TF Views

Sorry for the lack of content recently. My schedule this summer is punishing.


I skipped this past weekends North East Comicon. No slight to Harrison's, but my wallet said "absolutely not under any circumstances". In all seriousness, after paying the door fee, I would have had barely enough to get through the week, let along buy anything. And, while the guest list was much improved from last time, it was not enough to justify the expense.

($12 is still a bit much for what that show delivers, unless one is going to load up on cheap compilations. Of course, I am pinched enough right now that "cheap" is way relative.)

I did go to a fantastic wrestling match Saturday night. It was, put simply, amazing. Matt "Doink the Clown" Borne is every bit as much fun in person as on screen. And, seeing Benny Juxx and Jay Busta on the same night was an unexpected treat. (Of course, now I want to see them wrestle each other.) I have pics and video. Hopefully, I will get around to posting them....soonish.


Okay, comics and related:

-have secured TFG Drift and Thrust figures.
-have secured OFTCC Double-Spy.
-have secured BotCon Breakdown and comic.
-have BotCon 2010 Streetstar (Streetwise) and empy convention box for sale. #60.
-completed a custom Arachnolord figure.


Transformers Exodus preview by Alex Irvine:
Last week, AllSpark had a link to the first 4 chapters of the new "Transformers" novel. (Apologies for not posting a link. But, with all of the Botcon related news, and my own schedule, I cannot take necessary time to sift through news and links.) Based on the first 4 chapters, and comments made by other fans, this novel is less about narrative or premise than it is about world building and establishing the status quo of Hasbro's new synoptic continuity. Elements from IDW, Dreamwave, the Unicron Trilogy and other eras are blended with far more grace than I had anticipated. This novel is not likely to knock my socks off, but it is thus far very readable.
Grade: pending


GI Joe (Operation HISS) #5:
The IDW sequel to "Rise of Cobra" wraps up. The writer, (whose name eludes me at the moment), does an admirable job of avoiding "OMFG" reveals and moments. The scene with Zartan is played well enough that one need not have seen the first movie. Along similar lines, there are no spoilers for the second movie. IDW seems to be stuggling a bit with finding a "voice" for the new Joe comics. But, this is one of their more readable and straight-forward attempts.
Grade: B



Thoughts on "Heroic Age":
Marvel Age magazine is a neat little racket. Suckers, erm fans, pay $5 for advertorials as presented by Marvel's house organ. This is possible the only place that one is likely to find serious presentations of such absurd ideas like "Heroes Reborn" being something other than a failed experiment in stunting. Amidst all of the fawning self-reverence, there is a carefully redacted history of the "Avengers" franchise. I noticed there was little enough reference to the important work of Jim Shooter and John Byrne, men who are (as far as I know) on the outs with Marvel at the moment.
Grade: D I bought it so you will not have to.



Dom
-will post a new thread for Exodus.

Shockwave wrote:Which makes complete sense. If it's not explained the story just sucks. Almost by definition. Was that your problem with OMD? Because it basically erased something vital to the story with little/no explanation?

Exactly my point. And yeah, that was one of the problems I had with OMD, of several complaints I have with that story...

Dominic wrote:That said, Peter Parker being gay could be reconciled as a "moment of self discovery" or something. I have known people to jump the fence (in either direction) after several years.

Sure, but then any way they reconcile a change to a character in the story means they'd be explaining the changes they made to the character/story, which again, is what I've been saying they need to do whenever they make such mandates.

Justice Society of America #40

We all knew that the Nazi-dominated future timeline would be undone. That was a given. That’s the type of story Willingham has been telling. No problems there. So the question was, how would it be undone, and would the method used be creative or standard? After a brilliant cliffhanger last issue, I have to admit that the story resolution disappointed me.

Mr. Terrific gets the message from the future at a point when he’s been declared dead. Suddenly he bolts upright and warns those present that Obsidian must be restored and how to do it. The execution of the plot bothers me here. The last issue piled setback on top of death, and left our heroes in the worst possible position imaginable, and then compounded that when the message to the past arrived when Mr. Terrific was apparently unable to receive it. Things couldn’t have been worse. But in this issue, that is suddenly resolved quite easily when it turns out that Holt is either not quite dead or else some property of the darkness engine was able to revive him as well as deliver the message into the past. An explanation is not given either way.

It just seems to me that after an excellent build-up last issue that the resolution is way too quick and easy, and an insurmountable problem is solved with a minimum of effort and explanation. All the heroes last issue died for nothing, everything was hopeless, and then suddenly that’s not the case.

On the other hand, Alan Scott's reaction is no-nonsense and exactly right. And I have to admit that it's a relief now that the bubble's burst and we know that the timeline with the Nazis will never come to pass.

The rest of the issue is narrated by the restored Obsidian as the revised history that now exists is summarized. Most of it takes place as it did before, with the addition of Obsidian’s presence during events. The twist is that he’s having vague half-remembered memories of the future that won’t now happen, while Mr. Terrific seems to know everything. That message that his future self was only able to make a few seconds long seems to have contained a ton of information. Or maybe there’s another explanation. Maybe the darkness engine not only revived him, but implanted the knowledge in his head, which is why Obsidian is at least partially aware of it since Obsidian powered the engine. That’s the best explanation I can come up with, and if it’s correct I wish there had been some indication within the narrative that it was the case. As it is, a number of things happen with the cause being very unclear, and that’s not the way the final chapter in a storyline should be written. I like to see the loose ends tied up and things clearly explained.

Still, the final few pages are very good, as Mr. Terrific goes to find Karla, who was his handler in the future. She’s still a young girl, living with her single mom, and he delivers a tuition grant from one of Bruce Wayne’s charities so Karla could have her college paid for. It’s a touching scene, and a great example of a man making a difference by exercising some compassion and empathy. It’s the polar opposite of the Nazi regime we’ve seen over the previous four issues, where brutality and fear were the order of the day.

Overall, there’s a lot to enjoy, but there are some disappointingly sketchy plot developments as well. “Reset” is not a bad ending to the story, but it’s not as strong as it perhaps could have been.

Green Lantern #55
I hate Lobo. So I wasn't too excited to see him turn up in this issue. But it turns out that there's a good story reason for him to be there, and that Atrocitus the Red Lantern has been playing Hal, Carol and Sinestro, using Lobo to further his plans. Not bad for a guy who was at one point the embodiment of mindless rage. And some of the dialogue is amusing and well written, particularly when Jordan banters with Lobo. Better than I expected.

And the red lantern cat gets an origin story. I'm not making this up. Dex-starr, the ordinary housecat whose heart is filled with rage and who wears his red lantern ring on his tail. "I good kitty". Holy cow... that's just bizarre. (As if the rest of the book isnt'). It's not quite up there with FrankenCastle, but it's gotta be close.

The Flash #3
The tie-in to Brightest Day is justified as Captain Boomerang, recently resurrected in the final issue of Blackest Night, is apparently still affected by being a Black Lantern just as the other revived characters are. He's got exploding zombie boomerangs now, or something along those lines. That's just so goofy it's too much fun not to like. He uses the ability to break out of prison and go hunt for the Flash.

Barry Allen takes up a cold case, trying to find out if a convicted young man should have been convicted or not. The 'rogue' policemen from the future arrive to make a second attempt to arrest him, and succeed in neutralizing him this time. His attitude towards the whole situation is what makes the scene, as he just kind of ignores them for a few moments and calmly asks Iris to start looking into the case. And of course, he tries to reason with the rogues, who have come to arrest him for a crime he hasn't actually committed yet. They're having none of it.

This is becoming yet another of my favorite books. And I love the art.

A friend of mine showed me the Dex story, and I gotta say, that is easily my favorite thing that Johns has written. Here I thought Dex was like the kitty version of G'nort-looks like an Earth animal, but is really a sentient alien...but him being a regular kitty is much better. Dude is my favorite Lantern by an extremely wide margin.

I live with three cats. I am obligated to buy this comic.

We need "Green Lantern Lolcats" why exactly?

Johns put a meme in GL? Really?


Dom
-and this is why I avoid DC.

For the sheer hilarity of it.

...I don't know about that. Dex does sort of have thought-box captions in stilted English, but he's nowhere near as annoying as "SG Ravage". And he doesn't do a lot that could tie into that meme. Just because he's a kitty doesn't make him a Lolcat.

Hell, given how over-the-top sad his orgin is, he's more of a "bawwwcat" than anything. I'd think that you would be okay with a story about an animal that's hard-done by getting a space power object and gaining revenge on his tormentors.

Dominic wrote:We need "Green Lantern Lolcats" why exactly?

Johns put a meme in GL? Really?


Dom
-and this is why I avoid DC.

For such a ridiculous concept, it's actually bizarrely entertaining to watch an ordinary housecat wearing a red lantern ring and thinking "I good kitty". I had to laugh.