Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

Why not expand in to Marvel?

Upcoming series that intrigue: "Squadron Supreme", "All New Wolverine", "Hyperion", "Nighthawk", "Vision" and "Warriors of the Web".


Over at DC, Abnett is taking over "Earth 2". And, Taylor will be on "Edge of Oblivion".

(Ask me again why my pull-file is so nutty.)


Stuff to buy as compilations:
Gillen's "Iron Man" run.
Taylor's "Superior Iron Man" (only 2 volumes): With "Injustice", Taylor wrote the a broken, but well-intentioned, Justice League. With "Superior Iron Man", Taylor just wrote Stark as an absolute SOB. Excellent stuff.

"Secret Wars" and tie-ins:
"Squadron Sinister", "Web Warriors", "the Siege" (pretty art, middling story), "Armor Wars" and "Korvac Saga".


DC just released the first half of "Injustice Year 3".

[andersonh1]

I've tried getting into Marvel. Tried it back when the New 52 was first announced, and have tried sporadically since. I'm just a DC guy... those are the characters I enjoy reading. Apart from Waid's Daredevil or Superior Spider Man, nothing's really drawn me in for long.

I'm on board for Edge of Oblivion.

[Dominic]

Marvel has a deeper creative pool, including guys they pinched from DC.

[andersonh1]

Marvel has a deeper creative pool, including guys they pinched from DC.

It's like I've said before, it's generally the characters that I follow more than creators. Mark Waid is one exception to that. It was fond memories of his run on Flash that led me to try out Daredevil, and it turned out to be a good choice. I wasn't impressed with his writing on the Hulk though, and didn't stick with that for long.

I can't really think of any DC writers or artists that would be enough of a draw for me to follow them over to Marvel. Still, I'll probably try out a Marvel book here or there, and maybe something else will appeal to me.

[Dominic]

Waid is on one of the "Avengers" books.

[andersonh1]

Batman '66 / The Man from UNCLE #1
I've never actually seen an episode of The Man from UNCLE, unless you count the "almost an episode" that the A-Team had in that show's final season. So apart from being aware that it's a 60s spy show featuring an American agent and a Soviet agent working together, I'm going in with no real preconceptions. It's a very Cold War type of series, and that comes across well in the tone of the writing. It feels like a Connery James Bond plot in some ways, so the setup is familiar even if the characters are not.

This issue introduces the characters and the plot of the two TV series, but keeps the two teams of Batman/Robin and Napoleon Solo/Ilya Kuryakin apart. The link between the cases they are working on isn't entirely clear, but Batman TV villain Olga Queen of Cossacks is working for UNCLE's rival spy organization, and someone has employed the Penguin to get Batman and Robin out of the way. Both teams escape from death traps and pursue their leads, without actually meeting.

This is a clash of genres, no doubt. How well it will ultimately blend remains to be seen, but any venture back into the Batman '66 universe works for me.

[andersonh1]

Superman: Lois & Clark #3
This issue continues the pattern established by the first two of showing a flashback set in the past, and then relating it in some way to the present day situation of Superman. In this case, he's forced to break cover for the first time during an incident in a small town where someone named Blanque basically kills everyone in town with telekinetic/telepathic powers. Blanque isn't a very deep villain so far... we don't know anything about him, and he seems to kill just because he enjoys it. He detects that Superman is still alive, and upon seeing him clearly recognizes him as Superman, asking "Who are you? His older brother? Cousin?". "Neither," Clark replies, before dragging Blanque off into space where he is subdued due to lack of oxygen, after taunting Superman that he'll have to kill him to stop him. That's not going to happen of course, and Clark decides to imprison him somewhere.

Returning to the present day, Clark and Lois are discussing Intergang's attack on them from last issue, and they've determined that it was opportunistic. Intergang doesn't know the identity of the writer who is exposing their activities, they just saw the transfer of information and followed Lois, attacking and attempting to kill her in an isolated place. Clark follows Jonathan to school just to be sure he's safe, and then goes to his new Fortress of Solitude, a place he's built (without Kryptonian tech, he notes) as a possible refuge if things go south and he and his family are forced to leave their farmhouse. He's imprisoned Blanque here, and he also took Hank Henshaw here for monitoring, something that turns out to be a mistake, as Blanque is able to read his mind and manipulate Henshaw into releasing him from his prison cell. And Blanque has read enough of Superman's mind to know that he's very concerned about a woman and a child...

And the alien looking for the weapon appears on the last page, as she did in the first issue. This time she learns from a Dominator that he lost the weapon in the Sol system.

So three issues in, and already it looks like the attempt to live secretly on this Earth while still acting as Superman is going to come back to bite Lois and Clark. Threats are coming at them from several directions. Jurgens didn't waste any time in setting things up and then raising the stakes. I hate that we've apparently gone from 12 issues to 8, but that's the way it goes. It's a good series.

[Dominic]

Where can they go with it? Stylistic riffs, like "Batman '66", only work for so long before the joke gets old. Having a redundant piece/character like post-CoIE Superman needs to serve a purpose, especially given how much he muddies the water.

My impression is that DC still has trouble with long term planning, even if the problem is not as bad as it used to be.

The point of "Multiversity" (as evidenced from the recent director's cut issue) was to provide first issues/series bibles for several alternate world series. "Multiversity" ended when the weather was warm. DC has not announced a single follow-up to anything from that series.

I do not thing that DC had any plan for post-CoIE Superman other than establishing that he is around. No need for more than 8 issues to do that.

[andersonh1]

The point of "Multiversity" (as evidenced from the recent director's cut issue) was to provide first issues/series bibles for several alternate world series. "Multiversity" ended when the weather was warm. DC has not announced a single follow-up to anything from that series.

I thought Grant Morrison was writing some follow-ups to Multiversity. I distinctly remember something about a Flash one-shot.

I do not thing that DC had any plan for post-CoIE Superman other than establishing that he is around. No need for more than 8 issues to do that.

It was originally advertised as 12 issues, so I'm guessing sales weren't as high as DC had hoped. Telos went from 12 to 6 issues, and it's clear there that they hoped the high sales of the main Convergence series would translate into an audience willing to follow the new character, but no such luck. I don't know how Titans Hunt is doing. I'm somewhat curious to read it, but I'm trade-waiting that one.

All of this is just DC doing the same thing I've described in the past: throw any and everything against the wall and hope something sticks. The management has made a big mess of their properties, and they can't figure out how to fix it, in my opinion.

[Dominic]

I recall talk about follow-ups to "Multiversity". Not seeing much actual follow-up though.

DC is still cruising along without a plan. The best we can hope for now is decentralized editing. That would allow some creative teams to do well enough on their series. "Convergence" caught DC flat-footed. They had no real plan to follow-up on what was meant to be a filler series. DC seems to recognize that they need to do something different. But, they have yet to figure out what they specifically need to so.

Considering that DC is now averaging 5 years between reboots, they could reboot at any timea. But, that would not solve anything if DC does not have a real plan.

Of course, if the end of "Secret Wars" is anything to go by, Marvel might be having some trouble planning as well.