Comics are Awesome II

[Dominic]

Okay, call it "photo erotica" or some such.

My point is "who the hell is going to fap to comics, even if the comics are intended and executed as any degree of porn"?


I would argue that there is a powerful arguement to be made that "real" books are more out of touch than comics. But, I see your reasoning on this question.


Dom
-no, seriously, Starfire should not even be triggering the reward centers of an adult brain....

[Gomess]

If you fancy Catwoman, then now amount of Jenny Candycrotch (what are pornstars called? I have no idea) will sate you. They fap to comics 'cos they think the *characters* are hot.

And, y'know, 'cos the artists MAKE the characters look hot. Hohum!

[andersonh1]

Hey, DC! I'm a fan of eroticism! And Batman and Catwoman shagging in costume is juvenile and hilarious, not erotic!

Exactly. Everyone realized how stupid this was when Frank Miller wrote the same scene in ASBAR.

I thought the CBR review summed it up well. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... ew&id=3930

And as for the final four pages, when Winick decides to show us Batman and Catwoman getting physical?

Well, there are two problems with this. First, it means that Winick has given 20% of the entire first issue to a scene involving Batman and Catwoman getting down and dirty. That's an awful lot of space for a single, gratuitous scene that feels designed solely to try and grab interest. But second, it feels like it's stepped over a line in a way that wipes out all interest in the relationship. Batman and Catwoman flirting with one another? That can be sexy and fun, and there's that forever hint of sexual tension that you can only guess on if it's being fulfilled. Watching Batman give Catwoman a hickey on her neck right before she straddles him? Not sexy at all, and the mystery and teasing is thrown out the window.

"Catwoman" #1 is a disaster of a comic. Light script, uncomfortable-to-read-in-public-places art, and a destroying of the will-they/won't-they atmosphere between Batman and Catwoman. This could have been fun. This was anything but.

[Dominic]

Wow. Frank Miller is calling DC out on being tasteless.

Frank. Miller. Calls. It. Tasteless.

(late edit: Misread the above post. Miller said no such thing. He would, in fact, probably approve.)

[138 Scourge]

Wow. Frank Miller is calling DC out on being tasteless.

Frank. Miller. Calls. It. Tasteless.

No, Frank Miller wrote the same scene only (I think) with Black Canary in an issue of ASBAR. A reviewer at CBR called it tasteless.

So, good comics, then? Howsabout Venom #7? This issue starts out with Eddie Brock holed up in a church curing people of the spider-virus that's infested Manhattan. Brock wasn't wildly popular with the locals when said spider-virus was only making everybody into Spider-Man. However, once it starts mutating everyone into Spectacular Spider-Monsters, Brock's the prettiest girl at the dance. Oh, yeah...worth noting that Brock's new name-"Anti-Venom" is just kind of a bad pun until you find out about his healing powers. And also, as Anti-Venom, Brock's basically a skinnier Venom with the colors swapped, but he still has the leering, fanged mouth, making him the scariest-looking healer character ever. Anyway, Agent Venom gets word of this, and gets the orders to bring Brock to Reed Richards so he can work out how to make enough of this cure for the whole damn island. So this should work out great, right? Brock wants to heal as many people as possible, Thompson needs to get Brock so a whole lot of people can be healed. Things go south as soon as Flash gets to Brock's church, and decides shooting Brock with tranquilizer bullets is the best introduction. It's not clear if this is because Flash can be a dick or if the symbiote's influencing him, but y'know, it's probably both. Brock's pretty good at spotting the symbiote, and it's on. Brock's villain-to-monster hero is believable here, he hates the symbiote with a passion, says it's a black demon from hell, and asks Thompson questions about his behavior while using it. Meanwhile, the suit tells Flash that they're a better team, but you know it just wants to get back with it's old host. And man, when the symbiote does get back onto Brock for a minute, the artwork really sells the terror that Brock feels about the possibility of being Venom again. Eddie Brock's manner of speech gets kind of hokey in places ("Let the light of God heal you, my child! Be free of the dark spider's curse!") but again, when he's fighting Thompson and talking to him about the things one does while bonded with the symbiote, it's like an older recovered addict letting some junkie kid know he's seen it all before. For seven months straight I can't believe I give half a fuck about Venom, and this time I can't believe that I actually care about Eddie Brock, too.

[BWprowl]

I wasn't surprised at all when I heard Guillem March was behind the art on this Catwoman thing. He was the one responsible for that *hilarious* trio of Oracle Battle for the Cowl covers.

[andersonh1]

For seven months straight I can't believe I give half a fuck about Venom, and this time I can't believe that I actually care about Eddie Brock, too.

A good writer should be able to make you care about a character, so it sounds like whoever is writing the book is doing something right. Aren't they making Flash Thompson Venom, only he's trying not to use the symbiote very often so it won't control him?

[Onslaught Six]

Wow. Frank Miller is calling DC out on being tasteless.

Frank. Miller. Calls. It. Tasteless.

Yeah, not Miller, like Scourge said. Hell, Holy Terror came out this week.

Venom sounds like it's a great book at this point. (Or was this in Anti-Venom? That's the fucking problem with comics, man!)

[Gomess]

It's Essentially Spectacular Anti-Venom.

Volume II.

Not to be confused with Essentially Spectacular Antivenom. That's the old version from the 80s.

Volume 2.

[Sparky Prime]

Venom sounds like it's a great book at this point. (Or was this in Anti-Venom? That's the fucking problem with comics, man!)

I don't see what the problem is. Marvel hasn't even really published an Anti-Venom book. They did a 3 part "Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom" story a couple years ago, but that's the closest to his own titles he's gotten. At any rate, they're only publishing Venom right now.