Comics are Awesome III

[andersonh1]

Batman '66 #19 - ugh, this is a bad sign. This issue just sags at every turn, with premises dropped left and right, cover art promising elements that don't come close to meeting fruition, and just an all over sense of malaise. Everything about this issue felt phoned in.

I enjoyed it, but I agree it lacked the fun and energy of previous issues.

[JediTricks]

Batman '66 #19 - ugh, this is a bad sign. This issue just sags at every turn, with premises dropped left and right, cover art promising elements that don't come close to meeting fruition, and just an all over sense of malaise. Everything about this issue felt phoned in.

I enjoyed it, but I agree it lacked the fun and energy of previous issues.

So many elements just got tossed aside. The Bat-sherlock concept on the cover: nada. Robin inhaling Ffog's chemical mind-warp: nada. The townspeople's amnesia: flamed out after 1 page. Just on and on like that.

[Dominic]

Marvel reboot speculation (growing out of some idle talk at the comic shop):

Marvel is on record as saying that they gave their writers and editors notice about "Time Runs Out". Arcs have to be wrapped up by a given date in order for the reset to happen. (I forget the date. But, it is late spring, early summer.)

At the same time, Marvel has launched new books and taken other books in new directions. "Spider-Gwen", Falcap, She-Thor and others come to mind. Similarly "Superior Iron Man" or Sabertooth being a hero post-"Axis".

Some people have been assuming that those books will be immune to the reset ("sticking" after things settle down) because they started so recently. They logic is that Marvel would not start something to end it so quickly. But, Marvel launches limited series all the time. Just because a series is not billed as "limited" does not mean it was not planned to be. Similarly, Marvel's directive was just to end arcs by a certain date. Beyond that, they might be allowing for all kinds of things they normally would have allowed for had 616 been planned to continue.


As is often the case with big events, as the event draws closer I find myself more interested with what the company (Marvel in this case) plans to do afterwards.

[andersonh1]

And, of course, the Gentry are essentially corrupting information.

I thought this might shed some light on the Gentry.

http://comicsalliance.com/multiversity- ... -morrison/

In a world where everything is protected — people live in houses with locked doors, they put their valuables in safes, they keep their information safe behind passwords and antiviral controls — we allow pretty much anything into our heads. Particularly since the Internet age has really got its teeth in and we’re starting to see some of the effects it’s having on people.

I think, to some extent, that’s a glut of information and a tide of information that’s almost too much for people to take. It has resulted in a kind of sickness in people, exhaustion or resignation. So, ultimately Multiversity is about that, because I like to write stories about stuff that I’m seeing in the world around me, or the stuff I’m feeling. It’s about, are you sure you should be letting all this stuff into your head? How do you honestly feel about all the porn and all the things you see, all the beheadings? What’s it doing in there?

The Gentry kind of represent all those things that we just accept. To me, the result I’m actually seeing is a kind of soul weariness, a cynicism, a sickness that permeates culture. I think we’re all fed up with ourselves and we’re just waiting to be destroyed by the other.

At the same time, I’m trying to talk about real things. That’s where the symbolic content comes in, where the Gentry represent all these bad influences, but really each one of the Gentry is kind of a villain archetype taken to the limit. Intellectron is the mastermind taken to the limit. Dame Merciless is the femme fatale taken to the demonic limit. Demogorgunn is the zombie horde taken to the limit, and so on through the rest of them. Lord Broken is the madhouse, Arkham Asylum taken it to the limit. Each of them represents a fairly understandable villain type once you think about it.

The Gentry was one of those names and it just stuck with me when I was thinking about beings from beyond, and we used to call them The Gentry. Then I thought of them as being bad things from beyond. From that, they started to grow, and then as you said, this idea of gentrification. When I’m talking to you about the kind of ideas we let into our heads, and taken as a thesis of, what if we let in so many shitty, shoddy ideas that we have completely ruined the neighborhood in there? We’ve dismantled, we’ve wrecked our inner houses and we’ve destroyed our inner palaces, and we’ve placed crackhouses in there, imaginatively.

I don’t necessarily believe that this is all true. I thought it would make an interesting idea for a story, so the Gentry then are these bad ideas that come in you when you’ve messed up your head [laughs], so they come in and start rebuilding because you’ve now made it comfortable for them to recreate and build in their own image. So that, again, that’s one of the big things it’s about, this notion of gentrification coming into places and places that have been seemingly broken down and left to ruin and then rebuilding for them the benefit of your own kind.

I hope so. I hope the presence of The Gentry will be more clear. For instance, in the Captain Marvel comic we have dozens and dozens of Sivanas, so they can represent Demogorgunn, as they always appear as some kind of horde. Or Demogorgunn could be the zombies in issue #2 or the Superman robots in issue #3. Because they’re demons, they come in different forms in each world, so I do hope when it’s finished, yeah, you should be able to look back and find a lot of new stuff and hopefully, that’s way it’s been built.

[BWprowl]

At the same time, Marvel has launched new books and taken other books in new directions. "Spider-Gwen", Falcap, She-Thor and others come to mind. Similarly "Superior Iron Man" or Sabertooth being a hero post-"Axis".

It's worth noting that 'Spider-Gwen' wasn't even planned from the start; the character had a series announced after her debut in Spider-Verse due to positive feedback and demand (ironic, as the guy heading the 'Edge of Spider-Verse' anthology admitted to doing it at least partially because he wanted to get Spider-Man Noir brought back, but Gwen ended up being way more popular and the one to get a spin-off). Now, she debuted late last year and the book didn't come out until this week, so it's not like it was rushed to market *too* badly, but it's interesting to think that the need to strike while the iron was hot is what led to a new, anticipated series like that launching right next to a company-wide reboot. Maybe her alt-universe status will keep the book isolated from the incident (hard to say, given that 'Secret Wars' itself is smashing basically every major alt-universe together), maybe they'll just get a few issues out to ride the hype then write it off.

I'd assumed a heroic Sabertooth was to facilitate/tie-into any Age of Apocalypse elements that got used in 'Secret Wars'.

[Dominic]

If I am reading "Time Runs Out" correctly, the Marvel multiverse is going away, similar to how DC's did in '85. (Ignore the back-writes. The intent of "Crisis" was to eliminate a number of things, including the multiverse.)

Reed Richards was shown mentioning that in the span of a few weeks, the remaining multiverse contracted from thousands to 20-odd. (Not sure how timelines that lacked an Earth would have been destroyed in an incursion. But, it is probably safe to assume that the real reasons for "Time Runs Out" trump the need for that to be accounted for.)

There is speculation that characters like Gwen and Miles were either be integrated in to the newly revised Marvel or they will be left on whatever Battleworld ends up being. (The idea in the latter scenario would be that non-mainline variants of characters would exist on Battleworld, rather than in their own timelines.)

Alternatively, Marvel might just apply Quesada's mentality of ignoring consistency to Gwen and just use her as needed. (This would all but guarantee that she gets killed when Marvel inevitably starts prioritizing for consistency again.) Or, the Gwen book might simply get cancelled (unless it sells really well).


Sabertooth and Iron Man being left inverted may simply be a symptom of the reset being so near. (Why bother undoing it when they can get some mileage out of the idea before everything gets undone?) Similarly, 616 Wolverine and Otto are likely to stay dead.

Of course, this is all speculation.

[BWprowl]

Reed Richards was shown mentioning that in the span of a few weeks, the remaining multiverse contracted from thousands to 20-odd. (Not sure how timelines that lacked an Earth would have been destroyed in an incursion. But, it is probably safe to assume that the real reasons for "Time Runs Out" trump the need for that to be accounted for.)

It could be they're just going to prune the endless 'What-If' universes and alternates down to a smaller, defined number of alternate Earths, similar to the Fifty-Two at the end of...52.

There is speculation that characters like Gwen and Miles were either be integrated in to the newly revised Marvel or they will be left on whatever Battleworld ends up being. (The idea in the latter scenario would be that non-mainline variants of characters would exist on Battleworld, rather than in their own timelines.)

Right, I coulda swore I read somewhere that Miles was getting folded into 616, though that could've been speculation, and that still wouldn't leave Gwen anywhere in particular. There was also the rampant speculation for a time that Marvel was going to straight-up excise Peter from 616 and replace him with someone, likely Miles or Gwen, but with the Avengers/Spidey movie deal in place now, that might not be an issue anymore.

Sabertooth and Iron Man being left inverted may simply be a symptom of the reset being so near. (Why bother undoing it when they can get some mileage out of the idea before everything gets undone?) Similarly, 616 Wolverine and Otto are likely to stay dead.

That's a fair point, and one I've been speculating about myself: The writers effectively have total editorial freedom to do whatever they want until Summer, it's gotta be liberating for them to be able to ride out stuff like Superior Iron Man without worrying about how they or someone else is gonna have to reset it.

You mean Wolverine and Ock will stay dead even after the reset, or until? I figured that after all the stuff that went down with Otto, that he would definitely be dead until the reset hit, but he's too iconic a character to not use this opportunity to bring back in a 'fresh' version. That goes double for Wolverine.

Of course, this is all speculation.

Well yeah, but that's half the fun of these things.

[Sparky Prime]

Right, I coulda swore I read somewhere that Miles was getting folded into 616, though that could've been speculation,

Miles was recently featured in a storyline with that had a crossover with Miles and the X-Men and Marvel hyped the story by saying that he was 'joining' the 616 universe X-Men. Although I believe by the end of it, they ended up back in their respective universes.

[Dominic]

You mean Wolverine and Ock will stay dead even after the reset, or until? I figured that after all the stuff that went down with Otto, that he would definitely be dead until the reset hit, but he's too iconic a character to not use this opportunity to bring back in a 'fresh' version. That goes double for Wolverine.

They will be back after. Although, with the movie licensing issues, I would not expect Marvel to rush bringing either of them back.

Some mutants are being re-branded as Inhumans or something else. Wolverine might get that treatment at some point. But, Marvel might just decide to leave some characters fallow. (Many people expect that for the FF as well.)

[andersonh1]

Batman ’66 #20
My only comic in the pull list this week was Batman 66, and on a whim I picked up the regular Batman series as well, because I’d read interesting things about the storyline. What a contrast. The Joker is the villain in both issues, but he’s come a long way since Caesar Romero played him.

This issue is a big improvement over last month. It opens with Egghead robbing a natural history museum, when he’s stopped by “Jokerman”, Gotham’s newest superhero. Who insists that real names not be given in order to preserve his secret identity. He’s always one step ahead of Batman and Robin, and the ever fickle public forget about yesterday’s news in the form of Batman and Robin, embracing instead Jokerman, who gets the key to the city from the mayor. Batman knows he’s up to something, but unable to prove it, decides that Gotham has spoken and retires as Batman.

Then there’s this great exchange while Bruce, Alfred and Dick are at home listening to news about Jokerman.
Bruce: Blast!
Alfred: Such language, Master Bruce!
Bruce: I’m sorry you had to see my dark side, my friends.

Of course, it goes without saying that it’s all a scam by the Joker, who planned crimes with the others criminals in the city then double crossed them so he could be first on the scene to arrest them. Batman and Robin are able to expose him and the day is saved. A scheme so obvious could only work in the absurd world of Adam West’s Batman, but that’s all part of the fun.

Batman #39
Endgame part 4
In contrast we have the current main continuity Batman series by Scott Snyder. For those who haven’t read anything about the plot, it’s the Joker going after Batman, but Snyder has floated the idea that the reason the Joker always survives certain death is because he’s more or less immortal, and has a substance in his spine that keeps him alive and regenerates him. Snyder links it to the Court of Owls and how they animate their undead Talons, though when Batman goes to confront them and get some answers, it’s apparently not exactly the same thing, though close enough.

Meanwhile the Joker apparently knows everything there is to know about Batman, including his identity and who all his friends are. He breaks into the Batcave, and in a typically appalling bit of modern day comic book violence, slices Alfred’s hand off with a meat cleaver while Alfred is trying to defend the Batcave. The Joker then takes a bunch of the trophies from the Batcave and parades them through Gotham, while Batman gathers all his allies and enemies to go fight their way to the Joker.

I can’t say I mind the idea of the Joker as some long-lived fiend, and even though we don’t really need an explanation for why he always survives, it would fit with the character’s history. And supernatural elements in Batman go all the way back to his early days, so they aren’t out of place. However the issue never confirms that this is absolutely true. The Joker says it is, and the story strongly implies it, but there’s enough wiggle room that it could go either way. It’s an interesting idea at least.