Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170848 times)

Thad · « **Reply #60 on:** April 04, 2008, 01:10:03 AM »

Quote from: Arc on April 03, 2008, 02:44:31 PM

Kick-Ass? Homeboy needs body armor, gott damm. If Frank Miller was credited for this rather than Millar & Romita Jr., would you be able to tell the difference?

If Miller-with-an-E were writing, Dave would be bigger, buffer, and older. And he'd be taking that beating with a lot more grim determination.

What it DOES have in common with a Frank Miller book is that the hero gets hurt. Badly. And the narration does a solid damn job of making you feel the blows to the ribs, the head, all over Dave's body. I think we can cross "wish fulfillment" off as a fair descriptor of this book; Spider-Man never had to get any plates put in his head.

I can find a million people citing Alan Moore's complaint that all Frank Miller ever writes about is tough guys, but can't find a single damn primary source or exact quote. Go figure.

On the art side, you can definitely see the influences, but it's JRJr all the way. The faces and the shading have a Miller kind of quality to them, but the proportions are more Silver Age-y.

Anyway. The Frank Miller influences ARE there, but Millar-with-an-A and RoJu have their own, very distinctive styles. I could probably pick Millar's work out of a lineup, and could CERTAINLY pick out JRJr's.

Quote from: Arc on April 03, 2008, 02:44:31 PM

The last pages of issue two have a nice production comparison, illustrating why Palmer & White shouldn't be left out of the limelight.

Damn right. Inkers and colorists are among the most overlooked people in the business, because it's their job NOT to be noticed. Usually when people notice their work it's because they've messed something up.

I DO think they're starting to get their due in the Photoshop age. With an increasing number of books that don't use inkers at all but just color straight over pencils, well...I find that look suitable to some books, but not most. (Action did a pretty good job awhile back with a story where the Earth scenes were traditionally inked and the Phantom Zone was Photoshop over pencils.) As for colors,I just got through saying nobody's work but Laura Allred's ever really stands out in my mind.

...Anyway. The book's already got a damn movie deal. See how that pans out.

(I want Daniel Stern to narrate.)

Thad · « **Reply #61 on:** April 04, 2008, 10:53:28 AM »

All-Star Superman may be the perfect comic book.

#10 gives us Kandor, breaks the fourth wall, and shows Superman as a guy who's not too busy fighting the big stuff to save individual people who have lost hope. It delivers what issue #1 promised: his powers have achieved godlike levels, but he's going to die from it; he's facing his own mortality.

Since they're calling this an ongoing I can reasonably assume he doesn't die, or at least doesn't STAY dead (though closing the book on "this" Superman and starting off #13 with an entirely different universe would be appealing in its own way), but there's still the clear question of what's coming out of his last days. He's already [spoiler]cured cancer[/spoiler] and left the possibility of [spoiler]a child[/spoiler], but what's yet to come? How much is going to be revealed in that obit?

Anyway. Great, great book. I am sort of hesitant to ask when the next issue will be out.

Zaratustra · « **Reply #62 on:** April 04, 2008, 09:02:15 PM »

Grant has mentioned that Solaris will be making a comeback.

Arc · « **Reply #63 on:** April 08, 2008, 06:06:37 PM »

Quote from: Thad on April 04, 2008, 01:10:03 AM

The book's already got a damn movie deal.

I Made A Thing:

Revver:
http://revver.com/video/795195/kick-ass-comic-trailer/

Direct Download:
10MB .wmv file

EDIT:
Millar seems to have enjoyed it, Jason from weeklycomicbookreview.com gave a shoutout, and Ron from ifanboys.com also sent his compliments by e-mail.

Al Baron · « **Reply #64 on:** April 08, 2008, 07:33:36 PM »

I'm pretty sure that's not how Dr. Doom addresses anyone.

Much better.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #65 on:** April 09, 2008, 04:38:28 AM »

I'm just wondering what the hell is up with his eyes there.

Al Baron · « **Reply #66 on:** April 09, 2008, 07:14:44 AM »

Quote from: Ted Belmont on April 09, 2008, 04:38:28 AM

I'm just wondering what the hell is up with his eyes there.

They have that certain SHOOP DA WHOOP quality, doesn't it?

Thad · « **Reply #67 on:** April 09, 2008, 02:16:07 PM »

Just watched a BBC doc by Jonathan Ross called In Search of Steve Ditko. For people who don't know much about Ditko, it's a pretty good and thorough summary of his work; for people who do, it's a star-studded retrospective featuring thoughts from Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Mark Millar, Joe Quesada (in the halcyon days of 2007 when you could mention his name and Spider-Man's in the same sentence without a string of profanity), Jerry Robinson, John Romita, and, most illuminatingly, Stan Lee.

Stan comes across as largely sympathetic, and it's something of a vindication of him. He praises Ditko's work effusively, and acknowledges that by the end of Ditko's run, all he (Lee) was doing was adding in dialogue balloons. It's sad to think that decades of bad blood boil down to nitpicking over the definition of "creator". While I agree with Ditko's definition and don't believe Stan pitching an idea is enough to count as "creating" the character (I also think of Bill Finger as the primary creator of Batman), Stan's the one who's been a standup guy about it in recent years -- even though he clearly doesn't buy the "co-creator" moniker himself, he's made sure it's put on every Spidey comic, movie, cartoon, and game simply because he knows it's important to Steve. (Or so the unfortunately-named Ralph Macchio claims; this could just be another example of Lee claiming credit for something somebody else did.) He even sent him a signed letter in '99 saying he has always considered him the co-creator, but of course Ditko objected to that choice of words; if there's one thing an Objectivist hates, it's subjectivity.

[spoiler]In the end, Ross and Gaiman track Ditko down. They get to meet him, but, characteristically, he refuses to allow the camera crew in, and Ross reveals nothing of their conversation except that Ditko is pleased that there are people who appreciate his work so deeply.[/spoiler] It's an interesting contradiction -- the recluse who wants to be left alone but also wants recognition. We never do hear Steve's explanation of why he left Marvel, but we get a pretty good feel for him as a person.

Other interesting things of note: the live-action Spider-Man TV series (I'd heard of it but wasn't actually sure it was real) and the 1970's Doctor Strange pilot. Both seem like good picks for Outer Heaven if anyone can find them.

All in all, highly recommended. There's no DVD release (at least not in the US), but it's not hard to find a torrent. Check it out; you'll be glad you did.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #68 on:** April 11, 2008, 10:06:37 PM »

Superhero Hype has promo photos form Frank Miller's adaptation of The Spirit

I've never read any of the Spirit and don't have a huge familiarity with Eisner's work. So I'll just leave that link as is.

Thad · « **Reply #69 on:** April 11, 2008, 11:29:59 PM »

I think there's an "Archives" or "Chronicles" or somesuch-branded trade out of Eisner's original Spirit comics. If you're interested in something more recent, Darwyn Cooke's run is highly recommended (and the first trade includes his Batman/Spirit crossover, which is for all intents and purposes a Batman: TAS story).

Royal☭ · « **Reply #70 on:** April 12, 2008, 07:03:19 AM »

I'll check it out. I realize the incredible influence that Eisner's work has had on the comics medium, but I've just never seen any of the trades readily available. Although, with the internet that is no longer a good excuse, so I'll check him out.

Arc · « **Reply #71 on:** April 12, 2008, 09:58:28 AM »

Two minutes from Iron Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX15_zwoZ6c

CamBot looks to have gone into the private sector.

Büge · « **Reply #72 on:** April 12, 2008, 12:17:25 PM »

I recently had a dream that I was reading this Jack Kirby book about how Darkseid was teleported to an alternate Fourth World, whereupon he changed his appearance to humanish and taking up the name "Auroran." Essentially, he adopted Orion's role as a hero, except he had this big mechanical eye that would follow him around.

Does such a thing actually exist, or did I have a brush with L-Space?

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #73 on:** April 12, 2008, 03:39:19 PM »

I wonder if I can get a TPB of Fell yet.

Thad · « **Reply #74 on:** April 12, 2008, 03:59:46 PM »

There's a trade call Fell: Feral City that I assume contains the first 6 issues.

Bal · « **Reply #75 on:** April 13, 2008, 01:07:36 AM »

I'm enjoying a few random books here and there these days, but I find that I simply cannot stand the main threads that seem to be going through the big two at the moment. Countdown is un-fucking-readably awful, and Final Crisis? Couldn't care less if I tried. I don't even know what it's going to be about because everything tying into it so far is terrible beyond belief. If that weren't bad enough, Marvel is nearly as awful. I can't read Spider-Man, due to Brand New Faggotry, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't give a flying fuck who is and is not a Skrull. Oh man, who do you trust?! The answer is who gives a shit.

Thad · « **Reply #76 on:** April 13, 2008, 12:06:29 PM »

As I said, I'm going to give Final Crisis a shot because Morrison. His Batman run's been great, and All-Star Superman's probably the best book out right now.

I'm also likely to pick up Trinity because it's the original Thunderbolts team. Busiek's been hit-or-miss lately, but he's still one of my favorites, and I'll at least give it a shot. (More interested in Marvels 2, of course, but until I actually SEE it on the shelf it's going to be hard to get excited about it.)

Marvel...shit, I don't even remember what I'm reading of Marvel anymore aside from FF (good) and Black Panther (not sure why I am still reading). I can certainly relate to event fatigue, and while I love the old Skrull stories, this one isn't doing it for me. Of course, I still haven't gotten past Avengers Disassembled.

On another topic: latest issue of Booster is so-so. Basically unnecessary, IMO; there weren't really any major developments and the twist ending was obvious. Plus Action Comics did it a couple months back with the Subs.

TA · « **Reply #77 on:** April 13, 2008, 12:13:26 PM »

I'd like to give Final Crisis a shot, because Morrison and whatnot, it sounds interesting. But how many hundreds of issues of things will I need to read just to know what the hell's going on in it?

Thad · « **Reply #78 on:** April 13, 2008, 03:16:59 PM »

Morrison says:

Quote

Readers won’t have to pick up any other books from the line top follow the story in Final Crisis and its satellite books. So there’s not quite as oppressive or overhanging a continuity there for other writers to have to cope with, just this really big, cataclysmic thing that happens.

As I say, the only real crossover business happens in the books Geoff Johns and I are working on. The two of us are pretty much telling the whole story, and anyone who wants to join in can, but it’s set up in such a way that they don’t have to. We really want people doing big stories in their own books.

Of course, we've all heard that a million times before (Civil War probably being the most notorious recent example of a mini that was supposed to be self-contained but really, really wasn't), but these ARE the guys behind Seven Soldiers and The Sinestro Corps War we're talking about. So I would be more concerned about a ballooning sample of tie-in books than too many pivotal plot points occurring in other titles.

Bal · « **Reply #79 on:** April 13, 2008, 07:52:34 PM »

I'm completely gay for All-Star Superman, and I really enjoyed the Sinestro Corps War, which I hoped would translate into a good run of Green Lantern books, but then they jumped immediately into the Alpha Lanterns, and I stopped reading again. I stopped reading Booster Gold when he saved Ted Kord. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't a fan of his death in the first place, but I thought the book was more effective when there were some people he couldn't save, and some things he couldn't change. As for Final Crisis, I don't have any hope for another fucking Crisis. Crisis Crisis Crisis. There hasn't been a good one since the first one, and half the events since the first have been some kind of similar threat, even if it wasn't a Crisis in name. I think the last one I really enjoyed was DC One Million, which was just unashamed fan-service, and even half the books in that were terrible.

I think some of this is just a reflection of the fact that I have less time and interest for comic books these days, but if there was more quality out there I have to believe I'd be reading more books.

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Author Topic: Funnybooks (Read 170848 times)