TF Views

Dominic wrote:Because the movies are linear, with cross-overs almost being a series, Thor's hammer showing up for a few seconds after the credits is more or less the same as the viewer knowing there is an "Avengers" thing in the works.

You keep saying the movies are linear but... The Hulk reboot came out right after the first Iron Man, and of course had that scene with Stark talking to Ross about his "monster problem", suggesting Stark was there on behalf of SHIELD. Iron Man 2, however, establishes Stark had not taken Fury's offer at the end of the first Iron Man. This then means Hulk must be reordered to take place after Iron Man 2. Granted, not a big deal, but it does kinda throw off how linear the movies are.

Thor's hammer is shown to simply to establish Thor is the next Marvel movie. It isn't the same as mentioning the Avengers at all. They still have more build up and more movies to make before they get there.

andersonh1 wrote:I wonder if the creature is the other Martian that we saw in the Martian Manhunter prestige series "American Dreams"? Johns is enough of a continuity buff to be aware of that series, but I don't know how many readers would be familiar with it.

I think that would make sense, although I would be one of those readers (previously) unfamiliar with it.

Sparky Prime wrote:

andersonh1 wrote:I wonder if the creature is the other Martian that we saw in the Martian Manhunter prestige series "American Dreams"? Johns is enough of a continuity buff to be aware of that series, but I don't know how many readers would be familiar with it.

I think that would make sense, although I would be one of those readers (previously) unfamiliar with it.

I get the feeling it's something else entirely, but I would be pleasantly surprised if it was the second Martian.

andersonh1 wrote:I get the feeling it's something else entirely, but I would be pleasantly surprised if it was the second Martian.

Yeah, I have to say my first thought was that maybe it was another Martian. But I just don't know. This issue really doesn't give us enough detail to know what it is.

138 Scourge wrote:Avengers #1: The store I buy my comics from said "First fifty people to buy this get a free JRJR print!" But really, it's just an ad thing with the pictures of all the Avengers from the "I Am An Avenger" thing. Whatever. Anyway, this issue has Steve Rogers getting this team together quickly, which I like. Who needs to linger over an origin? Screw that, get into the action. The action in question involves Kang coming back and saying "It's your kids, Avengers! Somethings gotta be done about your kids!" The kids in question? These guys. The whole "Alternate future" thing is bandied about so much these days, I'm glad that when Bendis needed one here, he went with one that was already there. Also, after everything that went on lately, Wonder Man's decided that there shouldn't be any Avengers, and he might do something about it. Decent story, fantastic art, I'm in for next issue.

...he did? I loved that movie, so seeing it become pseudocanon is awesome.

Okay, goofing around, checking out various Twitters tonight, and I run into this: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/hulked- ... 00519.html

Now, I'll save everyone the time of reading the whole thing. The main story looks like it could be cool, but the first backup involves Monica Rambeau (former Captain Marvel) fighting who she thinks is NEXTWAVE. It's written by Brian (Atomic Robo) Clevinger and drawn by Gurihiru.

I'm freaking out. Who's with me?

138 Scourge wrote:Okay, goofing around, checking out various Twitters tonight, and I run into this: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/hulked- ... 00519.html

Now, I'll save everyone the time of reading the whole thing. The main story looks like it could be cool, but the first backup involves Monica Rambeau (former Captain Marvel) fighting who she thinks is NEXTWAVE. It's written by Brian (Atomic Robo) Clevinger and drawn by Gurihiru.

I'm freaking out. Who's with me?

Woah woah woah! I knew Clevenger was writing the backups for these (so they were already a must-buy), but now you're telling me that freaking Gurihiru is drawing them?! Is...is the universe coming on to me? Because that's what this feels like.

Oh man, this week's Atomic Robo was amazing. Dr. Dinosaur deserves his own spin-off comic.

BWprowl wrote: Woah woah woah! I knew Clevenger was writing the backups for these (so they were already a must-buy), but now you're telling me that freaking Gurihiru is drawing them?! Is...is the universe coming on to me? Because that's what this feels like.

This is, in fact, what I'm telling you. Or at least this is what Marvel Editor Nate Cosby is telling me:

You THINK you know Nextwave. But you've never seen Nextwave by @bclevinger & @gurihiru (the POWER PACK artists).

Check it for yourself: http://twitter.com/NateCosboom

I'm pretty worthless about posting anything on Twitter, but it's got it's uses.

Justice Society of America: The Bad Seed

Five issues of the monthly series are contained in this trade paperback . Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges take over the writing from Geoff Johns, and Jesus Marino takes over from Dale Eaglesham as the main artist. As a result the series takes on a different look and feel from the first two years. In some cases, this is a benefit and in some cases it’s not.

The basic plot concerns an unknown individual who has put out a bounty on the various members of the Justice Society, with the goal being to destroy the organization entirely. A group of supervillains assemble with powers that can counter those of the JSA. While this is going on, the team is infiltrated by “the All-American Kid”, a psycho who tries to kill Mr. Terrific and kidnap Obsidian. The two stories are apparently connected, as the group out to collect the bounties on the JSA also serve as a distraction to enable the kid to carry out his plan.

Parts of the story are narrated by the Flash, looking back on events from after the fact. One of the things that Willingham and Sturges seem to be doing is focusing more on characters along with the plot, as well as shifting major focus to certain characters while other characters get less page time. This contrasts with Johns’ run on the book where the plot drove the stories, and character moments were there, but served as leaven in the bread, as it were. The team is so large that giving everyone something to do is next to impossible, but allowing the Flash to talk about events gives us an insight into his thoughts. Dr. Fate and Green Lantern help Dr. Mid-nite operate on Mr. Terrific, giving all three of those characters some good defining scenes as well. Mr. America finally gets some decent page time, and Magog squares off with Wildcat over how the team should respond to threats. I feel like I know the characters better after five Willingham issues than I did after 20 Johns issues. That’s not to diminish either author, but just to point out the differences in approach.

The team splits at the end of the story, which is probably a good thing. I like the idea of a genuine society made up of many, many characters, but it does make it difficult to give all the characters something substantial to do. I suspect a smaller team will give the remaining characters more prominence.

Overall: the story is a fairly standard super hero plot where the mysterious bad guy has hired others to destroy the super-hero team. And to some extent they succeed, since the JSA is split at the end of the story. So the story rides on the character interactions, and here “The Bad Seed” succeeds. The situation brings to the surface the tensions caused by different viewpoints on the team, which I found interesting. And the focus on the three remaining Golden Age characters (who I’m generally reading the book for) is welcome.

Nothing for me to read this week. "Ironhide" #2 and "Avengers Prime" #1 are shipping tomorrow. But, I won't be reading those for at least a couple of weeks. Just me and the FCBD pile this week.

Dom
-way the hell behind.

Hah, I had to work Memorial Day so I totally forgot about it being a holiday. I got all excited, hit up the comic store with that "Hell yes, New Comic Day!" feeling, walked in and thought "W-what? Where's the new stuff? Is it Tuesday...?"

But since I'd missed last week, I bought a couple things.

Amazing Spider-Man #632: I usually don't like to buy books like this, the four-times-a-month books. I feel like it dilutes the character and keeps the stories from actually moving. Stuff like Superman, Batman, and yeah, Spider-Man is generally off-limits except for special cases. What I'd heard about this "Shed" storyline piqued my interest. One of Kraven's many, many baby mommas and her daughter have kidnapped psychic Madame Web, and are using her to find out what's about to happen to Peter Parker. They then go out and interfere with those events to make them a hell of a lot harder for Spider-Man. I think that's actually pretty clever. This example thereof: This should have been Peter stopping the eternally-suffering Doctor Curt Connors from eating his son while transformed into the Lizard, like in every other Lizard story since 1963 or so (it may have been '64). Instead, we have the Lizard evolving into a new version of itself, with the ability to tap the reptile brain of anyone around. I like how the central horrifying tragedy for one of the main characters is handled, it feels like a natural outgrowth of the character's story, and not like a cheap shock gag. Plus, Chris Bachalo contributes artwork for this thing, and that guy's artwork is just beautiful. Kudos to him and writer Zeb Wells for doing a bang-up reinvention of the Lizard.

Transformers #7: More incredible artwork. Were you guys saying you didn't care for E.J. as much? Man, I gotta disagree all the way, this stuff is great. Sadly, the story...eh. Too much setup, not enough story moving. I got a lot of little things happening, but nothing that really made me feel like this was a story in it's own right instead of just a long prologue.

Marvel Zombies 5 #3: This series just hasn't done it for me like Van Lente's other contributions to the Marvel Zombies story. I had high hopes, but...okay, I love some zombie movies. It's always sort of been one of my things before the recent fad, and it's gonna be one after zombies stop being so overused in the comics. So this series, wherein a robot, a duck, and a super-fast cowgirl travel to alternate dimensions to harvest samples from different types of zombies should work great. But the homages to Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, and Army of Darkness sort of fall flat. Howard the Duck and Machine Man come off as being...extremely sappy in a lot of places here, which doesn't really work for either character. Of course, this is like, the one series that FVL's done that I haven't really enjoyed, so I'ma let it go this once.

So tomorrow, I'm going after "Hercules: Twilight of a God" because it's a new Space Hercules series by Bob Layton, and it's just amazing to me that it's happening. And "Pet Avengers" #4.