Comics are Awesome II

[Dominic]

Yeah, and answer your phone. The more I get in to your voice mail, the worse the messages get.


Update:
I just got an email from Ryall. Costa is not leaving IDW. In fact, not only is he staying, but they are launching a new magic based book by him next year.

Okay, maybe 2012 will not be the year I get out of comics.


Dom
-plans to pick up the new book.

[Shockwave]

I think Shock's pretty sure.

Since you're loading things off, what else have you got? Update your for sale list. (Incidentally, how's everything going?)

Yeah I'm sure. The dvds sold last week via ebay (which is where most of the sales are at this point). I still have a lot of Transformers left for sale so O6 if you're still interested in the RID bullet trains lemme know. I'll also be getting rid of my Dreamwave collection and my IDW comics and I've also got the full run of the 200x MOTU comics. I've also got random crap like Gargoyles, Buffy, Boondock Saints (yes, they actually made a comic for that)... I'll make a full comics list tonight. The only things I am keeping are my Marvel G1 TPBs and my UK comics, mostly for their sentimental value.

As for how it's going... it's going. I'm still not happy about the forced purge but in the long run this will be a good thing if for no other reason than my parents are going to start to learn a few things about me. And about themselves and I really hope things will be better in the long run. And Dom, sorry about not answering the phone, I've just really been that busy. Heck, I haven't even answered for the long distance gf in over a week. I really should probably call her. But it's always off to the next other thing. And my break is over so I'll continue this later in the "addiction thread".

[andersonh1]

Daredevil #5
I like the evil corporate logo hitman who gets sent after Daredevil this issue. He keeps a list of targets to kill on a smartphone and looks like he's not quite human. He beats Daredevil rather handily in a fight. Fun use is made of Matt's hearing to avoid being shot by a sniper, and his life as a lawyer continues to be relevant to the plot. And Foggy's girlfriend isn't who it appeared to be back in the first issue, so the plot advances on all fronts. This continues to be a good, solid enjoyable book to read.

Aquaman #2
The creatures from deep under the sea decide (no surprise) that people make good eatin'. They attack a fishing boat and then the small town on the coast. A deputy goes and finds Aquaman and Mera to help, but they're outnumbered pretty badly and the leader of the creatures appears to be a match for Aquaman in a fight. The art is great, and the story is one in which the heroes are badly outnumbered, meaning it will be interesting to see how they manage to win, if they do. There's still plenty of Geoff Johns' gore, but it's largely off-panel thankfully.

[Mako Crab]

Didn't buy it, but I've heard the controversy. From the big premiere issue of "Red Hood and the Outlaws." Seriously, what kind of title is that?

Starfire = Iroha. It's true. Here she is looking for anyone with a penis.



Back when the Teen Titans cartoon was on, I told myself that I would never buy the comics, because I knew that it just wouldn't be the same. And I was right. Now I love me some T&A, but she's just spreading her legs for anyone that'll give her the time of day. I just don't really know what to say about this, so I'll let these people do the talking for me.



7-year-old girl spots something different about the new Starfire. . .
http://io9.com/5844355/

Laura Hudson of Comics Alliance curb stomps DC. Rightfully so.
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/09/2 ... erheroine/

[andersonh1]

Yeah, DC's definitely upping the amount of casual sex of the female characters. Not to mention plenty of bare back and sideboob shots. Apparently, being a slut is synonymous with being sexually liberated, or something. :/

[Gomess]

Comic book writers misunderstand feminism?

..Hey, this water is WET!

[Sparky Prime]

Back when the Teen Titans cartoon was on, I told myself that I would never buy the comics, because I knew that it just wouldn't be the same. And I was right. Now I love me some T&A, but she's just spreading her legs for anyone that'll give her the time of day. I just don't really know what to say about this, so I'll let these people do the talking for me.

She may not have been like her Teen Titans cartoon counterpart before the Flashpoint relaunch, but she was nothing like this either. She was a strong, independent and mature character who really valued the relationships/friendships she had. Now, it's like they've thrown that all out the window. I find it hard to believe she doesn't even remember Dick (er.. no pun intended). I really think this is one of, if not the worst thing to come out of the DC relaunch, as all the controversy goes to show.

[Mako Crab]

Yeah, DC's definitely upping the amount of casual sex of the female characters. Not to mention plenty of bare back and sideboob shots. Apparently, being a slut is synonymous with being sexually liberated, or something. :/

Yeah, Laura Hudson said it better than I could:

This is not about these women wanting things; it's about men wanting to see them do things, and that takes something that really should be empowering -- the idea that women can own their sexuality -- and transforms it into yet another male fantasy. It takes away the actual power of the women and turns their "sexual liberation" into just another way for dudes to get off. And that is at least ten times as gross as regular cheesecake, minimum.

*snip*

And the problem is that when I look at these women, I would very much like to see confident ladies who enjoy sex and are having a fun sexy time. But what I see instead are women who give me the same impression as creepy dead-eyed porn stars mechanically mouthing "oh yeah, I want it." And that feeling of coerced sexual enthusiasm is the creepiest, saddest, most unerotic thing I can imagine. And if I were able to have a boner, seeing something like that would make me lose it every time.

I went over to the DC forums to gripe a bit, and there were tons of fanboys over there saying how anyone that didn't like the way Firestar is now a talking blow-up-doll must be a bible-thumping, morally righteous prude. Except that I'm not. And I'd wager that everyone that's upset with Firestar's new portrayal isn't either.
The problem with this new Starfire is, her only defining character trait is that she wants penis inside her. Doesn't matter whose, as she says, because all humans are just nondescript and indistinguishable blobs of flesh to her (I'm basing this off of reviews I've read that say as much). Way to go, DC. I'm sure that didn't just drive off all the female readers you were hoping to bring in with this epic relaunch. Hell, I'm sure it drove off a bunch of male readers too.

[andersonh1]

Laura Hudson of Comics Alliance curb stomps DC. Rightfully so.
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/09/2 ... erheroine/

That's well worth a read. She's identified the problem with this trend. DC ought to be paying attention.

[138 Scourge]

Stuff like that's why Comics Alliance is pretty much the only comics site I mess with.

Back when the Teen Titans cartoon was on, I told myself that I would never buy the comics, because I knew that it just wouldn't be the same. And I was right. Now I love me some T&A, but she's just spreading her legs for anyone that'll give her the time of day. I just don't really know what to say about this, so I'll let these people do the talking for me.

She may not have been like her Teen Titans cartoon counterpart before the Flashpoint relaunch, but she was nothing like this either. She was a strong, independent and mature character who really valued the relationships/friendships she had. Now, it's like they've thrown that all out the window. I find it hard to believe she doesn't even remember Dick (er.. no pun intended). I really think this is one of, if not the worst thing to come out of the DC relaunch, as all the controversy goes to show.

Yeah, she may have been showing a lot of skin back in those days, and had that power where she'd kiss people to absorb their language (I think? Was that a thing?), but she cared about her friends, especially about Dick. This whole "can't tell humans apart" thing pretty much goes in the opposite direction of that, don't it? I like the idea of an alien character having entirely different perceptions of the world than human characters do, but this is just dumb as hell. I liked old Starfire better, it appealed to me that she was probably the team's biggest powerhouse, but the nicest member of the group.

Of course, I'll take the Teen Titans cartoon version of Starfire over either of the comic versions of her any day of the week. Come to that, same goes for the other members of that group except maybe Robin.

But hell with that noise, I got good comics!

Daredevil #5: I agree with everything Anderson said about this book. I'll add in that the plot that Daredevil figures out in this issue is a prime example of Waid being generally clever as all hell. It's perfect for a lawyer superhero to go after, and makes great use of Marvel's myriad criminal societies.

Secret Avengers #18: Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu have to stop the secret criminal organization they've been up against in this arc from mining an alternate universe for a weapon that'll turn Earth into a star. Massive amounts of whoop-ass are unleashed. The art is gorgeous, David Aja did martial arts action in "Immortal Iron Fist", so we know he's good at that, but this time he gets to draw a martial arts expert wrecking people in an M.C. Escher Castrovalva-esque environment. The normal laws of physics don't apply in this universe, and that's used for all kinds of fun visual tricks. And again, single-issue story. There's an overall arc here, but each issue is a complete story. This one's resolution feels a little rushed, but like, "needed maybe one more page, ideally" rushed. Every other writer in comics, please take note: It can be done. Dom, this is the Avengers book you should be reading, at least for this six issues.

Captain America and Bucky 623: Hey Anderson! You reading this book? You should be reading this book. Buck and Toro are bored so they sneak out on a mission they shouldn't be on to rescue an American spy in German hands. They think he's being held in a POW camp. But there's another sort of camp that the Germans had going on in WWII, and this story takes place before that was common knowledge. Bucky says something to the effect of "I knew what war was, I didn't know what hell was." It sounds like it could be heavy-handed, but it really isn't. It's just a good-ass WWII superhero story. Great story, but, I mean, Ed Brubaker writes it, so of course. And amazing artwork by Marc Andreyko.

Spider Island:Cloak and Dagger #3: You know, I don't think I've ever seen these two kiss before. I'm no Cloak and Dagger expert, mind, but I've followed 'em on and off, and I think they've been strictly platonic the whole time. Still, Cloak's trying like hell to get out of the friend zone with Dagger doesn't seem out of place here at all, it fits with both characters. And I like a lot that this is a superhero relationship book that takes place in the middle of an event story. The end of the story leaves these two with their powers and general status quo altered, and I hope like hell Nick Spencer gets to write a regular series with these two just so I know it'll be explored further. As an added bonus, Emma Rios' art is beautiful.

Spider Island: Spider-Girl #3: Now poor Anya Corazon, I'm pretty sure she's not getting a new series out of this, since her last one was cancelled after eight issues. Still, good fun to be had here. Spider-Girl's teamed up with the Kingpin (or, as he is now, the eight-armed Spider-Kingpin) and the Hand to fight off her enemies, the Society of the Wasp. Said society appears to be composed of wasp monsters that hate spiders and spider-people, so you can imagine they're a bit stressed out when everyone in Manhattan's a Spider-Person. Another good fast-moving fun superhero book with a likable lead character. If by some miracle she does get another book, I'll be sure to follow it this time.

Venom #8: Mostly, this issue is Flash fighting against the villain behind the Spider Island even thing. One of her powers is a sonic scream kind of attack. You guys know Venom, right? One of the symbiote's weaknesses is sonic attacks? Yeah, Flash is way outmatched here. So he's gotta man up and fight harder. There's so much good stuff going on here I don't even know where to start, but god damn, it's so good. There's your hero getting his ass kicked, there's overcoming long odds, there's moments of sheer awesome heroism, there's at least one moment that'll break your heart if you've got one. I don't wanna hyperbolize and say that this book gets better every issue, but damn, it feels like it does.

Spider-Man #672: The finale of Spider Island. I've enjoyed event stories before, but it's been a long damn time. And I don't think I've ever been sorry to see one end. Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos knock it out of the fuckin' park on this one. A lot of Marvel's heroes help out, but it's clearly Spider-Man's show. Maybe the eventiness could be overwhelming to some. The spiderification of all of Manhattan's citizens is wrapped up fast, but it's plausible. A giant monster that's the personification of the Spider-Island threat shows up and is taken down, but it's all done really well. You know how good this book is? It has me excited about the fact that there's a Peter Parker clone running around. And I hate 90's Spider-Man with a passion. So, story's been well done every step of the way, and Humberto Ramos...man, I dunno. Anyone read Impulse back in the day and enjoyed his art there? Yeah, he's gotten a lot better since then, and he was already damn good. I understand that Marvel and DC had other events this year, but this was the good event story.

Damn, I rave a lot, but a lot of comics are really good right now, you guys.

Unrelated to stuff coming out now, special message for Gomess. Hey, Gomess, you play fighting games for the story? I'ma recommend a comic that you'd love. You should totally get the collection of "Immortal Iron Fist: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven". The story concerns a tournament these extradimensional cities hold to determine the order in which they appear on Earth. I mean, story based around a fighting tournament? Fighters that all have their own special powers and moves, and represent all these crazy different styles? Secrets going on behind the scenes? All fighting game trademarks, I think. It's good stuff, and I think it's safe to say you don't need knowledge of what goes on in Marvel comics or..really, in the previous collection of this series. This story arc's pretty self-contained, anything you need to know is explained in "Previously on Iron Fist" boxes or from the reader just being able to catch up. Been meaning to recommend this one to you, just haven't gotten around to it yet.