Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

Was it the story? The artwork? Some combination thereof? And if so, what specifically about those were bad? Details, Dom, details.

The art is hardly worth noting either way. Not bad. Not great. But, good enough.

90s comics took the tedious explicatory narrative of earlier decades, and turned it in to.....slightly less bombastic narrative that told us how hard/graceful/awesome the characters were. Costa is playing with that here. But, it reminds me too much of the 90s, and it raising my ire.

Overall, it's entertaining in the moment, if not well enough to be memorable ....

No question. I remember well enough what happened in the first two issues. And, it is not bad enough for me to drop the book.

But, Costa be damned, I would probably not be sticking around for more than another issue or two if this were not a limited series. And, I am unlikely to keep the single issues, let along by the compilation, when this is over.

Not bad filler. But, I am also not climbing the walls for issue 3, ya know?

[andersonh1]

Solicits and spoilers for Convergence: http://shelf-life.ew.com/2015/01/14/dc- ... exclusive/

I'm still debating the main series. If I get a lot of the minis, as I plan to do, I'm not sure I can afford the main series. I guess I'll flip through the books and decide then. Might trade-wait.

Dom, just to spoil one thing

Spoiler

since you're a former Earth 2 reader: that book's Flash, GL, Batman and Superman are apparently heavily involved in the main series

.

[Dominic]

I was never reading "Earth 2" for the characters. I was reading it for the concept and the setting. Both of those things are gone now, so I really have no interest in anything from that book.

This extra-sized issue is packed with twists and turns and appearances you NEVER thought you’d see—including the heroes from the hit series INJUSTICE!

Oh goody. (Hopefully, it will just be a one way cross-over. So long as it does not drag the main "Injustice" book in, I really do not care.)

Most of the solicits read like the sort of thing I would expect form "Injustice" or some other fighting game tie-in. Meanwhile, "Injustice" is one of the most intelligently written books on the shelves.



Flipped through "Star Wars" #1 this week.

Not impressed. Vader shows up in the first issue, because it is apparently set on Tuesday (or something). I can understand wanting to front-load the series. But, with a property like "Star Wars" (that has staying power and built in recognition) it seems like over-kill at best.

The opening pages are a good stylistic nod to the movies. So, points for that.

The preview pages for the Gillen "Darth Vader" book are not filling me with hope. But, they consist of pictures without words, so I will hold off until I have bought and read it.

[andersonh1]

I was never reading "Earth 2" for the characters. I was reading it for the concept and the setting. Both of those things are gone now, so I really have no interest in anything from that book.

No problem, just thought I'd pass it along.

[Dominic]

Thanks. But, my interest in "Convergence" is in what DC will be doing after.

The lead up and event do not really interest me after DC's poor showing for the last few years. (And, I am saying that as somebody who gave DC more of a chance than most.)

-Earth 2: Terdified.
-Worlds' Finest: Waste of time.

-Captain Atom: Solid book, but it lasted barely more than a year.
-Team 7: Cancelled mid-arc after being dragged in to a poorly planned cross-over. Cancelled. Mid. Arc.

-Black Hawks: Cancelled.

[andersonh1]

I wonder how far back the Earth 2/World's End/Convergence plans go? Was this what caused Robinson to leave, I wonder? He had his world-building plans, and DC had a different direction in mind and he refused to go along, possibly.

[Dominic]

I doubt DC had any plans for "Convergence" before Q2 of last year (at the earliest). Given how little planning that DC seems to put in, even that might be optimistic.

Robinson could have left for any number of reasons, likely the waste of time "Superman goes crazy" arc. (DC started pushing "Earth 2" at around that time, which would indicate editorial interest of the sort that would drive off an established writer.)

------------------------------------

My current pull-list (in response to Shockwave's comments about broadening my tastes):

More than Meets the Eye:
Got a spot after "Dark Cybertron". Not my favourite book, and coasting at least partly on habit right now. Going to make a decision after a few more issues.

Empire of Stone:
The first two issues have not impressed me, but they are not terrible. Going to finish this series. May or may not buy the compilation. But, I have realized that McCarthy has not impressed me since "All Hail Megatron". He did some free-lance for Marvel a while ago. But, it was nothing truly great.

Snake-Eyes:
The end of "Cobra Files" was.....disappointing. His "World of Warcraft" book was anemic. And, Costa's run on "God is Dead" is not impressing me. (That is likely a result of Avatar Press' in-house style. But, his over-all track-record leaves me favourable to him. (I liked his TF run. Most of "Cobra" was solid. And, he put in a good showing on "Blackhawks".)

A Real American Hero:
Hama has not impressed me for over a decade (arguably closer to 2 decades). But, with the hype for this book, I am going to give Hama one more chance. (He is one of the first writers I followed, and his work arguably got me in to comics.)


Multiversity:
Waited too long for this book to not read it.


Superior Iron Man:
Tom Taylor's run on "Injustice" has been good enough to make me forgive him for "Earth 2" (which is probably more on DC editorial anyway). The first three issues are in my pull-file while I catch up on other stuff. It looks to be literally and thematically inverting Gillen's run.

Asgard's Assassin:
I am starting to think that I like Gillen better when he writes about certain topics. The first issue of this book did not overly impress me. Giving it another issue or two to be sure though.

Scarlet Spiders:
A little too 90s for my liking (probably resulting from a stylistic riff going too far). No point in dropping a 4 issue book after 2 issues, but I am not likely to hold on to this when it is over.

Avengers:
Hickman is using this book for the countdown to Marvel's "Secret Wars" cross-over and a probably 616 reset. It also happens to be really good.

New Avengers:
Even before the formal countdown started, Hickman was using this book to do the sorts of things that he would otherwise not be able to do in 616 Marvel. At this point, I just hope that "incursion" does not become over-used to the point of being meaningless in the way that "Crisis" has over at DC.


Uber:
Back on my pull-file after impressing me with flip-throughs and casual reading. But, if Gillen turns the Maria/Klaudia fight in to mud-wrestling, I will drop the book again and likely not bother with his work afterwards.


Star Trek/Planet of the Apes:
Mostly reading this for curiosity. The Tiptons did much better with "Infestation: Star Trek" than one might have reasonably expected. So, they are likely to do at least well enough with this.

[BWprowl]

Flipped through "Star Wars" #1 this week. Not impressed. Vader shows up in the first issue, because it is apparently set on Tuesday (or something).

You are probably the only person in the world who would complain about Darth Vader showing up in 'Star Wars'.

From what I recall, he pops up pretty early in the movies too. So.

[Shockwave]

Continued from the Combiner Wars thread since it seems more appropriate here:

Well I certainly understand wanting new content from a hobby and subsequently wanting said content to be good, but the idea that there has to be new content or the idea that you can't just go back and enjoy what you already have from a hobby just seems absurd to me. I mean, by that logic, why would anyone ever own a dvd? Once you've seen the movie, it's old and if there's no point going back or watching it and enjoying it again, then why bother owning the dvd? By extension, Dom mentioned above that he might by the trade of one of the books on his pull file. Why? If something becomes bad just because it gets old, then that means he's not going to read it anyway, so why waste the money?

[andersonh1]

More Convergence spoilers, including one revelation that I had wondered about. http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/7 ... eID=158957

And Action Comics #35 suggests that the Brainiac we meet is the Brainiac of... pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths!

I was hoping this would be the case, that this was Pre-Crisis Brainiac. Let's hope they don't ruin him like they did Alexandor Luthor and Superboy Prime, though at least with Brainiac he's already a villain.

And, if comics writers can be believed when they say things like this, this isn't just a standalone filler storyline.

Dan Jurgens: Some could also argue that the mad god and his angry child(ren) were Dan and the rest of us! Seriously, this is not a dream sequence. It is not imaginary or pretend. There will be consequences to this story-- very real aspects that will stick in the DCU. The ramifications will be quite tangible.