up Wikipedia to figure out what the hell the story is with the Bottle City post-Infinite Crisis.

I fucking hate Crises.

Thad · « **Reply #186 on:** July 18, 2008, 02:20:10 PM »

Trinity #7 is very talky, heavy on exposition, and self-referential. I was afraid the imprisoned monster in #1 was Krona from Busiek's own JLA/Avengers, and it's looking more and more like that.

The Ennis/Chaykin War is Hell series came out pretty well, I think. Not much to it, but good Ennis-y dialogue, and I've gotten to dig Chaykin's art.

Thad · « **Reply #187 on:** July 24, 2008, 12:12:09 AM »

In Black Panther #38, Harvard graduate Reggie Hudlin gives us this gem:

Villager: Killmonger is a sorcerer--he has enchanted that sword!
Panther: No, but he did magnetize it and my armor with different polarities. Now they repel each other!

Also, Storm is on the cover but nowhere in the issue, and pretty much the whole thing just sucks.

Thinking it's about time to drop this book. On the other hand, next month's is written by the same dude who did Joker's Asylum: Penguin. On the other other hand, it's a Secret Invasion tie-in.

Classic · « **Reply #188 on:** July 24, 2008, 05:50:10 AM »

My god!
Panther, you fool! He is a sorcerer, he created magnetic monopoles!

Thad · « **Reply #189 on:** July 24, 2008, 10:06:57 AM »

If you thought the scammer jokes in Bender's Big Score were stale, do not under any circumstance read Futurama Comics #38. Is there anything less funny than a series of computer jokes by someone who has less knowledge of the subject than his audience?

Royal☭ · « **Reply #190 on:** July 24, 2008, 10:29:54 AM »

How do you become qualified to write anything about Futurama when you don't know about computers?

Thad · « **Reply #191 on:** July 24, 2008, 11:06:46 AM »

Well, I'd say his knowledge is probably above average. But it's pretty much just jokes about mascots and the names of companies and products. The Marvel refs seem largely pointless -- 56K-zar? --; while the bit where Fry puts on Bender's chassis to become Iron Man is one of the better parts of the issue, it's fish in a barrel.

Arc · « **Reply #192 on:** July 25, 2008, 07:00:57 AM »

Quote from: Thad on July 24, 2008, 10:06:57 AM

do not under any circumstance read Bongo Comics

Way ahead of you.

Thad · « **Reply #193 on:** July 25, 2008, 12:33:35 PM »

Not entirely fair. Batton Lash has a room full of Eisners from his Radioactive Man work.

Arc · « **Reply #194 on:** July 25, 2008, 12:47:24 PM »

I'll cop to enjoying Radioactive Man. Even had all of the original '93-'94 run. Although, I've always wondered if I would dislike it equally with the other Bongo titles if it ever had a proper animated counter-part.

Thad · « **Reply #195 on:** July 26, 2008, 08:49:46 PM »

Thunderbolts #122 is better than I expected. Gage has been preparing his run with a series of character-based one-shots, and he picks up where Ellis left off without skipping a beat. It's not as good as Ellis, but so far it's better than most of Nicieza's run.

For a Secret Invasion tie-in issue, it's not bad. Though it's pretty fucking obvious who's a Skrull.

EDIT: Nrama on the next T-bolts team.

Quote

I guess I can say the team will include an insect and an arachnid. But I've probably said too much...

"Insect" is most likely the Beetle, given his history with the team. "Arachnid" is trickier -- the first two arachnid Marvel villains I can think of are already on the team, and are currently the same person.

I guess Black Widow fits the "reformed villain" theme. Course, they already had Hawkeye lead the team for awhile.

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Can I say X marks the spot? I guess I just did.

WOLVERINE IS ON EVERY TEAM

Mongrel · « **Reply #196 on:** July 26, 2008, 10:06:25 PM »

Quote from: Thad on July 26, 2008, 08:49:46 PM

I guess Black Arachnia fits the "reformed villain" theme.

Thad · « **Reply #197 on:** July 27, 2008, 10:12:19 PM »

More Nrama/SDCC odds and ends:

IDW to do Ghostbusters series. I'm a little nonplussed; the writer basically suggests that nothing but the first movie was any good.

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Mostly, I get a kick out of the fact that I'm writing Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson.

You're SUPPOSED to be writing Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zedmore, you BOOB.

On the plus side, assuming the shot at the top of the page represents what we're going to see in the final version, the artist at least seems to understand he's supposed to be depicting characters and not actors. Blah blah couldn't get through the Serenity comic blah.

Moving on: Millar coming back to Ultimate Universe.

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NRAMA: Any teases of some of the characters you'll be using?

MM: Ultimate Cap, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimate Blade, Ultimate Punisher, Ultimate Ghost Rider, Ultimate Spidey. You won't believe what I have planned here and this just touches on what's coming up[.]

NRAMA: Finally, and to give you one last chance for a vague-ish but exuberant tease, is the artist someone you've worked with before?

MM: No, but I've dreamed about it. He's probably the biggest artist in the industry. This guy is a superstar and Marvel is really stepping up to the plate with this revamp. It's exciting times.

God dammit.

I HATE Jim Lee.

Thad · « **Reply #198 on:** July 28, 2008, 01:19:44 AM »

You know, even though Cooke's been off the book for some time now, The Spirit is still great. (Aragones and Evanier, of course, are two of the greats, though I'm disappointed I haven't seen the former do any art on the book yet.) #19 has 3 stories, and I quite like all of them.

Thad · « **Reply #199 on:** July 28, 2008, 12:10:37 PM »

The plot of Superman #678 is by-the-numbers (and completely discards last year's story about Superman giving Krypto to Jimmy), but the art does some interesting things. It changes to a Kirby style for the villain's origin story, bookended by a Frank Miller-style panel and a montage that I would probably say is Dave McKean-inspired (definitely an homage to SOMEbody on Sandman).

In the end, I was disappointed that it was so heavy on the Kirby influence and only played with two other styles, for half a page each. I don't expect something like the Madman issue where Allred made an homage to a different artist in every panel (that would be pretty much an impossible task when facing monthly deadlines), but a little more variety would have been nice.

Interesting enough that I'll be back next month, but the book's definitely leaning toward "drop" at this point.

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Author Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170788 times)