TF Views

Shockwave wrote:I seldom have reason to post in this thread, but that may change. Anyway, picked up Superior Spiderman vol 1. I'm only 10 pages into this but so far, I'm REALLY liking it. It doesn't mess around with the premise, it jumps right into exploring what makes a good super hero (both in terms of intent and effectiveness). And the pacing so far has been great. We immediately see Doc Ock trying to best Peter Parker at being Parker in every aspect of his life. Not just as Spiderman, but being a better scientist and even wanting to be a better boyfriend to MJ. It's well written, the art is good (I never have trouble telling what's going on), and... yeah. It's good. I'm glad I made this my first story in attempting to get back into non TF comics.

I've only rarely followed Marvel series, but Superior Spider Man was one that I read and really enjoyed, thanks mainly to reading good reviews of it here. You're in for a fun series.

I plan to read "Superior" at some point this year. (But, it should be in the retro comics thread.)

Dominic wrote:(But, it should be in the retro comics thread.)

I think this would be the appropriate thread for it. I mean, Superior Spider-Man only ended 2 years ago and is still very much relevant to the current storyline. There's nothing retro about it.

It is pre-"Secret Wars" (or pre-ANAD). (Similarly, with DC, I would consider the upcoming "Rebirth" even to be a similar break.)

Dominic wrote:It is pre-"Secret Wars" (or pre-ANAD). (Similarly, with DC, I would consider the upcoming "Rebirth" even to be a similar break.)

So, what does that matter? In large part, most of Marvel's stories weren't affected by Secret Wars. They went right back to where they were before the whole incursion thing started, Spider-Man included. Which means Superior Spider-Man is still just as relevant now as it was before all the Secret Wars stuff began. Especially given much of the current story line is still the direct result of what Superior started.

Rebirth on the other hand is shaping up to be yet another of DC's periodic universe altering events, where the majority of characters probably will undergo some changes as a result of said event. But even with that, it's a bit hard to call comics that are only a couple years old, making them still fairly recent releases: "retro".

Superman: Lois and Clark #6
Okay, the purpose of the lame villain introduced last issue becomes clear. He's just in the story to delay Superman from rushing in and rescuing Lois and Jonathan, who are kidnapped by Intergang. The guy is a part of a reality show (very topical there, Jurgens) and he's supposed to attack a bridge while wearing an armed suit and being filmed. Things go wrong, of course, and instead of the setup and stuntmen expected, innocent civilians are falling from the bridge to their deaths.

Before all of this happened, Superman was out looking for Lois' publishing contact, who was kidnapped by INtergang to get to Lois. He has Lois call her cell phone, and then uses his enhanced hearing to single out the sound of her ringtone. He rescues her as the Intergang agents are on the verge of putting a bullet into her head, and does so without being seen. As has become standard operating procedure, he uses his speed to avoid being identified. But that can't be done when he's forced to stop and deal with the collapsing bridge. And with the tv cameras rolling, he's probably about to be outed to the world.

In the meantime, Lois picks Jonathan up from school, only to find that he's been researching Superman. The news about New 52 Lois outing the identity of New 52 Superman is everywhere, and between Jonathan finding his father's Superman costume last issue, the fact that his parents look like Lois and Superman of this Earth, and the fact that his powers are starting to manifest, he's worked just about everything out. Intergang leave him and Lois to die in a burning warehouse, but he's able to snap the ropes and put his hand through flames to open the locked door without being injured. There have been some subtle hints that he was inheriting his father's powers in previous issues, but it's out and out confirmed this time.

And the alien queen has finally reached Earth. She confronts Hank Henshaw, demanding the Oblivion Stone.

Everything is falling into place. I wonder how much of this was planned as just the first story arc of an ongoing series? We're still in the first story, Arrival part 6 being the title of the issue. I have no complaints with the pacing of this series. It's never felt drawn out or decompressed. I imagine it was originally meant to take longer for Jonathan to learn who his parents are, and longer for Superman to lose his anonymity, but if so, the series has benefitted from having to fit everything into eight issues.

Speaking of Lois and Clark, judging by that first picture on the link, it looks like Jonathan is going to become the new Superboy. I'm guessing that's Damien Wayne as Robin, so this is more than likely the cast of Super-Sons, one of the post-Rebirth books. For anyone reading Lois and Clark, it wasn't hard to guess where they were going.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... -sons-more

I'm guessing this means post-Crisis Superman will probably remain in the current DC Universe, whatever they call it after Rebirth begins. Will there be two Supermen? Or contrary to my previous guess, will they kill off either the New 52 or the post-Crisis versions? DC had two Supermen for decades when the original Earth 1 and Earth 2 characters were regularly published, so it's not as if they haven't done this before.

As for Jonathan being Superboy, "Superman's son" is an easier explanation for a character than "clone of Superman with some Luthor DNA thrown in". Conner Kent was a good character that was absolutely ruined by the New 52, and is probably beyond repair, so this is a simpler approach.

"New 52" did not ruin Con-El. Con-El was introduced as a secondary character in a story that is a textbook example of what people do not like about event comics (in the 90s no less). The Luthor/Superman hybrid thing just complicated the character's back-story at a time when DC should have learned from the mistake of "otherdimensional shape-shifting-angel Supergirl.

Not saying that "New 52" enhanced Con-El. But, Con-El did not go into that reboot clean.


Speaking of Superman, Marvel launched "Hyperion" this week. So far, this is promising. Rather than the more traditional answer to the "what if Superman was more pro-active?" question, this series is focusing on a Hyperion who tries to avoid acting (in reference to the more aggressive, Nighthawk-led Squadron). (And, there is a character who may as well be Morrison's Lord Broken, from DC's "Multiversity", in a dream sequence.)

andersonh1 wrote:Speaking of Lois and Clark, judging by that first picture on the link, it looks like Jonathan is going to become the new Superboy. I'm guessing that's Damien Wayne as Robin, so this is more than likely the cast of Super-Sons, one of the post-Rebirth books. For anyone reading Lois and Clark, it wasn't hard to guess where they were going.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... -sons-more

Interesting to see Jessica Cruz in a Green Lantern costume rather than as Power Ring. Guess that means she'll actually become a Green Lantern with Rebirth. I have to say, I really like the design of her costume. But it makes me wonder what will happen to Hal, John, Guy and Simon. There's no need to have 5 human Green Lanterns... Really hope to see Kyle back as a White Lantern though.

I also really like the idea of Damian and Jonathan as the "super sons". Great way to bring the concept of legacy characters back to the DC universe by having the actual son's of two of the biggest DC heroes in it.

As for Jonathan being Superboy, "Superman's son" is an easier explanation for a character than "clone of Superman with some Luthor DNA thrown in". Conner Kent was a good character that was absolutely ruined by the New 52, and is probably beyond repair, so this is a simpler approach.

I liked the idea of Superboy being a hybrid clone of Superman and Lex personally... The story where he learned his true origins as having his human DNA come from Lex I felt was one of the strongest they did for the character actually.

But I'd agree the New 52 version really damaged the character and needlessly convoluted his background. Rather than simply a hybrid clone, they made Kon-El a clone of the son of Superman and Lois from a future timeline (whom they thought died and was secretly raised by a villain), all in an effort to cure the original of an illness. And then it gets even more complicated when Jon replaces Conner, but to my understanding their consciousness later fight each other (along with every Conner Kent across the multiverse) in a pocket dimension resulting in Jon's death and Conner returning...

Dominic wrote:It is pre-"Secret Wars" (or pre-ANAD). (Similarly, with DC, I would consider the upcoming "Rebirth" even to be a similar break.)

That's great and all, but that's not how the term "retro" works. Generally it's applied to something that is at least ten years or older. Or at least long enough for it to have faded from recent zeitgeist into pop culture obscurity. Superior Spiderman certainly doesn't fit that as it was my recent memory of Prowl's reviews that led me to check it out in the first place. Red Son on the other hand, I believe does fit that description, at least in terms of how old it is.

EDIT: Oh yeah, picked up volumes 3-6 of Superior Spiderman. My comic shop didn't have volume 2, but they ordered it. Even without volume 2, I seemed able to keep up with the book and it's still great. The villains are appropriately confused and dumbfounded when they start to see first hand that Spiderman is willing to go to more extreme lengths to stop their criminal activities, constantly calling his bluff on the whole "you won't kill me, it's not your way thing" only to be shocked and terrified when they realize that he's not bluffing and will, in fact kill them. Anyway, more on this as it develops, but I gotta say, as my first toe in the pool testing the waters of non TF comic books, I'm thinking the water's great and it's time to jump in.