Comics are Awesome III

[Shockwave]

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.

Until next year at exactly this same time when they'll say the same thing. At this point, reading comics is like listening to your drunk friend try to tell a story. Everyone has a different version, some people were there, then they weren't or they were doing things different and no one can get the story straight. It's official, the inmates are running the asylum.

[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.

Until next year at exactly this same time when they'll say the same thing. At this point, reading comics is like listening to your drunk friend try to tell a story. Everyone has a different version, some people were there, then they weren't or they were doing things different and no one can get the story straight. It's official, the inmates are running the asylum.

Yep, and they've been running it a long time. But this time they're bringing back characters I like for a few months, so they'll get my money for a few months.

Although, it's mainly the typical "nothing will ever be the same again" claim that needs to be laughed out of the room, and they're not really saying that. Saying a story will have consequences going forward isn't all that hard to believe.

Covers and solicitations for the first month: http://www.newsarama.com/23239-dc-s-ful ... gence.html

interview about covers for the series: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/16/ ... -chip-kidd

[Dominic]

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

Having Vader show up and fight Luke so soon after the loss of the Death Star takes away from the impact of him showing up on Hoth several years later.

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?

I archive (or hoard) by instinct. But, even something good is only worth reading so many times (especially when there is other stuff to read).

I read through Gillen's run on "Iron Man" twice. But, I am done with it now.

Yep, and they've been running it a long time. But this time they're bringing back characters I like for a few months, so they'll get my money for a few months.

Although, it's mainly the typical "nothing will ever be the same again" claim that needs to be laughed out of the room, and they're not really saying that. Saying a story will have consequences going forward isn't all that hard to believe.

I think that DC is trying to artificially boost sales again. After "Flashpoint", DC's sales jumped, and then went back down over the course of a year or or so.

The problem is that DC runs the risk of diminishing the impact and significance of a "Crisis" style series. (They arguably already have.) The solicitations make this series look like it is going to be little more than a fighting game.


Speaking of fighting games and comics.....


Injustice Year 3 #7:
It looks like Taylor's run will end with Superman temporarily defeated. Batman and Etrigan's attack on Superman last issue left the Kryptonian comatose. Batman could not bring himself to kill Superman. But, he was able to incapacitate Superman, leaving him comatose and dreaming of a better life. Taylor uses the obligatory dream sequence to give a new gloss to the classic take on Superman, and his reasoning for being so restrained. (Superman did not think that humanity would respond to a non-human telling them what do to. But, if the dream is anything to judge from, Superman wishes that some Earth-born heroes would be more proactive.) Solid stuff from Taylor.
Grade: A

Angela #2:
Might give this series one more issue. But, it is not impressing me. "Angela the Reluctant Mercenary" is just not holding my interest. There is one scene that almost gets in to the "Darkseid like cappuccino" territory that made so many give up on Claremont's "Sovereign Seven" back in the 90s. As much as I miss Gillen's run on "Iron Man", this book is not filling that void.
Grade: C/D

[andersonh1]

Dan Didio talks about Convergence.

http://www.newsarama.com/23268-dan-didi ... -fans.html

DAN DIDIO: CONVERGENCE Leaves 'Every Door Open', Wants To Reunite Generations of DC Fans

Nrama: Getting back to Convergence — this event has so many pre-Flashpoint characters in it, and I think people are wondering if this is more of a "farewell," or a "remembering," or is it a "rebirth," opening the door for more stories featuring the pre-Flashpoint characters?

DiDio: It's a little bit of all of that. When we launched the New 52, it was a rather harsh ending to the current universe. We did the Flashpoint story, which led us into the New 52, but you never got that sense of closure, like you did with other events.

When you look at things like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour, the characters that changed, you saw the character change occur and it sort of brought closure to certain books and characters and stories.

We never did that with the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe. And there are a lot of interesting character beats and stories that we felt were still worth revisiting. So we're telling those stories, but we're also presenting characters in a way that I felt would intrigue fans.

These aren't just leftover stories from pre-Flashpoint. These stories are as if we're joining their lives, later down the line, to see what happened to them.

And then, more importantly, how it fits into the grander scope of things.

And ultimately, you know, we're leaving every door open everywhere. We want to see what the reaction is, where the excitement is… because our goal is to reach as many people as possible. So the more people who get excited about ideas, the more that we'll go back and see whether or not there's this viable option on how to really capture whatever interest they're showing in those characters.

Sounds promising, if like me you're a fan of older versions of DC's characters. Looks like some of them might stick around after Convergence.


And for the Marvel readers.... it looks like Marvel's version of Crisis. Somewhat, anyway.

http://www.newsarama.com/23276-the-marv ... nding.html

[Sparky Prime]

And for the Marvel readers.... it looks like Marvel's version of Crisis. Somewhat, anyway.

http://www.newsarama.com/23276-the-marv ... nding.html

Interesting. Figured the Ultimate Universe would be coming to an end with it down to only one title as it is. It never really recovered from Ultimatum. Kinda makes me wonder if any of those characters will still be around after the reboot though. Really, that's what I'm most curious about, what shape the Marvel Universe will take after this event. They've never done a big reboot event like this before, so will they preserve history, or start over? With the trend they've had of making the comics look more like the films, I'm kind of anticipating they'll go even more into that direction.

[andersonh1]

I think Marvel had better handle this carefully, or they're going to end up with the same problem as DC: they'll drive off loyal, long-time customers. In reading the interview with Didio, I think it's as open an admission as we're going to get that DC may have gained newer, younger readers with the New 52, but they also drove off long-time readers. That they may well have lost as many readers as they gained. They know the DC audience is fragmented.

There are so many things here for everybody. If you were ever a DC comics fan, you'll find something in this that you love.

So it's not just about the generational characters and long-time fans coming back to see them, but really something that plays to all audiences, including the New 52 audience.

We're seeing more diversity in our audience. We're seeing a younger crowd. We're seeing people really enthusiastic about comics. So what we're trying to do is embrace all our audiences, and to create product that I feel talks to everybody.

In 2015, it's my hope that, as we bring the generational aspects of the DC Universe together, that we bring the multiple fans in together with Convergence — that there might be fans coming back in because they see something they remember from the past of DC, and we can bring them together with the new people that have really jumped on board and embraced the New 52.

They know they lost readers. And the thing is, that was entirely predictable. And I suspect that if the New 52 was still as strong as it was in late 2011 and early 2012 that none of this would be happening now. We wouldn't be seeing Convergence. But maybe thanks to falling sales and so many cancellations DC seems to have learned that it doesn't pay to alienate half your audience.

So we'll see what they do. I hope Marvel doesn't make all the same mistakes that DC has.

[BWprowl]

I like the idea that unlike DC, who kinda sprung Flashpoint/New52 on everyone at the last moment, Marvel's giving everyone fair warning and letting their writers wrap-up the various story arcs on their books to give everything fair closure before the big reset button gets pressed. It'll give a nice sense of 'ending', of finality to the proceedings, so even if people are sad to see this exact iteration of everything go, they won't be abruptly left hanging or anything (I maintain this was half the reason New52 pissed so many people off in the first place). The 'Everything Ends' tag-line ties into this, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more interested in how something as huge as the Marvel Universe ended than I was in whatever movie-flavored reboot version came after. I like endings.

I'm also interested in seeing what the writers of the various books get up to in this situation. Think about it: They basically have almost complete editorial freedom to do WHATEVER the fuck they want for the next six months or so, since it won't matter at all afterwards! They don't have to worry about the status quo at all since we're just getting a brand-new status quo after all this. From what I understand (via Dom) Hickman's Avengers run is already getting pretty bananas, and it looks like Slott's going to be doing ever more goofy stuff after Spider-Verse (I had previously figured things would settle back to a simpler Peter-focused book, but now things are hinting that we might not even end the series with Peter). Hell, can you imagine how relieved Slott must be that he doesn't have to worry about what to do with Doc Ock? No concern over him or someone else having to retcon him back to life and young and evil again? It's great!

My only concern is where this'll leave upcoming books, like the much-looked-forward-to Spider-Gwen. Surely they wouldn't give stuff like that just 4-5 issues then cut it off at the knees with the reboot, right? (On the other hand, Spider-Gwen would obstinately take place in an alternate universe, which might spare it from the crossover. On the other other hand, they may use this as an opportunity to just replace Peter with Gwen whole-hog in the 'main' universe, which would be hilarious and awesome.)

[Dominic]

Sounds promising, if like me you're a fan of older versions of DC's characters. Looks like some of them might stick around after Convergence.

All the talk about leaving "the door open" makes me wonder how much of a plan DC really has though. A lack of planning has been their biggest problem for the last few years.

The solicits for "Convergence" make me think it is going to read like a fight book.

Really, that's what I'm most curious about, what shape the Marvel Universe will take after this event. They've never done a big reboot event like this before, so will they preserve history, or start over? With the trend they've had of making the comics look more like the films, I'm kind of anticipating they'll go even more into that direction.

Marvel has been inching in that direction with "Guardians of the Galaxy" and Starlin's "Infinity Revelation". (Thanos is back to where he was in the 70s, as is Warlock.)

We can also expect for the X and FF characters to be downplayed.

I am looking forward to the fantrums that this is going to cause.

Aside from Miles Morales, most of the "Ultimate" characters are pretty redundant. (Morales could fill in for an unusable Parker in "Spider-Man" though. Sony be damned.)

Driving home the point that anything will be possible, Alonso also teased the possibility of bring back old characters during Secret Wars. "If we wanted to resurrect Gwen Stacy," he said with a smile, "this would be the place to do it."

This could turn in to a replay of things we have seen before. But, in some cases, (such as Stacy's death), the old stories might be improved with modern writing and art. (Spider-Man's jabbering on the bridge while holding her corpse is one of the stupidest moments in comics.)

I like the idea that unlike DC, who kinda sprung Flashpoint/New52 on everyone at the last moment, Marvel's giving everyone fair warning and letting their writers wrap-up the various story arcs on their books to give everything fair closure before the big reset button gets pressed.

DC sprang it on everybody, including the writers.


This is being tied directly to the start of "Marvel NOW!". But, the ground-work and light tweaks go back to "the Heroic Age" (with "Age of Ultron" and some of the late-Abnett/early-Bendis "Guardians of the Galaxy" stuff). Assuming no lead-planning time, this has been coming for at least 2.5 years. Assuming a year (which I think is Marvel's typical lead time), it is more like 3.5 from "Marvel NOW!", and as many as 5 years from "the Heroic Age".

In any case, Marvel has been planning this.

The 'Everything Ends' tag-line ties into this, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more interested in how something as huge as the Marvel Universe ended than I was in whatever movie-flavored reboot version came after. I like endings.

Joking aside, I am interested in both. But, I am more interested in what comes after. I can be patient (because I enjoy the comics I am getting now). But, I want to see what comes next.

With DC on the other hand, I just want to get through "Convergence" on the off-chance of getting something good later.

My only concern is where this'll leave upcoming books, like the much-looked-forward-to Spider-Gwen. Surely they wouldn't give stuff like that just 4-5 issues then cut it off at the knees with the reboot, right? (On the other hand, Spider-Gwen would obstinately take place in an alternate universe, which might spare it from the crossover. On the other other hand, they may use this as an opportunity to just replace Peter with Gwen whole-hog in the 'main' universe, which would be hilarious and awesome.)

I doubt that Marvel will get rid of alternative timelines. The one time that was tried (by DC in '85), it failed. Writers mutinied. And, at times, editors had to concede in order to make things work ("Legion of Superheroes" being the most egregious example).

Spider-Gwen was planned knowing that this was coming. So, "Secret Wars" will probably not be a problem for that book.




-late edit:

Bummer of a week for me.

Because of how the calendar worked out this past holiday season, Christmas and New Years worked out to me getting two weeks off. Unfortunately, this lead to me losing two weeks of pay. And, I lost last week owing to a hardware boot-camp class I was taking. And, my phone died last week, so I have another expense.

But, I was going to try to get comics this week. And, then Avatar press killed my enthusiasm.


The latest issue of "Uber" was poly-bagged, which is never a good sign from Avatar Press. It means they are making a low pitch (blood and/or nudity for the sake of), which annoys me anyway. In a book like "Uber" that has moments of true brilliance, it offends me by virtue of wasting page space that would have been better used elsewise.

Dropped "Uber" only a few weeks after I decided to re-add it. At this point, I am wondering if I want to purge the compilation I have. I dunno.

"Uber" would have been the book that made me want to read comics this week. Left some stuff in my pull-file and added the Costa-written Joe book. (For some reason, the last time I added it, it did not go through.


Really soured about this. Gonna get comics next week, if only because "Multiversity" is shipping.

[andersonh1]

Star Trek #40
The final part of “The Q Gambit” picks up where last issue left off, with Q declaring that Pah Wraiths threaten the Q Continuum. Apparently there is a war of higher beings going on, and Q is concerned that his people might lose. I’m not sure I buy that. I can’t think of any point at which the Prophets and Pah Wraiths are said to be even remotely at the power level of the Q. And the characters in the story bring this up to Q, wondering if he isn’t as omnipotent as he likes to pretend, but floating that possibility feels very much like an attempt to paper over the problem to me.

But those are the ultimate stakes, and at least it does raise the resolution of the story beyond that of simply another disastrous future timeline that the heroes fix. And thankfully that particular cliché is avoided. The future DS9 bad scenario is not undone by the end of the story, even though Kirk and crew are returned to the past. Everything that happened still happened. The Dominion still controls most of the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation is gone, and half the DS9 crew are dead, including Sisko by the end of the issue. Kirk and everyone else simply visited the future, participated in events, affected them, and then returned home. The real change happens to Q, who ends up merged with the last Prophet of the new Trek timeline and returns to visit Picard, having gained more power. Though again, how an omnipotent being can gain power is beyond me, so I guess this storyline comes down on the side of the Q not being quite omnipotent. Though since the Voyager crew were able to sneak up on them in “The Q and the Gray”, and the Q could create weapons that injured each other in that same episode, maybe they aren’t all powerful. Maybe that’s a fair reading of the Q.

The art has really slipped. The character likenesses are good for the most part, but not like they were in the first few issues. The guy needs to go back to Photoshopping faces on the art, if that’s what he was doing.

Overall verdict: not bad, and the ending avoided a few of the clichés that this type of story usually indulges in. I will say that the future of the new Trek timeline is pretty bleak, given the events of this issue, though Spock wonders if the fact that they visited that future and retain knowledge of it may cause things to turn out differently.

I am looking forward to the fantrums that this is going to cause.

"Fantrum" is a great term. I may have to borrow it from time to time.

[Sparky Prime]

Marvel has been inching in that direction with "Guardians of the Galaxy" and Starlin's "Infinity Revelation". (Thanos is back to where he was in the 70s, as is Warlock.)

I'd say they've been inching towards that even before those stories, with characters like Nick Fury Jr. and Agent Coulson having been introduced in the comics several years ago already.

Aside from Miles Morales, most of the "Ultimate" characters are pretty redundant. (Morales could fill in for an unusable Parker in "Spider-Man" though. Sony be damned.)

I'd have to disagree that those characters are redundant. There may be a fair amount of similarities, but there are more than a fair share of differences as well.

This could turn in to a replay of things we have seen before. But, in some cases, (such as Stacy's death), the old stories might be improved with modern writing and art. (Spider-Man's jabbering on the bridge while holding her corpse is one of the stupidest moments in comics.)

No. That's one of the most memorable and saddest moments in comic book history.

I can’t think of any point at which the Prophets and Pah Wraiths are said to be even remotely at the power level of the Q. And the characters in the story bring this up to Q, wondering if he isn’t as omnipotent as he likes to pretend, but floating that possibility feels very much like an attempt to paper over the problem to me.

The Prophets have been shown to be pretty powerful, but yeah, not sure they're at the same level as the Q.

But those are the ultimate stakes, and at least it does raise the resolution of the story beyond that of simply another disastrous future timeline that the heroes fix. And thankfully that particular cliché is avoided. The future DS9 bad scenario is not undone by the end of the story, even though Kirk and crew are returned to the past. Everything that happened still happened.

Cliche or not, can't say I like that outcome. You'd think Kirk and crew returning to the past would be able to effect some sort of change on that future. Maybe not necessarily undo it completely, but effect some change.

The real change happens to Q, who ends up merged with the last Prophet of the new Trek timeline and returns to visit Picard, having gained more power. Though again, how an omnipotent being can gain power is beyond me, so I guess this storyline comes down on the side of the Q not being quite omnipotent.

Why does Q merge with a Prophet?