Comics are Awesome II

[Sparky Prime]

- I'm not a big fan of Larfleeze. He's a very one-note character, obviously. He's a greedy idiot with massive amounts of power and not enough intelligence to really use it effectively.

I can't say I'm a big fan of Larfleeze either, but I wouldn't say he's a one-note character. There's a reason he just got his own ongoing series. He's a bit of a tortured character, because the Orange power makes his greed so insatiable. He has been shown to be an effective villain at times, especially when he sets his sights on something he really wants. But his greed also makes him susceptible to manipulation. And he's not the most intelligent of characters which makes him a good choice for comedic relief when the situation calls for it. It has also been shown he longs to find his lost family. There's actually quit a bit of depth to the character, whose power just makes him seem incredibly shallow.

[Dominic]

Quick round-up:

Cobra Files:
The last few years of Costa's "Cobra" run were about characters crossing the line between factions (as infiltrators or defectors). Now, Costa is focused on blurring/erasing the line between factions. The core team effectively includes Flint, Lady Jaye, Ronin, Chameleon, Tomax and Billy. This group often finds itself at cross-purposes with both Joe and Cobra. Issue 3 seems to point out that "Cobra Files" is at cross-purposes with the Van Lente and Dixon Joe books, which would take the concept to a new level.
Grade: A

Earth 2:
Robinson's run on the book is set to end with a big fight that will probably change the core team's line up in some wayl. DC is pushing this book a litte harder, with the "Channel 52" advertorial in the back being replaced with an Earth 2 variant of that idea. At the very least, this shows editorial support for a unique book book.

Star Lord (Hollow Crown):
Marvel is pushing "Guardians of the Galaxy" by reprinting old Star Lord comics from the 70s. The reprint includes an intro from Steve Englehart that basically told readers to not try to reconcile Star Lord with the rest of 616. And, the sourcebook entry at the end of this book just writes off the changes that Bendis has made to the charcter as being the result of there being two Star Lords from multiple dimensions. (The idea is that the one that died during "Annihilation" was the "alternate" Star Lord and that the current Star Lord is the actual 616 native. The comics have some nice (but uncoloured) art. The writing is firmly stuck in the 70s, showing some of the worst elements of the decade's comics, complete with mysticism for the sake of mysticism.

Daredevil (Dark Nights):
If the name were not enough of a hint, the high concept of this series is that it has a rotating creative team. Each team is booked to write a 2 or 3 issue arc that is meant to stand alone, not unlike DC's "Legends of the Dark Knight". The big difference is that "Legends of the Dark Knight" features single issues stories (often multiple stories per issue) while "Dark Knights" features short arcs. I am less wiling to sign on for a book that will obligate me to buy more than one issue from a creator I may not want to both with, even if I am willing to pick it up casually. (Palmiotti is booked for a few issues at the end of this year. I plan to skip those.)

Uber:
Given how much I am liking Gillen's "Iron Man", it makes sense to check out his (creator owned) series. This series uses many of the same ideas that make Gillen's "Iron Man" run so good (the potential and limitations of humanity and technology), but deals more with the economics of developing and deploying superhuman troops. More comics should be published in this vein.


-Distracted Dom....

[andersonh1]

I can't say I'm a big fan of Larfleeze either, but I wouldn't say he's a one-note character. There's a reason he just got his own ongoing series.

Yeah, because Green Lantern comics sell.

I'll defer to you on this, since you've read a lot more Larfleeze than I have. If he's been in the main GL book I've read him, but I haven't read any other appearances, so you know more about him than I do. I'm sure they've developed the character more than I would be aware of. But it's definitely the case that DC is expanding the lines that sell after a few years of trying series with lesser known characters. There's a Sinestro Corps ongoing due in the near future, which will bring the number of GL books to six, I believe.

[andersonh1]

Some comments by George Perez about the state of the big 2 that I find interesting.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=46486

Well, while I have enjoyed considerable professional and personal success with both Marvel and DC, it was becoming all too evident that many of the books being produced by both companies seem to be getting more and more corporate driven. Many of the characters I grew up with were turning into strangers whose adventures were determined by factors that had less and less to do with what made a good comic story and more to do with how these properties can be exploited for other purposes. There's nothing wrong with that, I guess, but not something that I felt was particularly satisfying for me as a storyteller.

Fewer and fewer final decisions are made at the editorial level. Warner and Disney think they can do it all better -- and they're the ones with control and money.

[Sparky Prime]

I'll defer to you on this, since you've read a lot more Larfleeze than I have. If he's been in the main GL book I've read him, but I haven't read any other appearances, so you know more about him than I do. I'm sure they've developed the character more than I would be aware of. But it's definitely the case that DC is expanding the lines that sell after a few years of trying series with lesser known characters. There's a Sinestro Corps ongoing due in the near future, which will bring the number of GL books to six, I believe.

I'd say Larfleeze has had more than enough development in the core title to show he's more than just a one note character. Of course other appearances in other titles have also helped flesh out his character a bit more, but really it's just expanding on elements already introduced in the core title.

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see a Sinestro Corps title. Nice to see the GL books are getting so much attention by expanding to six titles.

[andersonh1]

It is good to see Green Lantern books doing so well. And unlike Batman, to pick one example, GL has multiple characters to work with and different kinds of stories they can tell with those characters, even if they all have the same power-set, or similar powers anyway.

Superior Spider-Man #13
This book definitely has the feel of a storyline that's going somewhere, and I think Ock may have just made the same mistake that Jameson made last issue. Ock got Jameson "on tape" telling him to finish off the Spider Slayer, and Ock uses that recording to blackmail Jameson this issue, which is what I thought he'd do, though not so soon. Ock stabs the Spider Slayer and kills him, though his cybernetic components live on long enough for Ock to be forced to destroy those as well, but not before telling Smythe just who he really is. That's going to come back to bite him. He can't be sure Smythe is actually dead, or that he wasn't also recording. And now Ock's got his own base in the form of the abandoned Raft, and he's hiring henchmen. So the former supervillain turned hero is falling into his old behavior patterns, despite insisting that he's moving forward and forging a new future unencumbered by Parker or his pasts. You keep telling yourself that, buddy. Good stuff.

[JediTricks]

Some comments by George Perez about the state of the big 2 that I find interesting.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=46486

Well, while I have enjoyed considerable professional and personal success with both Marvel and DC, it was becoming all too evident that many of the books being produced by both companies seem to be getting more and more corporate driven. Many of the characters I grew up with were turning into strangers whose adventures were determined by factors that had less and less to do with what made a good comic story and more to do with how these properties can be exploited for other purposes. There's nothing wrong with that, I guess, but not something that I felt was particularly satisfying for me as a storyteller.

Fewer and fewer final decisions are made at the editorial level. Warner and Disney think they can do it all better -- and they're the ones with control and money.

Doesn't surprise me at all, we're all seeing it. Gonna make his spotlight panel next week much more interesting though. But what it does is pave the way for another publisher to step in with content driven by artists again. Unfortunately, we've seen that go south almost every time, so it's a risk, but worth taking.

Superior Spider-Man #13
This book definitely has the feel of a storyline that's going somewhere, and I think Ock may have just made the same mistake that Jameson made last issue. Ock got Jameson "on tape" telling him to finish off the Spider Slayer, and Ock uses that recording to blackmail Jameson this issue, which is what I thought he'd do, though not so soon. Ock stabs the Spider Slayer and kills him, though his cybernetic components live on long enough for Ock to be forced to destroy those as well, but not before telling Smythe just who he really is. That's going to come back to bite him. He can't be sure Smythe is actually dead, or that he wasn't also recording. And now Ock's got his own base in the form of the abandoned Raft, and he's hiring henchmen. So the former supervillain turned hero is falling into his old behavior patterns, despite insisting that he's moving forward and forging a new future unencumbered by Parker or his pasts. You keep telling yourself that, buddy. Good stuff.

Fascinating. Every new issue keeps surprising me by not pulling an April Fools! turnabout, and now it sounds like it's really going somewhere.

[Shockwave]

Superior Spider-Man #13
This book definitely has the feel of a storyline that's going somewhere, and I think Ock may have just made the same mistake that Jameson made last issue. Ock got Jameson "on tape" telling him to finish off the Spider Slayer, and Ock uses that recording to blackmail Jameson this issue, which is what I thought he'd do, though not so soon. Ock stabs the Spider Slayer and kills him, though his cybernetic components live on long enough for Ock to be forced to destroy those as well, but not before telling Smythe just who he really is. That's going to come back to bite him. He can't be sure Smythe is actually dead, or that he wasn't also recording. And now Ock's got his own base in the form of the abandoned Raft, and he's hiring henchmen. So the former supervillain turned hero is falling into his old behavior patterns, despite insisting that he's moving forward and forging a new future unencumbered by Parker or his pasts. You keep telling yourself that, buddy. Good stuff.

Fascinating. Every new issue keeps surprising me by not pulling an April Fools! turnabout, and now it sounds like it's really going somewhere.

Same here. I am seriously going to have to track down the TPB when I have money again.

[andersonh1]

I only started reading with issue 11, so I got the first trade yesterday myself so I can get caught up on the series. I'm not like Dom, I don't expect "changes that stick" and so I won't be disappointed when Parker returns at some point, which I fully expect to happen. But in the meantime, Ock's story has some definite forward momentum to it. He still acts like the stereotypical supervillain with his massive ego, mad science and elaborate plan, making him a lot of fun to read about.

[BWprowl]

I read Superior Spider-Man #13 last night as well, and it delivers exactly the way Anderson says it does (aw man, now I got someone beating me to the punch on these reviews! ). This whole arc was about death, lives coming to a close, beginning with the ominous lead-up to Smythe’s execution and ending with Otto actually carrying it out, and so the denouement of this issue appropriately deals with the idea of legacies. Otto has mentioned before that his ‘victory’ over Peter and stealing his body and life was his greatest legacy, and out-doing the former Spider-Man at the superhero game was a component of that. Now we see him upping his game again, from Spider-Bots patrolling the city and police backup, to full-on henchmen and headquarters to completely shift away from Peter’s superheroing ‘style’ to this new, villain-configured way of doing things he’s been pioneering. As Anderson has said, there’s a clear sense that Slott is setting Otto up for a fall of some sort, he already showed a few issues ago that there were cracks and exploitable fallacies with the way Otto did things, and it makes you wonder what Otto’s ‘turning point’ after so many self-assuring victories will be.

The other stuff tied in nicely to the ‘legacies’ theme as well, with Otto threatening to tarnish Jameson’s as part of his blackmail scheme, as well as Smythe coming up with the same idea Otto did for his (which was very nice to see that Otto wasn’t the only one who had the idea, BTW), as well as an entertaining return for the METAL SPIDER HELMET. This arc, which neatly wrapped up the first ‘phase’ of Superior Spider-Man (he’s getting his new costume next issue) was a great one, and as I said, did an excellent job of summing up what the series is all ‘about’. It’s definitely been one of my favorite things I’ve been reading the last couple months, and I mean that genuinely, which I certainly didn’t think I would way back when this series started at the beginning of the year.

I only started reading with issue 11, so I got the first trade yesterday myself so I can get caught up on the series. I'm not like Dom, I don't expect "changes that stick" and so I won't be disappointed when Parker returns at some point, which I fully expect to happen. But in the meantime, Ock's story has some definite forward momentum to it.

I'm the same, in that I realize you'd have to be seriously unfamiliar with comics to think that Peter isn't coming back at some point. But I do fully expect Otto's story to reach a 'finale' and make its point before that happens (and depending on *how* it does so, could make Peter's return story more interesting anyway!). That said, you've gotta give credit to the editors in the mail section for selling it like Peter's actually gone for good! They respond to every other letter with stuff like "Otto's here to stay!". Suuuuure, guys. (though there is a 'flashback' Spider-Man series starring Peter coming soon, apparently, so that might assuage some people).

Gotta say I'm surprised at seeing some of you other guys take an interest in this series now, given that I know how polarizing it was right off from the concept. Definitely give it a look, anyway.