Comics are Awesome II

[JediTricks]

-notes that we technically talk about this in the "other" forums.

Oh, did you? I didn't think to look there, sorry, didn't occur to me. I'll move those 2 posts. To me, these were just generic comic book mistakes, not at all Transformersy.

[Dominic]

This week was heavier than expected, and I ended up leaving a significant number of comics in my pull-file (including this week's "Spotlight: Trailcutter"). I had a "$5 dollars off of anything" card, and decided to use it, bringing this week's haul down to a nice $2.

Age of Ultron #4:
Despite the page and panel count (neither of which being abnormally low), not much happens this issue. Cage and She-Hulk confront Vision. Vison reveals that he is being mind-controlled from the future. She-Hulk dies. Cage makes it to the Savage Land and either dies off panel or is going to die between issues. Time travel becomes an overt thing in this issue. This, combined with some of Marvel's previews, feeds in to the rumour mill without confirming any of the specuation that "Age of Ultron" is going to lead to a "Crisis" style reboot. (I am personally hoping that it does.)
Grade: C


Earth 2 #11:
The new Doctor Fate accepts his.....(wait for it) Fate. The trade-off is that Fate will gain great power, but run a significant risk of lunacy. (Of course, given how badly things seem to be going on Earth-2 in general, a reasonable person just might end up going nutty, so I have wonder how much of a potential cost one's sanity is when traded for great power.) Miracle and Barda as assumed to be hiding in the ruins of Gotham, and this issue establishes that Alan Scott did not fully repair the planet a few issues ago. A solicit for an upcoming issue mentions the fire pits, which makes me wonder how much Robinson is going to play with the fact that this alternate Earth bears a significant resemblance to "classic" Kirby Apokalips.
Grade: B


Dom
-notes that dimension hopping and time travel are themes across Marvel's current offerings.

[BWprowl]

Age of Ultron #4:
Despite the page and panel count (neither of which being abnormally low), not much happens this issue.{Proceeds to give one of the most detailed, eventful plot synopses I've ever seen in a Dom review}

I dunno, I found it funny.

This, combined with some of Marvel's previews, feeds in to the rumour mill without confirming any of the specuation that "Age of Ultron" is going to lead to a "Crisis" style reboot. (I am personally hoping that it does.)

Man, I will miss the hell out of 'Scarlet Spider' if this alleged reboot happens and removes it from the lineup, that's handily my favorite thing on shelves right now (especially since I think I missed last month's issue of 'Bravest Warriors', which I was also really digging. Guess that one's getting a scan downloaded).

I also wonder what such a reboot would spell for Superior Spider-Man, since that book has barely been around for a couple months. I guess it would end up in the same position 'Batman Inc.' was at the time, caught between continuities as it was just getting its feet on the ground. I can't imagine Slott just completely forgetting about the whole thing, though.

Dom
-notes that dimension hopping and time travel are themes across Marvel's current offerings.

I'm only reading the Spider-books, and they're staying away from such things. Hell, Scarlet Spider, being set in Houston, has like no other Marvel heroes in it (a few villains do show up though).

[Dominic]

Honestly, there was not much to say about "Age of Ultron" that did not involved "and then...and then.....and then some other shit happened" style plot summary. It was better done than "Secret Invasion", but not even close to something like "The Seige".


At this point, we do not know if a "Crisis" style reset is actually going to happen, so it is nearly impossible to guess what it would involved. Typically, this sort of thing involves shucking decades of baggage, but "current at the time of the reset" stuff tends to slip through (for good or ill).

More important than any single book is how well the reset is planned. "Flashpoint" was poorly planned and sloppily executed. (It happend to yield a couple of books that I like. But, I am not going to pretend that "Flashpoint" was a well executed plan.) Ironically, the "Crisis Trilogy" was well planned and never followed up on.


Dom
-notes that the "Avengers" and "X-Men" books, as well as FF and "Iron Man" all have some element of time, dimension or space travel.

[Onslaught Six]

Spidey-family books can probably slip through unscathed. Isn't he, arguably, Marvel's flagship character? I mean, most of the associated GL books didn't change.

[Dominic]

Superman in 1986?

Joking aside, being iconic or a flagship character does not necessarily mean anything. Look at the "Superman" books in 1986 or even post "Flashpoint".

On the other hand, a few people at CBR have pointed out that "Age of Ultron" reads like an "Avengers" arc, which arguably makes it less likely that Marvel will be using it as a reset point. (Of course, "Flashpoint" read like a "Flash" arc or miniseriess, and it ended up being the biggest thing since the first Crisis.

[BWprowl]

Of course, "Flashpoint" read like a "Flash" arc or miniseriess, and it ended up being the biggest thing since the first Crisis.

Part of me wonders how long it was actually intended to be that, too.

The Superior Spider-Man #7-
Alright, looks like the forecasted Avengers confrontation doesn’t actually happen in this one (it just barely gets underway at the end of the issue, but it’s clearly meant as the main event of the next one). Instead, Super-Spidey takes on Cardiac, a vigilante doctor who steals high-end medical equipment to help underprivileged patients at his secret clinic. Awwww, what a guy! Unfortunately, Otto’s at the point where he sees crooks as crooks, and has no qualms about trying to lay one of his already infamous smackdowns on Cardiac, despite Ghost-Peter trying to explain that he’s actually not that bad a guy. And he actually gets through, if only for a little bit! This issue establishes that Peter is starting to regain a modicum of control of his own body, the obvious long-term implications being that Peter will eventually be fully ‘back’. Anyway, the other point of this issue is to continue exposing the cracks in Otto’s Superior Superheroing style, in this case that his particular brand of extreme force might not be warranted when dealing with a ‘criminal’ with more scrupulous aims. Also, the equipment being stolen by Cardiac turns out to be some of Octavius’s old tech, which highlights another interesting point: that as impressively as Otto’s putting his mad scientist skills and equipment to work in the crime-fighting biz, he could also be getting more and even better use out of it saving lives in the medical field, underscoring that his need to be a ‘Superior’ Spider-Man is more about his own ego than actually doing the right thing for anyone. If this growing ideology clash pops up at all as he deals with the Avengers next issue, it’ll tie in nicely. Or there’ll just be a big fight and the Avengers might find out there’s something wrong with Spider-Man (seeing Peter happy that SOMEONE finally noticed was amusing, if anything).

[andersonh1]

Some interesting perspectives on what's going on at DC these days:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/the-q-c ... ama.com%29

[JediTricks]

That is a brutal link, but not surprising. Sounds like comic books are becoming the next artistic entertainment medium to get ruined by corporate interference. First it was movies, then television, then music, then books, and now comics. This is the problem with putting bean-counters in charge of subjective ideas. When you read Jim Shooter's blog going back to the late '70s and the '80s at Marvel, you see how destructive that type of situation can be to a medium as fragile as comics, and that was before the worst of the worst. Maybe I'm in a worse mood regarding corporations ruining entertainment after yesterday when Disney closed Lucas Arts, but this has always been something I've felt to a degree. Ron Marz's quote there is a really strong point, it's always been like this to a degree but as these things become more and more valuable, the bureaucrats clamp down harder on the creative end and the irony is that the creative end is the very genesis of their business. If there had been no bureaucrats and bean counters, there would still be those brands and ideas created by creative people (look at TMNT), but without the artistic folks the bureaucrats wouldn't have generated ANYTHING.

[Dominic]

Some people are taking this week's issue of "Stormwatch" as another sign of bad planning by DC. (It apparently involves a retcon of a significant amount of the last year and half's worth of comics.) But, it is the beginning of a new arc, so nothing is definite yet.


From the article:

Then patterns started where rewrites and new art were being requested, almost entirely without pay. There was an expression that used to be used internally: "combat pay." It meant that if you had work approved and completed, but editorial decided to make a major shift, there was an expectation that you'd be paid for your time. That stopped. Many, many rewrites and redraws were requested.

Yikes.

Everybody puts in a little unpaid overtime when needed. But, this sounds like Wal*Mart level "shift-splitting". The fact that the unpaid OT was likely the result of poor editorial/corporate planning only makes it worse.

A new pattern developed. Creators would get overviews approved, scripts would get written, art would be produced, then everything was asked to be redone. It kept happening a lot. It is different for every creator and each book. But that was (and is) the general pattern.

This was happening even after books were published, as evidenced by the "Robin" to "Red Robin" name change in "Titans".

The pressure to compete with Marvel is enormous. DC tasted the nectar of dominant sales in those early months of the 52, they want to be on top, this is why the cracks are so visible. Batman is their most reliable weapon and they are expanding the character to a breaking point in order to generate better sales and market share. The rest of their catalogue that does not feature Batman is a difficult sell to the public so everything is scrutinized in order to maximize sales potential.

That is from Liefeld. LIEFELD.

The issue seems to be that DC forgot how the market really works. Resets and similar jumping on points always boost sales for an issue or two. Then, sales sink down to what they naturally will be. Curiosity sells single issues. But, curiosity is *not* the same as interest. Curiousity got me to flip-through and purchase more than a few of Marvel's "NOW" books. People who do not have the option to flip through a book are more likely to buy it. But, that does not obligate them to buy the next issue.

But, certain books (such as "Captain Atom") fill unique spots in the market and will attract readers consistently. In some cases, those might be the main (or even only) book those readers are in for. (This has happened to me over the years.) Cancelling those books might drive some readers out permanently.


As most people see it, (and there is evidence), DC went in to "Flashpoint" with minimal planning and no clear expectations. The "5 year window" was intuitively contradicted by the fact that the "Batman" books had more implied history than that 5 years allowed for, even allowing for significant back-writing. (Given how high profile the bat-franchise was, and that it was not changing, one might have expected DC editorial to accomodate it more cleanly.) One of the most problematic elements of "Batman" was Damien, who was killed off a few weeks ago. Why did DC keep the character around for only a year (despite the obvious potential for problems) when it would have been easier to write him out with "Flashpoint" and simply give Morrison a year or two of time to write something out of context with the rest of the books?

DC apparently had no clear expectations about sales. Did they really expect to have "issue 1" sales numbers month after month? Guys like Keith Giffen are all but guaranteed to sell a certain number of books. Even if those sales do not break records, they will keep people coming back. But, DC cancelled "OMAC" in the first round.

DC is making creative and editorial mistakes that they were smart enough to avoid in 1986.


I am currently in for 3 DC books, and "Team 7" is getting cancelled next month. I suspect that "Legends of the Dark Knight" (with its rotating creative teams" will have the least stable sales of all the bat-books, if not some of the least consistent over-all. I have to wonder how long DC will let that go on for. And, of course, there is "Earth 2". That is one of the few books that I am picking up for the "stuff what happens" value, specifically because it is so unpredictable. The minute DC cancels that book or changes it too much, I am out.


Dom
-hoping that if the rumours about "Age of Ultron" being a reset point are true, Marvel plans it better than DC has.