Comics are awesome.

[Sparky Prime]

You forgot "Superman/Batman".

And, Millar's comments were a bit on the nasty side, as I read them. Not as bad as Shock seems to think they are, but nastier than you are seeing them. (I will try to post exact quotes later.)

That's why I said Loeb's been criticized for both Marvel and DC work actually. And really my point is how tactful and professional Millar was about what he said.

[Shockwave]

Well it's my understanding that Loeb is know pretty much everywhere for being an enormously huge douchebag. From what I understand (and again, this is 3rd party and therefore sketchy at best) Loeb got fired from "Heroes" for being an epic level dbag and gets a lot of fan criticism for the same thing on both Marvel and DC. The guy at the comic shop yesterday said that's kind of his shtick, he does things just to piss people off. Buuuuuut... that still doesn't make Millar the good guy. If he'd really wanted to be professional about it, he could have just left his comments to where he plans on taking Ultimates without commenting on Loeb at all. My point is two wrongs don't make a right.

However, 2 wrongs squarred, times the square root of pie divided by 18 to the 16 power actually DO make a right.

[138 Scourge]

So, time to get this topic goin' again.

It was sorta depressing going to the comic store the other day. I'd heard via "The Rack" that it was likely to be a HYUUGE week for comics, especially Marvel, so I was looking forward to a megahaul.

True fact: I did not get a megahaul.

The DC section was uninspiring...everything appeared to have either "Blackest Night" or "By Geoff Johns" written on the covers, which are two of the surest ways to get me to not buy a book. And Marvel's got this friggin' Bendis guy getting his suck all over everything, AND they have three friggin' Deadpool books. Son of a bitch, is it the god damn nineties again? I hope not, I'd hate having to look at Leifeld or listen to Pearl Jam again. Just as I'm about to give up, two pieces of beauty drew my eye.

The Incredible Hercules #133: Now bimonthly because Marvel wanted me to know they love me. The way the bimonthly thing goes, you got Herc filling in as Thor in exchange for hiding the new, de-aged incarnation of Zeus in Asgard, and the next you got Amadeus Cho trying to solve the mystery of his origin and track down his missing sister. So while Herc's book has been all about the big, over the top, grand adventure until now, in the Amadeus Cho issues we get an almost "Prisoner"-esque story. I loved the Austrian Paradox Brain critters in this issue, and the town that disappears when you're not looking at it. So, it's in a different gear, but still the same high quality I want outta my current favorite comic.

Batman and Robin #3: Yeah, Bruce Wayne's never really gonna go away, but if he ever did, and Dick took over as Batman, it should totally be exactly like this. I really don't care that my beloved "All-Star Superman" team is doing an in-continuity borderline-event book for their take on Batman. Because since the Bat'll be back soon enough, this amounts to a really good next-generation alternate-reality take on the idea of handing down the mantle of the Bat. Also, this issue, Dick gets an AWE-FRIGGIN'-SOME "I'm Batman" moment, Damien becomes a lot less irritating (which, y'know, he'd just about have to, but still...) and Professor Pyg proves to be wwwwWWWWaaaaAAAYYYY more disturbing than any ol' jive-ass clown has been in years. Also, with the new headquarters and vehicles (Oh, yeah, Quad-Bat), and the brighter color palette used for this comic, it sorta gives off elements of the Adam West TV show. Y'know, in a good way. So, overall, it kinda gave me a boner. By which I mean I was okay with it.

Do you guys follow particular writers and/or artists to various books? I got to thinking about this, because both of those two comics up there I started reading because of the writers. If Van Lente and Morrison weren't involved with those books, I might not be, either. Also, I've noticed that I'll follow a writer most anywhere...I mean, I read Marvel Zombies comics with Deadpool in 'em for Van Lente, but no matter how much I love an artist, a great artist working with a writer I can't stand won't get a bit of my moneys. Case in point: Bendis/Immonen on Avengers or Ultimate Spider-Man.

Just a thought, I dunno. So how's bout you fellas?

[Shockwave]

Not really. I get titles based on if I'm a fan of the property (ie: Transformers, Gargoyles, Buffy etc...). Example: I like Simon Furman (that's right, I said it, anyone wanna fight about it?), I like what Furman wrote on Transformers but if he were to write something for Pokemon I wouldn't read it because I friggin' hate Pokemon. I dunno maybe I'm wierd.

[138 Scourge]

I'll do some of that, such as my long-standing agreement with DC regarding the Metal Men, but I dunno. F'rinstance, big fan of Hercules, but if, say, Bendis were to start writing Herc's adventures, I'd be outta there like a shot.

..and I just realized that I haven't read any licensed property stuff for awhile. Haven't followed any TF comics since the issue of Animated that debuted Oil Slick, and really haven't been interested enough in any other adaptations to follow 'em. Weird.

[BWprowl]

Man, I would SO read a Pokemon book by Furman. "Hn, never did want to faint forever." "Clefairy used Metronome and gave Team Rocket the WORST CASE OF INDIGESTION THEY'D EVER HAD!!" "Charizard, hovering overhead like some vast, predatory bird..."

Okay, that's enough of that. I've still got a pile of comics from this week to read, but the one I did make sure to read as soon as I got the chance was 'Batman: The Widening Gyre" by Kevin frickin' Smith. I'm an absolute whore for Smith and his movies, and I LOVED the last Batman mini he did ('Cacophony'. It's hilarious and amazing. Check it out.) Widening Gyre is pretty good. Not as humorous as Cacophony, but at least it shows that Smith does have other skills. It's got a solid idea involving Bruce Wayne Batman, some new guy who should prove interesting, and The Demon. Yes Scourge, you heard me: The Demon in a Batman comic written by Kevin Smith. Check this thing out.

As for artists/writers I follow: I'll read pretty much anything with art by Gurihiru (they got me to buy a goddamn Wolverine comic), and Fred van Lente is pretty much guaranteed to be entertaining (gotta get the MODOK's 11 trade sometime), though I admit that I miss a lot of his stuff because I just fail to notice his name on the cover. I also have a soft spot for Sean McKeever. I loved his work on 'Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane' a book I initially started reading for the art, and when he went to 'Teen Titans', which was one of my favorite properties at the time, I was overjoyed.

On a side note, I've been digging 'Final Crisis Aftermath: RUN!' as of late. This is another book you might want to check out, Scourge. Shades of MODOK's 11 on this one, and some really funny dialogue that shows they have no intention of taking The Human Flame's post-crisis days seriously. "Impossible? I'm the Human Flame! I eat impossible for breakfast and crap unicorns!"

[Sparky Prime]

The DC section was uninspiring...everything appeared to have either "Blackest Night" or "By Geoff Johns" written on the covers, which are two of the surest ways to get me to not buy a book. And Marvel's got this friggin' Bendis guy getting his suck all over everything, AND they have three friggin' Deadpool books.

Seriously? Johns and Bendis are my two favorite writers right now. As I mentioned before in this thread, Johns has been doing a phenomenal job with Green Lantern over the last several years. I don't follow Flash but I've heard Flash Rebirth has been pretty good as well. And Bendis, I've been following his work from Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers. To me it seems like he's the only writer at Marvel that understands Spider-Man anymore.

Do you guys follow particular writers and/or artists to various books?

I don't really follow any artist or writer. Like I mention above, I like Johns and Bendis work but I don't get absolutely every thing the write. Just the stories/titles I'm the most interested in. Although, there are some writers/artists I absolutely avoid.

[138 Scourge]

The DC section was uninspiring...everything appeared to have either "Blackest Night" or "By Geoff Johns" written on the covers, which are two of the surest ways to get me to not buy a book. And Marvel's got this friggin' Bendis guy getting his suck all over everything, AND they have three friggin' Deadpool books.

Seriously? Johns and Bendis are my two favorite writers right now. As I mentioned before in this thread, Johns has been doing a phenomenal job with Green Lantern over the last several years. I don't follow Flash but I've heard Flash Rebirth has been pretty good as well. And Bendis, I've been following his work from Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers. To me it seems like he's the only writer at Marvel that understands Spider-Man anymore.

Yup, f'real. Bendis has some good ideas and all, but the execution just leaves me cold. Take that "Dark Avengers". Solid concept, I flipped through the first couple issues and all. You get the team established and then immediately hit a boring storyline with friggin' Morgan Le Fay. Which I could have put up with in the hands of a normal writer, maybe, but being Bendis he had to go and make a five or six issue arc out of it. As far as Ultimate Spidey goes, no idea, never really read it because of Bagely, but it looks to be about the same. Gimme Marvel Adventures Spidey with Paul Tobin writing any day of the week. Or maybe Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, I'd heard good things about McKeever's run on that one, and the art looks pretty.

As for Johns, I've gone into why I can't stand his stuff. I made an exception for Legion of Three Worlds, I got burned for that one, and I won't be making that mistake again. Green Lantern: Rebirth really didn't do it for me, between everything interesting ever done with Jordan being Giant Yellow Space Bug and Jordan, who hadn't moved in years, being able to one-punch Batman, I was just left yelling "Bullshit" at the book. But I did try reading some of the later Green Lantern stuff...the first arc or whatever, and then some of the Sinestro Corps War stuff, but it just bored me so bad I couldn't finish either collection. There may be some fun hiding in those books, but damned if I can see it. But y'know, different tastes and all.

[138 Scourge]

On a side note, I've been digging 'Final Crisis Aftermath: RUN!' as of late. This is another book you might want to check out, Scourge. Shades of MODOK's 11 on this one, and some really funny dialogue that shows they have no intention of taking The Human Flame's post-crisis days seriously. "Impossible? I'm the Human Flame! I eat impossible for breakfast and crap unicorns!"

I'll have a look, this looked kinda entertaining when the Aftermath things came out, but I was determined to limit myself on 'em and went with "Dance" instead, because I really dug the Super Young Team and it had Chriscross. But since "Dance" wasn't that great, that spot is freed up. Besides, villain book, yeah?

And of course, Eff yeah on Gurihiru. They make everything better.

[Dominic]

Prowl, that was brilliant. I mean that.


I follow based on habit. This goes for writers, artists and properties. Habit is strongest for property, and weakest for artists. (Even if I did not hate Johns, Perez likely would not have been enough to get me to read "Legion of 3 Worlds".)

Of course, this also applies to my avoiding artists and writers.

Johns, Smith, and Ennis are like "Dom-a-way" for me. Even if I was not sore at Morrison about "Final Crisis", I might well avoid "Batman and Robin" for being a mainline DC event book. Bendis gets a flip through from me.

Furman I read out of hope for a return to the glory days. And, as it is, I nearly skipped "Maximum Dinobots". Johns, Smith or Ennis would get me to drop "Transformers".

Along similar lines, I avoid "Star Wars" after being disappointed by post Episode 3 comics and the "Clone Wars" movie. Ostrander, an old favorite of mine, is a writer I now avoid. "GI Joe" is just this side of going on the "avoid" list.

Scourge, you really need to pick up "All Hail Megatron".


Dom
-still amazed at how bad the Lee "Spiderman" strip in CSN is.