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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Action Comics #1001
Bendis seems to like slightly humorous dialogue, to the point that he feels like a more restrained James Roberts. That may or may not be good, depending on how far he takes it. This issue furthers the arson plotline by revealing that a clandestine group has been setting the fires to distract Superman while they're busy doing something else, as yet unrevealed, but they've overdone it. And by accusing Superman, something no one is likely to believe, they've got people looking for them. The guy who did it is killed for his mistake. Meanwhile, since this book seems to be slightly ahead of Man of Steel and Superman, Lois is back and writing her memoirs. People in the Daily Planet seem to think she split up with Clark. I'm very much enjoying Clark, Lois and Jon as a happy family, so breaking up the family will make me drop the books real fast.

Mera #6
Mera takes on Ocean Master in the Xebel arena and wins the fight, not by grand, impressive uses of her water manipulation power, which she attempts to employ but fails to beat Orm with. No, in a very small gesture she withdraws the water from his lungs, in effect suffocating him, forcing him to yield. She does not kill him, but the Xebel inhabitants love the fight anyway, and the result, and Nereus is forced to keep his word and send the Xebel army to Atlantis to fight Rath. A miniseries with Mera as the main character is welcome, but it really has felt like an Aquaman subplot more than a standalone story. I guess that's fine, but it does mean that Mera didn't always drive the plot so much as Mera joined circumstances already in motion.

Aquaman #38
And that leads us to the merciful end of the King Rath storyline, as they FINALLY boot this guy from the throne of Atlantis with the help of Mera and the army from Xebel. Aquaman's broken trident still does the job as he stabs Rath with the snapped handle, which doesn't kill him but drives the Abyssal Dark from him, leaving him just another mutant to haunt the lower reaches of Atlantis. I'm glad to see neither Aquaman nor Mera killed him in anger, and in the end he's shown more mercy than he deserves. And awhile Mera is hailed as queen, the issue ends with Atlantis rising to the surface, thanks to his actions in Metal (similar to how Hal Jordan may have caused the rise of the Darkstars in the same way).This plot has dragged on and on, and I am glad to move on to something new.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #49
All the allies that Hal, John, Guy and Kyle recruited fit into place as the telepathic link between the Darkstars is disrupted, they return to their home base to find out why, and Zod's teleportation disruptor keeps them from escaping or dodging the Green Lanterns. John Stewart has sprung a very nice trap, and it's all up to the Green Lantern Corps to shut them down. Hal and Tomar Tu square off and I can't help but think Hector Hammond is going to get up to something bad while Hal's attention is on the fight. This issue flew by, and I think next issue will wrap up this series and Robert Vendetti's run as writer.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:The scene with Strange was not just the politics of Battleworld, it was about the physics. Doom required a degree of "faith" in order to hold what was left together.
I don't think that was it. Doom was actively trying to keep the citizens in the dark as to the true nature of the planet and its origins, not because he needed faith to hold it together, but because he didn't want anyone questioning or challenging his authority as "God".
Marvel was planning to get rid of the multiverse entirely with "Secret Wars". They changed direction at the 11th hour, likely due to the success of "Spider-Verse" (and related titles/character). "the Ultimates" was cancelled early. (This is also known.) Ewing had been building to the return of the Ultimates (faction/world/whatever) for at least a year. What he was planning beyond that is anybody's guess. But, he was going to bring the old Ultimates back.
Secret Wars did get rid of the multiverse entirely with Secret Wars. But I don't see any evidence Marvel changed direction at the 11th hour. I fully expected the multiverse to be restored by the end of the story. And it was. Marvel loves to do alternate universe stories, I don't see them cutting themselves from it altogether (which had been one of the biggest criticisms of DC's CoIE). How can you say no one knows what Ewing had been planning, and then claim he was planning to bring them back? You don't know that. He brought a few back, killed one off again, and then sent them into the multiverse (possibly never to be seen again). That's all we've got. He left it open, but that doesn't mean he had any plans to bring them back beyond that. That's a fairly common thing in comics, where something is left open ended like this, but may never be touched on again.
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Quesada is known to actively dislike the idea of an organized multiverse. He takes the view that if two comics do not match up, they do not match up and fans can just get over it. The lead-in to "Secret Wars" had several "last call" moments for multiversal-derp comics, such as the "evil Avengers" or "Spider-verse".

And, last minute changes are the best explanation for why the end of "Secret Wars" was pushed back ~6 months.
How can you say no one knows what Ewing had been planning, and then claim he was planning to bring them back?
We will not know what Ewing was planning. But, that does not mean he did not have a plan.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:Quesada is known to actively dislike the idea of an organized multiverse. He takes the view that if two comics do not match up, they do not match up and fans can just get over it. The lead-in to "Secret Wars" had several "last call" moments for multiversal-derp comics, such as the "evil Avengers" or "Spider-verse".
That doesn't mean Quesada wanted to do away with the multiverse altogether though. He'd said that he didn't like calling the main Marvel universe the 616 universe. He felt that was just a term fans used (even though it originated in the comics and Marvel has used it quite a bit themselves). He preferred calling the different universes by a proper name rather than a number i.e. the Marvel Universe, the Ultimate Universe, and so on.

And I wouldn't say those lead-in's were "last call" moments. It was meant to show the collapsing multiverse with universes and concepts we were already familiar with.
And, last minute changes are the best explanation for why the end of "Secret Wars" was pushed back ~6 months.
"Best explanation"? There is any number of reasons a comic can end up delayed, conflicts with the writers schedule, the artist taking longer than expected, one of the two having health issues.... Just because it was delayed doesn't mean they made last minute changes, let alone is the "best explanation" for the delay.
We will not know what Ewing was planning. But, that does not mean he did not have a plan.
Doesn't mean that he had a plan for those characters beyond what he used them for in Ultimates2 either.
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Dominic
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Has anybody been keeping up with Injustice, or with the He-Man cross-over?


The cross-over is a mixed bag so far. The writer understands what makes both Injustice and He-Man work, and neither dominates the other (thus far). But, the series relies on the reader knowing/remembering too much back-story from either/both properties.
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Aquaman #39
Part 2 of a crossover with Suicide Squad. I'm only reading the Aquaman issues, but apparently now that Atlantis is on the surface, thanks to something Aquaman did during Metal, Amanda Waller wants to destroy it. I don't see how anyone can read Suicide Squad with the annoying mix of characters, because every time they were on the page, it was bad. And I have no idea how Harley Quinn became so popular if the depiction of her in this issue is typical. Mera has been crowned queen (shouldn't that have happened here in her home series?), and Aquaman gets to be free and clear as a superhero again, though he's doing whatever he can to help her. The regulars are good, the guest characters, not so much.

Action Comics #1002
I'll say it again: if Bendis breaks up the Kent family, I'll drop these books real fast. And it doesn't look promising, as Lois has apparently returned to Earth without getting in touch with Clark, and is writing a tell-all book about her marriage to Superman. It's not the sort of thing a loving wife would do, I would think. Did DC learn nothing from the bomb of a storyline that was "Truth"< where Lois revealed Clark's secret to the world? Jon has not returned, so presumably he's still out in space with Jor-El.

The rest of the book is good, with some movement on the mystery of the arson (set specifically to draw Superman's attention while the criminals carry out their crime elsewhere), and there's a mole in the Daily Planet. The Guardian makes an appearance for the first time in ages, and the art remains excellent. We'll see where all of this goes.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Dominic wrote:Has anybody been keeping up with Injustice, or with the He-Man cross-over?


The cross-over is a mixed bag so far. The writer understands what makes both Injustice and He-Man work, and neither dominates the other (thus far). But, the series relies on the reader knowing/remembering too much back-story from either/both properties.
There's a He-Man cross-over? I recall there was He-Man/Thundercats and that was pretty good, but I thought that was all we were hearing from DC on He-Man.

Apparently I need to get my ass to a comic shop. I'm WAY behind on Transformers and apparently now He-Man has a comic he's showing up in.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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Got to the comic shop. they were sold out of the He-Man crossover, but he'll order more. I did pick some Star Trek TNG comics though. They're crossing over to the Mirror, Mirror universe and well, I'm a sucker for that.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror broken. This story takes place entirely in the Mirror universe. It seems that the Cardassian/Klingon alliance hasn't destroyed the Terran Empire as completely as DS9 would have had us believe. Earth is the only remaining planet in the Empire and Starfleet's ships are more scavangers than anything else. Picard get word of a new "Galaxy Class" ship being built and makes plans to be the who Captains it. He plans to use the Enterprise to restore the Empire to it's former glory. This is as far as I got, I'll post more once I've finished reading it. There is a sequel to it that's in floppies at the moment and I've been reading that too. More on that later as well. So far it's pretty good. It's interesting to see how the Empire is systemically caniballising itself and the artwork is great, with most of the characters looking dead on to the actors that portrayed them. It really does help to immerse into the story.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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So I've wrapped up the Star Trek: The Next Generation Mirror Universe saga so far and... I like it. The first part, "Mirror Broken" takes place entirely in the Mirror Universe and Picard and crew are the protaganists because apparently we want Picard and crew to be the ones on the Enterprise regardless of which universe they're in. Picard and the crew of the Stargazer capture a Cardassian ship and take a few hostages. When they return to starbase to get paid, they get shafted and Picard has Data download the station logs. They learn about the new Galaxy Class starship being produced in secret which is supposed to turn things around for the Empire. Picard decides that he wants it so that he can restore the Empire to it's former glory. Throughout the rest of the story, we learn that Riker is the first officer and that Captain Jellico is in command. And everyone on board hates Jellico. The rest of the story is basically a heist movie that gets all the Enterprise mirror counterparts where they should be. The second story sees the Mirror Enterprise crew try to invade the Prime timeline universe and now they're the villains. This story also gives us a lot more backstory on what happened since the original Mirror Mirror episode. The third one is only one issue into it, but it consists of Mirror Barclay deciding that he's going to replace his Prime counterpart and be a better version of himself. I'm really interested to see where this one goes.
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Re: Comics are Awesome III

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So apparently DC has decided to stop calling Dick Grayson "Dick". Which... Why? I mean, besides the obvious puns on the name. But, when the character has been known as Dick for around 70 years... Seems a little late to be trying to get people to call him Richard or Rich instead.
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