The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[TKz]

The actual Batman & Robin run from Morrison's run is probably a better bet. It's post-Battle for the Cowl, so you get to see Dick Grayson Batman and Damien Wayne Robin, followed inevitably by Bruce & Damien.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I bought the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus with an Amazon giftcard I got for Christmas. I've only read a few pages, around 85 or so I'd guess, but so far.. what the fuck, Rogue and Magneto are a couple? And they have a child? Uhhhhhhh.

I didn't mind the pairing for the Age of Apocalypse story because it was an alternate universe and there had been some tension between them in the 616 universe; it was when they decided to make Rogue reject Gambit and make her and Magneto a couple in the 616 universe that I minded (it was, what? A couple of years ago? I can't remember when it was, but it was fairly recent.)

[Maxx]

So if I want to start reading Fraction's run on FF, should I jump in at the Marvel NOW! point, or just read Hickman's run as well?

[TKz]

Might as well read Hickman's, it's supposed to be really good. There's a torrent floating around with the complete Hickman run of Fantastic Four followed by FF which comes highly recommended... and it'll explain why FF actually exists, I think. It's on my giant list of runs to get around to, but it's pretty high up. I've actually got a copy of the first Marvel NOW FF sitting around, but I don't think I ever got around to it.

Speaking of the Fantastic Four, we need a Dr. Doom centered crossover event. I feel like he never really gets much attention as a global threat anymore.

[=BK=]

Might as well read Hickman's, it's supposed to be really good. There's a torrent floating around with the complete Hickman run of Fantastic Four followed by FF which comes highly recommended... and it'll explain why FF actually exists, I think. It's on my giant list of runs to get around to, but it's pretty high up. I've actually got a copy of the first Marvel NOW FF sitting around, but I don't think I ever got around to it.

Speaking of the Fantastic Four, we need a Dr. Doom centered crossover event. I feel like he never really gets much attention as a global threat anymore.

I'm not too interested in The Fantastic Four but man I love Doom when he turns up in the things I've been reading. Seems like he might be my favorite Marvel villain I've seen besides Ultimate Magneto.

[GRIFT]

Hickman's run on Fantastic Four is probably the best run any writer has had on a Marvel book in years. It is Simonson on Thor levels of good and tells some great Doom stories -- but it does an exceptional job at writing Reed who I think is one of the harder characters for writers to get right, let alone make likable.

I spent most of my Christmas break from work reading Hickman's other Marvel runs -- S.H.E.I.L.D. and Secret Warriors-- and beyond his meticulous plotting (he basically tells one story across all of his writing for Marvel) he has the all too important, and all too rare, ability to see what made these characters work in the first place and understands how to make those themes resonate 50 years later. There is a reason he was given Avengers after Fantastic Four and FF and why Marvel trusted a single writer to handle a line wide event like Infinity. Also, his run on Secret Warriors made me really sad that their aren't many Classic Fury stories being told.

Classic Fury > *All other Fury's.

[TKz]

Yeah, the wipe of 616 Fury is super heartbreaking. I get why they're doing it, but I kind of feel like we've been over exposed to Ultimate Fury from the entirety of the Ultimate line and the MCU. Way more interesting stories to be told from Nick "I've been around for fucking ever and have seen fucking everything" Fury.

It's going to take a lot to fight back Fraction and Hawkeye from the "best run" title though, GRIFT! But I'll upgrade Hickman's Fantastic Four to my next read post-Brubaker Captain America.

[GRIFT]

Yeah, the wipe of 616 Fury is super heartbreaking. I get why they're doing it, but I kind of feel like we've been over exposed to Ultimate Fury from the entirety of the Ultimate line and the MCU. Way more interesting stories to be told from Nick "I've been around for fucking ever and have seen fucking everything" Fury.

It's going to take a lot to fight back Fraction and Hawkeye from the "best run" title though, GRIFT! But I'll upgrade Hickman's Fantastic Four to my next read post-Brubaker Captain America.

It really is a shame, and yeah I get why they are making the move, but I hold out hope that this will all pass as a fad and we'll get Classic Fury back at some point. He is such a great figure in the history of Marvel, both as a viewpoint character who has been there for its entirety and individually. I think it would be an easier transition if New Fury had any sort of character other than uh, just being New Fury. He has been in capable hands in Secret Avengers but has really nothing to show for himself almost a year in. Instead of having a character with rich relationships to draw from and history that dates back to WW2 we just have a sort of milquetoast replacement who seems less like Nick Fury and more like the SHEILD agent who gets killed at the beginning of a Nick Fury story.

HawkGuy might catch up to Hickman, but isn't even in the same league right now due to the scope of the runs. Fraction has a great 17 issues compared to Hickman's Fantastic Four: (#570–588, renumbered, 600–611) while simultaneously writing FF: (#1–23).

[TKz]

Yeah, it's such a forced character too. They've just thrown him into the mix with no real build up. I feel like I could get behind the idea if they'd put the effort in to build him up as the successor to Fury. But instead it's just like TAKE THIS NEW FURY, HE'S BETTER, HE'S BLACK!

The sad part is that it sounds like Fraction might be leaving Marvel behind to focus entirely on his own franchises. Good for him I guess, but man, I'll miss the fuck out of Hawkguy by Fraction if it happens. He's already bowed out of writing Inhumanity.

Also I've just realized Hickman is the guy writing the current run of New Avengers that's wonderful.

[=BK=]

Did they replace him with Ultimate Fury or is there just another black Nick Fury now?

[GRIFT]

He had a heretofore never mentioned son named Marcus Johnson. Marcus was a Marine who served in Afghanistan who came home after his mother was murdered, enlisting the help of his buddy Phil Coulson (an ex-Ranger inexplicably nicknamed "Cheese"). Over the course of looking into his mother's death he loses his left eye and finds out Nick Fury was his father, that he has Infinity Formula in his DNA that helps him heal and perform at peak condition-- although not his eye, because because. He also takes his father, who he has never met before this caper, Nick Fury's name and becomes a rank and file agent of SHEILD after Nick Sr. disappears having had his remaining Infinity Formula drained from his body either giving him a death sentence that will make this change permanent or later be revealed as another of Fury's clever tricks, also because because.

What is really nuts about this is that Fury is one of the few characters that doesn't ever need rebooting. The Infinity Formula is a perfect out for why he isn't aging at the right rates and his character grows to be more interesting and gets more depth as you get him further and further along the timeline. He is like J. Edgar Hoover taken to an ultimate extreme.

Moreover, I get the push to introduce an African American Fury in the 616 for synergy but I'd be a lot more interested in Nick Fury Sr. and Nick Fury Jr. working together, or Sr. training him to take his place rather than one simply supplanting the other. There is fertile ground in that story and it makes a hell of a lot more sense then them having one adventure together after NEVER interacting and Fury Sr. fading into the shadows. Can you imagine if your long lost missing father showed up for like a week and then ditched again? I am guessing you wouldn't take up his fucking name and continue his life's work.

[Liam]

At various points, I've tried to get into comic books. What I'm looking for now is just an example of some story arcs, trade paperbacks or runs by specific comic writers that are really worth checking out? The whole scene is a bit overwhelming in terms of scope, so thought a look at some of the best stuff would help at least guide me in.

[TKz]

Ed Brubaker Captain America run! It'll give you an idea of what to expect from the next Cap film. Or the 2013 Hawkeye run by Matt Fraction.

[HailtotheYo]

Superior Foes of Spider Man is an absolutely glorious read.

Ed Brubaker Captain America run! It'll give you an idea of what to expect from the next Cap film. Or the 2013 Hawkeye run by Matt Fraction.

Brubaker's Winter Soldier !!!! That series was fantastic ... then he left it, and it had the last couple issues and died

[Monkey D. Lars]

Anyone of you guys/Srar have any tips on a great Ghost Rider comic series?

[MalaCloudy Black]

I started reading Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and only the first two volumes are on the Play Store. :@ WHY NO VOLUME THREE GOOGLE?

[HailtotheYo]

Anyone of you guys/Srar have any tips on a great Ghost Rider comic series?

The end run of the original series is great (issues 76-81).

Issue 35 of the original series is pretty awesome (quite a bit of the original series is underrated in my opinion)

Ghost Rider Annual #2 (1990's)

Ghost Rider Resurrected (TPB of first 7 issues of the 2nd series)

Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (and also the Rise of the Midnight Sons crossover)

[Johnny Latino Heat]

There's something that has been bothering me ever since the Superior Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider crossover, and I keep meaning to ask you guys about it here, but I keep forgetting.

Anyway, here's the deal: when Otto sees Kaine for the first time in the crossover, he remember Kaine killing him, his voice, everything. But the thing is, when he got resurrected, didn't his memories get restored to a previous point in time, before his death? Remember that he had also learned that Peter Parker was Spider-Man and when he came back to life he had no recollection of that fact, so he should have no idea who Kaine was, am I right? Or am I missing something?

[HailtotheYo]

His memories came from a computer chip that Carolyn Trainer had downloaded everything too. She hadn't downloaded that bit yet, but easily could have downloaded the memory of Kaine being his killer (there's unclear storytelling on whether or not she was remolding his mind, or doing something else so the "selective" memories would fit in).

He's also had access to Parker's memories ... so if Parker knew it, he'd know it (and it's pretty conceivable that Parker wouldn't have known that Oc found out his identity before being killed while he was torn up from the virus from the Vulture).

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I guess, but if I remember correctly, at that time he had already discarded Parker's memories, and only had access to what he had accessed before; also, IRRC, he recognized Kaine by his voice and moves, since he had never seen Kaine (as Otto) unmasked before. Still, this confused me a lot since that story.