Comics are Awesome III

A general discussion forum, plus hauls and silly games.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Sparky Prime wrote: Happy ending for all, but unfortunately the solicitations for the Omega Men #1 says that they murder Kyle...
They just can't resist killing off perfectly good characters, can they? That really gets old after awhile.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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I doubt that any death that happens *during* a reboot event is going to stick. (Context matters.)

At most, it might be a way to get rid of the "old" Kyle for the purposes of making a "new" Kyle (sans baggage, similar to what DC tried with the "Earth 2" characters).
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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andersonh1 wrote:They just can't resist killing off perfectly good characters, can they? That really gets old after awhile.
Assuming Kyle is actually going to be killed. I mean, can a White Lantern be murdered? Every time we've seen one take a fatal injury, their powers have healed them.
Dominic wrote:I doubt that any death that happens *during* a reboot event is going to stick. (Context matters.)

At most, it might be a way to get rid of the "old" Kyle for the purposes of making a "new" Kyle (sans baggage, similar to what DC tried with the "Earth 2" characters).
Omega Men #1 launches after Convergence so it's not a part of the reboot, and the solicitation specifically calls Kyle a White Lantern so I doubt it's a means to bring him back sans baggage.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Sparky Prime wrote:Assuming Kyle is actually going to be killed. I mean, can a White Lantern be murdered? Every time we've seen one take a fatal injury, their powers have healed them.
If the editor or writer want to fridge Kyle, that won't mean a thing. Still, hopefully you're right.
Sparky Prime wrote: This story has reminded me a lot of Kyle's first time as Ion. Given such power and faced with a decision of what to do with that power, ultimately in both situations Kyle's solution has been to share that power.
That was my impression as well, though I haven't been reading the book. I have read Power of Ion, and enjoyed the way Kyle was portrayed in that story.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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andersonh1 wrote:If the editor or writer want to fridge Kyle, that won't mean a thing. Still, hopefully you're right.
I get the feeling they're just trying to get most of the Lantern characters out of the picture for a while with them only having 3 titles after Convergence. Plus the solicitation for GL Lost Army makes it sound like most of the Corps is going to go missing, sent to another dimension or something. There's no mention of Guy or Simon anywhere. Even the new Power Ring, Jessica Cruz doesn't appear anywhere with Hal returning to the Justice League lineup.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Marvel has revealed the line-up for the "Uncanny Inhumans" and "The All-New, All-Different Avengers" for post-Secret Wars. The Inhumans don't really come as any surprise, save for Johnny Storm joining them with the Fantastic Four title ending. The Avengers on the other hand has an interesting line-up with a mix of older and younger characters. And it confirms at least one character from the Ultimate Universe will be joining the 616 characters.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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I really hope that is not indicative of Marvel's plans for the various Avengers books (or over-all).

Waid I can take or leave. (He is not a bad writer. But, he is hit or miss and has not impressed me for years. His old "Flash" run is still damned good though.)

Calling it now, Miles Morales is getting offed by the end of the decade. Heck, our current president got sworn in and met Spider-Man on page. Our next president will probably get sworn in and be drawn at Miles' funeral. Everything that made "All New Spider-Man" a unique book is gone. In "Ultimates", Miles is a neophyte hero trying to follow in the footsteps of a titan. In 616 (or whatever it ends up being called), Miles will be just another guy in a costume. And, Milesis no longer being written by Bendis, making the character even less distinctive.

If Marvel completely does away with the multiverse, the same might happen with Spider-Gwen. (Remember what I have been saying about there being real creative and commercial incentives to keep the multiverse? The inverse is that there will be creative and commercial penalties for wholly disposing of it. Miles Morales is likely to become the first example of that.)

I still think that the reboot can work out well for Marvel, and am looking forward to the new comics. But, there are going to be missteps.

On a lighter note, it amuses me that Marvel is cancelling "Fantastic Four" (presumably for movie-related reasons), and is going to turn around and push the character least recognizable as their movie counter-part. (Take that Fox!)


And....

Multiversity (Ultra Comics):
This is the most directly self-referencing issue of "Multiversity", even more than the guidebook. "Ultra Comics" is the name of both the book and the main character. Ultra Comics is an artificially created, thought powered, being designed to counter the influence of "bad ideas" (the Gentry). The high concept is how people influence ideas and vice versa. Morrison inverts the idea of readers/creators leeching off of fiction (as seen in "Final Crisis") and presents the idea of fiction leeching off of readers. Essential if one is reading "Multiversity", but not as good over-all as the "Master Men" issue.

Grade; A
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Sparky Prime wrote:Marvel has revealed the line-up for the "Uncanny Inhumans" and "The All-New, All-Different Avengers" for post-Secret Wars. The Inhumans don't really come as any surprise, save for Johnny Storm joining them with the Fantastic Four title ending. The Avengers on the other hand has an interesting line-up with a mix of older and younger characters. And it confirms at least one character from the Ultimate Universe will be joining the 616 characters.
I figured it was only a matter of time before Kamala got onto an Avengers team. This'll be cool, her book has been a fun one (Takeshi Miyazawa's filling in for art on this current arc making me SO happy!) I'm interested in seeing how she interacts with a group of heroes.

'Uncanny Inhumans', as a title, amuses me in how blatant they're making this "Inhumans are the new Mutants" thing.
Dominic wrote:Calling it now, Miles Morales is getting offed by the end of the decade. Heck, our current president got sworn in and met Spider-Man on page. Our next president will probably get sworn in and be drawn at Miles' funeral. Everything that made "All New Spider-Man" a unique book is gone. In "Ultimates", Miles is a neophyte hero trying to follow in the footsteps of a titan. In 616 (or whatever it ends up being called), Miles will be just another guy in a costume. And, Milesis no longer being written by Bendis, making the character even less distinctive.
Part of me's wondering where the reboot is going to leave Peter. We already know that the leftover disparate Spider-People of the 'Verse will figure into Secret Wars somehow (they're getting their own mini-series) and with 'Renew Your Vows' I can think of like a dozen different ways for that to dovetail into a fitting 'finale' for the character. Will Marvel take this opportunity to do what they didn't have the balls to do in the 90's and really 'retire' Peter in the main universe, having Miles fill his shoes as THE Spider-Man of the mainline? Really hard to say at this point, but it would be interesting to see, and would allow Miles to integrate into 616 Marvel and still maintain his 'hook' as you called out. Plus he could just be 'Spider-Man' rather than having to be saddled with a moniker like 'Miles Morales, The Ultimate Spider-Man' or something stupid every time he showed up.
Dominic wrote:If Marvel completely does away with the multiverse, the same might happen with Spider-Gwen. (Remember what I have been saying about there being real creative and commercial incentives to keep the multiverse? The inverse is that there will be creative and commercial penalties for wholly disposing of it. Miles Morales is likely to become the first example of that.)
Don't even talk to me about this, shit got me paranoid. Spider-Gwen is one of the best ideas Marvel's had in ages, a concept so brilliant in its simplicity that I'm amazed no one's thought of it before. Her book itself is fresh in the most literal of senses, in that we have NO idea who or what is around any given corner, and each event feels new and interesting for not falling into the sordid predictability of your usual Spider-Adaptation. And it's doing gangbusters for it (Edge of Spider-Verse #2 is on its fifth printing. Fifth! The only books of the year that outsold the first issue of her series proper were ones with 'Star Wars' in the title!). Marvel would be STUPID to throw that away as part of their (admittedly ambitious and impressive if followed-through) reboot.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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'Uncanny Inhumans', as a title, amuses me in how blatant they're making this "Inhumans are the new Mutants" thing.
SUCK IT FOX!

Joking aside, while reading Hickman's "New Avengers", I half-expected Hank and Reed to come out of the fight with The Great Society (and other fights) with the bloodiest hands, just for the sake of sticking it to Fox.

Part of me's wondering where the reboot is going to leave Peter.
Few theories kicking around (including some comic shop scuttle-butt):

-Marvel is not completely getting rid of the multiverse: Dialogue in a recent issue of "New Avengers" arguably allows for this, as it references an "observable multiverse".

-Marvel will not care about reconciling things (with or without a multiverse): Right after "Crisis on Infinite Earths", DC published Miller's "Return of the Dark Knight" and (probably) never intended to follow through on it. Similarly, they never reconciled the comics with the various cartoon series. Quesada is on record as not caring much about consistency, so this might end up happening.

-Battleworld will survive: Marvel might decide to keep left-over characters on Battleworld, possibly having that planet orbit the sun opposite from whatever 616.2 ends up being called. This would allow for "impossible" stories that Marvel could reconcile "just enough" but not really need to worry too much about.

-extra fodder: The non-Parker spiders would become fodder for events and such. (This is very likely.)

-Peter Parker would age a bit: Supported by "Renew Your Vows" and preview images showing Peter and MJ with a young daughter. If Peter becomes a Spider-Mentor, that would allow Marvel to use Miles and other characters as Spider-Men. I *really* like this idea. The only reason we can seriously discuss it is that Marvel does not have Spider-Man movie rights. The second Marvel cuts a deal with Sony, this would fall apart.

Marvel would be STUPID to throw that away as part of their (admittedly ambitious and impressive if followed-through) reboot.
A multiverse (or *maybe* using Battleworld longterm) is Marvel's best option for Spider-Gwen. They really cannot win otherwise.

The character is popular, far more than Marvel likely planned. I could care less about Spider-Gwen. But, the sales numbers are undeniable. (There is that commercial incentive I was talking about.)

Putting Spider-Gwen in 616.s is lose:lose.

Gwen would be less unique and more likely to end up as event-fodder. And, just putting Gwen in 616.2 would be enough like bringing her back to annoy many long-time readers. And, if those long time readers made it through, or even came back after the 90s, it is telling how angry that would make them for it to be an issue at this point. (The guy at the comic shop said that he will be done with Spider-books if that happens. He does not want to go back to the 70s in any way.)
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Picked up a huge pile of comics yesterday. My last check was shorted because of a clerical error, and stuff built in my pull file. I grabbed a good chunk of it yesterday. Mind you, I still have a compilation at home that I am working on. And, I have barely started the pile from yesterday. Ugh, I have no intention of buying comics until "Multiversity" #2 ships in a few weeks.


Guardians 3000 #6:
The future team travels to the "past" (2015). Dialogue and explication indicate that this is clear set-up for when "Time Runs Out".

The time anomalies in the future are explained as being caused by universe ending in 2015. The future Guardians time is not so much a future timeline as it is the echo of a destroyed timeline. Moving the team back in time is a clear signal that Guardians 3000 is either going to be cancelled or significantly changed after "Time Runs Out". The specific detail I will speculate about is that Yondu will end up resembling the character from the recent movie.

Grade: B/C


All things considered, the end of 616 has been interesting. We know that Marvel has been planning for "Secret Wars" for at least 3 years (possibly as many as 4 or 5 years) and that it is heading towards a pre-determined result. But, Marvel has done a good job over-all of making the collapse of 616 seem to be a series of chaotic events.

At a basic level, Marvel's benign neglect of consistency creates the impression of a broken timeline. "Axis" and various "Avengers" related books are impossible to reconcile. And, nobody seems to care.

Operationally, Marvel allowed writers to take advantage of the upcoming reset without announcing a reset, creating an opportunity to do ground-breaking work. (Slott's run on Spider-Man may have largely gone over well with fans. But, if it had failed, it would have been just as well as the whole thing could be swept under the reboot rug.) Hickman's Avengers have been shown committing terrible acts that (on page) seem as inevitable as it is unbelievable that the Mouse would allow Marvel to publish them in the first place. (Of course, knowing that a reboot would more or less fix everything probably made Disney more likely to accept the Illuminati as world-killers.)

At this point, we know that Bendis' "All New X-Men" is probably set-up for the X-books to get a significant re-write. (At the very least, it is a hell of a distraction for people to speculate about. But, the fact that "All New X-Men" has been running for about 2 years creates the impression that the run of comics was more than just a throwaway gimmick during an event.

DC may have more experience with large scale resets. But, their reboots and the (everything is crazy" tie-ins seem more formalized. While Marvel comics may be less cohesive on page. They still create a consistent impression of a broken universe.

And, I have not had so much fun speculating about what is going to happen next in decades.
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