Comics are Awesome III

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

Post by JediTricks »

andersonh1 wrote:He wants every DC character to be Peter Parker.
I totally agree that it reads that way, and even typed something along those lines before pulling it since I don't have much of a dog in this fight.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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JediTricks wrote:
andersonh1 wrote:He wants every DC character to be Peter Parker.
I totally agree that it reads that way, and even typed something along those lines before pulling it since I don't have much of a dog in this fight.
That's not how they're handling Animal Man though. His marriage isn't being magically erased or reset in any way.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Batman 66 #3

As much as I enjoy the concept of this series, and appreciate in principle the idea of broadening the scale beyond what the tv show could do (the airplane chase with the Riddler and Batman hang-gliding on his cape from issue 1, for example, large set pieces), I am constantly annoyed by Jeff Parker's insistance on adding more modern elements to the book. This month we get the "Arkham Institute" and a blonde doctor at the institute named Dr. Quinn. Three guesses as to whether or not her first name is Harley. We also get the blank white eyes on Batman's cowl, though you have to chalk that up to the artist rather than the writer. This is a unique take on Batman and they should run with that, not take so many opportunities to import newer elements of the mythos. Or in the case of the Red Hood, things that pre-dated the tv series but were never a part of it. Something distinctive is being squandered here, I feel.

So that's disappointing. Leaving all of that aside, There are two capers in the book. There's a two chapter Joker storyline, and a single chapter featuring Egghead. There's some well-written humor in the Egghead story as the key to Batman and Robin saving themselves from a fall from a lethal height hinges on scientific knowledge, calculated on the fly by Batman as he's calmly falling to his death. The Joker story irritated me with all the elements I mentioned in the first paragraph, but it has some nice touches and misdirection, and makes good use of the Joker's mental state to set up the plot.

This is still one of the best books DC is publishing right now, despite my gripes. And Parker does a far better job telling complete stories in the limited page count available to him than the various writers over on the similarly digital-first Adventures of Superman manage to do. There have been a few too many "day in the life" stories over there, whereas Parker gives us actual stories with a beginning, middle and end.
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Cobra Files #6:
I grabbed this while leaving the first "Cobra Files" compilation behind (in my pull file until money clears up). Costa focuses on Flint. Much of Flint's '85 spec is carried over to the modern book, complete with his diligence and scholarship. But, Costa manages to modernize the character enough to keep the book from being dated while giving a plausible way for a man of integrity to make the kinds of compromises that Flint has made over the course of "The Cobra Files". Of course, this also sets up for a distressing turn for the title. Apparently, "Cobra Files" is counting down to the end. I am not sure if this means the book is cancelled in order to be re-numbered or if it means that "Cobra" is caput. Similarly, I do not know if it means Costa is going to another book, or if I will just have one less book on my pull-file.
Grade: A (I am tempted to say "F" for the sake of this book being cancelled.



Forever Evil round-up:
From what I have been reading (or at least flipping through), most of the one-shots are "secret origin of ___________" special more than direct cross-overs. But, a few are tied in with the big event.

Reverse Flash: Guess which book this diplaces? Yet another modernized Reverse Flash gets an origin here. This Reverse Flash is the brother of Iris West, which might end up making him Barry's brother in law and/or Wally's father at some point. So, yeah, the new Reverse Flash, despite being edgy and cool and having a grim origin (bad childhood, oh so creative)....is just an evil brother/relative trope. This is the third Reverse Flash, and the second attempt at modernizing the character. I am the last person to call for a return to Silver Age. But, I tend to think that the only way to do a character like Reverse Flash is to have it be Professor Zoom. Mind you, Zoom has not been relevant for about 20 years, and even then only because Waid used him as the case for keeping Barry Allen dead (an arguement so dated that it is now laughable).
Grade: D

Rogues: Guess what book is getting displaced twice? Could it be "the Flash"? Despite their hard core new looks, the Rogues are apparently back to the "do not kill" standard of the Silver Age, even going so far as to avoid a score in order to not harm innocent people. I am actually in favour of this, as not every bad guy needs to be a homicidal maniac. (Aside: The Trixter is not James Jesse. Not sure if this means he is dead post "Flashpoint" or if it means he never existed.) This issue leads in to a "Forever Evil" branded mini-series, "Rogues Rebellion", so it gets points for having relevant branding.
Grade: B/C

Solomon Grundy: This is the second of the two one-shots (last week's "Desaad" being the other) that I was obligated to get. And, it is probably even more forced than the "Desaad" special. Uh, I am not sure what happened. The writer (whose name eludes me despite me having read the book less than 20 minutes ago) tries hard to make this a self-contained origin story and manages to leave out even hand-wave explanations for stuff like "what", "how" and "why". Comic book logic could fill in most of the gaps. But, that logic still needs to be supplied by the writer.
Grade: D

Lobo: I am not sure, but it looks like the gimmick here is "DC is bringing back the real Lobo". By "real" I mean "the character who showed up 30 years ago". This is the pre-Giffen/Bisley Lobo. This is "Lobo is a legit bad-ass" rather than "Lobo is a grotesque parody of the bad ass character". The Lobo featured in this special is shown as being on the hunt for the fake Lobo (who happens to be the guy that most readers associate with Lobo). I might be more enthusiastic about his if I thought DC had an actual plan beyond "get rid of the parody character". But, (despite the fact I like some of what DC has done over the last two years), DC has been flailing enough of late that I have little faith in them having much of a plan for this sort of thing.
Grade: D
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:Solomon Grundy: This is the second of the two one-shots (last week's "Desaad" being the other) that I was obligated to get. And, it is probably even more forced than the "Desaad" special. Uh, I am not sure what happened. The writer (whose name eludes me despite me having read the book less than 20 minutes ago) tries hard to make this a self-contained origin story and manages to leave out even hand-wave explanations for stuff like "what", "how" and "why". Comic book logic could fill in most of the gaps. But, that logic still needs to be supplied by the writer.
Grade: D
Haven't read this one for myself, but I have seen a number of people were disappointed with this issue. It's an origin story with out the actual origin? That's what it sounds like from the reviews I've read at any rate. Seems like an odd way to handle the story. Unless they want Solomon's origin to tie into something that is still coming up?
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Superior Spider Man #18
I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of backstory with Spider Man 2099, but there's enough information last issue and this that I have a decent grasp of his character and his world, and how it relates to the current plot. Admittedly, I could probably follow it better if I'd been reading since Slott introduced the whole think tank where Peter Parker worked. In any case, Spider Ock and Spider Man 2099 fight a bit, with each having a different stake in the outcome of the conflict, so it's thankfully not just the old "heroes fight due to misunderstanding" cliche.

Spider Ock's masquerade continues to unravel as he is simply unable to suppress his ego, as well as being unable to juggle the many aspects of his (or Peter Parker's) private, professional and super-hero life. He snaps at MJ and his spider-troops, ignores the Goblin in favor of Spider Man 2099 largely out of ego, and steals his own inventions and gets fired. A lot happens in this issue as a lot of dominoes start to fall.

Daredevil #31
I can honestly say that this is the first Daredevil issue I've been disappointed in since I started reading, and it's due to politics. Waid builds the plot around a trial and a version of the Trayvon Martin case with a few tweaks to make the shooter absolutely guilty and the kid absolutely innocent. It reads very much like wish fulfillment on his part, and I wonder if Waid wouldn't have been better off avoiding such an obvious allusion to a real world event, given all the deep feelings about it on both sides. Yeah, he's writing a plot based on a racist group stirring up hatred (and then invokes Al Sharpton and Cornel West unironically when those two love to stir the pot), but fictionalizing the situation to a much larger degree might well have been the wiser course of action. Because I'm drawn out of the story due to his approach.

In any case, the villain of the story (who appears on the cover but not in the issue itself, despite Daredevil being sure it's him) taps into a live feed of the prosecuting lawyer (who lost the case) and makes it appear as though he's divulging the names and addresses of all the jurors, starting riots outside the courtroom. Daredevil's solution to stopping the riots is amusing, and makes use of his friendship with Hank Pym, set up about 15 issues ago (assuming he hasn't known him for years, something I wouldn't know since I haven't been reading that long). The issue is bookended with scenes of Foggy Nelson, though the final page can't be what it appears to be. If it is, it's a major change in this book's status quo.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Haven't read this one for myself, but I have seen a number of people were disappointed with this issue. It's an origin story with out the actual origin? That's what it sounds like from the reviews I've read at any rate. Seems like an odd way to handle the story. Unless they want Solomon's origin to tie into something that is still coming up?
It is more a question of there being significant plot points that are not addressed. For example, Grundy's early childhood is shown, but not how he got his powers. Similarly, it is never explained how he got back to Earth after Lantern left him in space. Comicbook logic would likely explain all of those things. And, it is assumed that the setting of "Earth 2" had capes and masks before it was invaded (and the big three heroes were killed). The intention is prettly clearly to leave those things up in the air until the main book addresses them. (Of course, the main book was setting up for a big fight unrelated to Grundy. So, it is likely to be a while before anything from this issue is addressed.)

And, need it be pointed out that "Earth 2" has nothing at all to do with "Forever Evil".


Spider Ock's masquerade continues to unravel as he is simply unable to suppress his ego, as well as being unable to juggle the many aspects of his (or Peter Parker's) private, professional and super-hero life. He snaps at MJ and his spider-troops, ignores the Goblin in favor of Spider Man 2099 largely out of ego, and steals his own inventions and gets fired. A lot happens in this issue as a lot of dominoes start to fall.
Yeah, the longer this goes on, the more Octo-Parker becomes like basic old Peter Parker. And, we can probably assume that by the time that Octo-Parker is resolved, the book will be back to "hard luck Peter Parker" spec. That is a big part of the reason that I am not getting too involved in this book (though I have read the last two issues for the sake of it crossing over with 2099). On a related note, there is a "Spider-Man 2099" compilation coming out next week.



And....

Captain Atom (volume 2):
I have been reading this on and off for about a week. Krul addresses the big question about superheroes interfering in human affairs. In the first volume, Atom saves a small child from cancer. In volume 2, that kid is shown to have grown up in to a demagogue who ends up destroying the world, and Captain Atom has become an angry god. Krul shows the foundation for that change but nicely avoids blatantly showing all of the cliches that one might expect from this type of story. Ultimately, one of the benign future Captain Atoms determines how to alter history and prevent the world's destruction (and presumably ends up wiping himself out of existence) by preventing his past self from saving the kid. And, present day Captain Atom learns that he is not human and simultaneously gains a healthy respect for the limits of his abilities (presumably keeping him from developing a god complex and cult following). So long as DC does not go the obvious route and have this Captain Atom eventually become Monarch, I will be happy.
Grade: A
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:It is more a question of there being significant plot points that are not addressed. For example, Grundy's early childhood is shown, but not how he got his powers.
That's what I mean by origin story without an actual origin. They show who he was, but with out showing how he got his powers... It's not really an origin story.
Comicbook logic would likely explain all of those things.
I can see that for how he got back to Earth. Really the only thing that needs explaining is how he broke free of the moon's gravity, once half way, the Earth's gravity would do the rest of the work. But not for how he got his powers. That I see as needing to actually be shown.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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andersonh1 wrote:Batman 66 #3

As much as I enjoy the concept of this series, and appreciate in principle the idea of broadening the scale beyond what the tv show could do (the airplane chase with the Riddler and Batman hang-gliding on his cape from issue 1, for example, large set pieces), I am constantly annoyed by Jeff Parker's insistance on adding more modern elements to the book. This month we get the "Arkham Institute" and a blonde doctor at the institute named Dr. Quinn. Three guesses as to whether or not her first name is Harley. We also get the blank white eyes on Batman's cowl, though you have to chalk that up to the artist rather than the writer.
[...]
This is still one of the best books DC is publishing right now, despite my gripes. And Parker does a far better job telling complete stories in the limited page count available to him than the various writers over on the similarly digital-first Adventures of Superman manage to do. There have been a few too many "day in the life" stories over there, whereas Parker gives us actual stories with a beginning, middle and end.
I just picked up the issue, but haven't cracked it yet seeing as I finished #2 before bed last night. I'm only replying to this because issue 2 also had blank white eyes on both Batman and Robin's cowls, alternating in and out of panels indiscriminately. If this is a style choice, they really need to own it instead of dicking around, panels with white eyes a la comic books should have different elements that pop out and speak with their own unique voice separate from the rest of the panels' art.

As for the modern elements, they had that in issue 2 and it's cheesy, there was a climate change comment and training in martial arts in a monastery in the Himalayas, I understand the need to be free to branch out a little, but it sticks out like a sore thumb this way.

I do very much enjoy this series so far, even though the art in issue 2's first story is on thin ice *wak wak*. It's fun and doesn't talk down to a younger audience (I find that grating), it's just fun Batman and Robin adventures with a voice that is excellent.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Word is, Issue 9 of Cobra Files will be Costa's last. Thoughts, Dom? Prowl?

I'd love to get caught up, but I only want to read the Costa shit, and if Dom is correct, they've put it in collections with all the other IDW Joe stuff-doesn't make sense, but whatever.
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People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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