The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[GRIFT]

I know I am coming to the party a little late on this, but I REALLY like Brubaker's run on Captain America. I missed out on comics for the last 4 years or so, but I've just recently grabbed Marvel's online digital library (surprisingly deep by the way-- pretty much covers from first prints all the way up to the Initiative) and I've been able to go through the whole Winter Soldier saga today. I have to say it has been one of my favorite Cap storylines.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Brubaker's run on Cap is great for a long time, but only until a point.

Spoiler: Click here to view

All the stuff pre Steve Roger's death is awesome, then the fallout is fine, the build up to Bucky vs. Iron Man is back to very good, but then Bucky becomes Cap and I lose interest very quickly, and I got a little sick of the zillion "false finishes" if you like with the villlians that have by this point been the only villians for 40 issues or so.

Edited May 29, 2009 by T'Angelo Barksdale

[Boulder]

Has anyone here read the limited series Books of Doom? I stumbled across it earlier today and it has been an enjoyable exploration of Victor Von Doom and his genesis. It isn't a re-imagining so much as it's an examination of Doom's rise and corruption that fills in a lot of blanks in his origin. I am surprised that it slipped under my radar for so long.

Yeah, after enjoying Cap and Daredevil, when I found out there was a Brubaker Doom mini I needed to have it. It didn't disappoint, it's definitely Doom done right, which isn't something that always happens these days.

[GRIFT]

Has anyone here read the limited series Books of Doom? I stumbled across it earlier today and it has been an enjoyable exploration of Victor Von Doom and his genesis. It isn't a re-imagining so much as it's an examination of Doom's rise and corruption that fills in a lot of blanks in his origin. I am surprised that it slipped under my radar for so long.

Yeah, after enjoying Cap and Daredevil, when I found out there was a Brubaker Doom mini I needed to have it. It didn't disappoint, it's definitely Doom done right, which isn't something that always happens these days.

I think that is what is so great about Brubaker-- he is such a good throw back writer. He really captures the original voice of a character without making them seem antiquated. If you drop a Kirby creation in his hands it usually works out for the best.

I haven't read any of his Daredevil stuff, when was his run with that?

[the machine]

Has anyone here read the limited series Books of Doom? I stumbled across it earlier today and it has been an enjoyable exploration of Victor Von Doom and his genesis. It isn't a re-imagining so much as it's an examination of Doom's rise and corruption that fills in a lot of blanks in his origin. I am surprised that it slipped under my radar for so long.

Yeah, after enjoying Cap and Daredevil, when I found out there was a Brubaker Doom mini I needed to have it. It didn't disappoint, it's definitely Doom done right, which isn't something that always happens these days.

I think that is what is so great about Brubaker-- he is such a good throw back writer. He really captures the original voice of a character without making them seem antiquated. If you drop a Kirby creation in his hands it usually works out for the best.

I haven't read any of his Daredevil stuff, when was his run with that?

It started after Bendis' run and is ongoing. Issue 82 is where it started. I've been reading both and I have to say Cap's been a far and away better book, but Bru's run on Daredevil has been solid and it's illustrated by Michael Lark from Gotham Central. It's a quality "crime" book that gets left alone and turns out solid stories. Both books are way better than Bru's run on Uncanny X-Men which by his own admission has been his least favorite to work on.

Also Bucky as Cap has been consistently great, and the series moved on from the Red Skull arc months ago. It's going to suck when Marvel editorial makes Steve come back, as this is the best the comic has been and the best it's been selling in two decades.

[Gabriel]

I would like to see a conflict between Steve and Bucky, if and when Steve Rogers returns. Maybe not a full scale battle... but something about Steve being upset that someone else put on the costume... or maybe Bucky has a crisis of faith and does something that the old Bucky would have done, instead of the new Bucky, who's trying to honor the memory of his fallen friend.

I don't want him to return, take the costume back and have everything just be okay.

[GRIFT]

I know it will never happen, but I just had a horrible image of Steve Rogers in the Bucky costume.

[Hutch2004]

I really, really hope Marvel have done something really bold, and Steve Rogers never comes back. Can some characters in comic books just stay dead please? For once?

[Timmoru Suzuki]

For Brubaker on Daredevil, his first arc "The Devil Inside and Out vol 1" was excellent, in fact I'd go as far as to say the tpb of that is one of my favourite trades ever. The next part "Devil Inside and Out vol 2" was fine, the arc after was fine, then it goes a bit downhill from there for me. It just became a very standard comic book with rarely any great bits and the odd really dodgy part.

[Herr Matzat]

The accompanying article complains mostly about the violence in the new generation of cartoons featuring the “weirdies”, the Super-Heroes. While the piece does mention both sides of the argument about the effects of violence on children it comes down in favor of the classic and presumably more kid-friendly characters from animation. The author seems to have forgotten how incredibly violent the old cartoons were. They were astonishingly brutal even with the heavy editing that was performed prior to network broadcast to ensure all the explosions and maiming of bunnies at the hands of crazed opera singers were not shown and all the horror occurred between scenes or off-screen.

Additionally, the heroes have and practiced a morality that the funny animal characters never did. More often than not the anthropomorphic critters are portrayed as amoral, homicidal manipulators and every bit as immoral as the villains the super-heroes battle. At the time of this article some groups may have been of the opinion that a rodent setting off a stick of dynamite in a cat’s mouth in order to steal a piece of cheese was harmless, but using a fist made of stone to stop Dr. Doom from conquering the planet was irredeemably damaging to the psyche of children.

http://thatsmyskull.blogspot.com/2009/05/q...r-children.html

[TGC]

Find any of Venom or Carnage's initial appearances written by their creator David Michelinie in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man and you will find classic tales of both characters. Venom's first story appearance in I believe issues 297 to 302 (roughly) are some of the best written and drawn (Todd McFarlane) Venom tales ever. By the time of Maximum Carnage Venom was an anti-hero basically and the storyline spread across something like 8 titles for several months. The story itself wasn't good at all, but as with all crossovers it featured weaker parts as some books were thrust into the fold simply to try to get them to sell some issues. See Warriors, The New.

Brubaker's run on Daredevil comes to a close this year. He will be replaced by Andy Diggle of The Losers, post Secret Invasion Thunderbolts, Adam Strange Planet Heist, and Hellblazer fame. He is a VERY taalented writer, and much like Bru was pretty much cherry picked by Bendis to replace him, so was Diggle by Bru.

Bru's run on Captain America has probably been my favorite Cap run period. I was a fan of Waid's original run before Heroes Reborm and to a smaller extent his post Heroes Reborn stuff, but Bru's run equals and then runs over and decimates even Mark Gruenwald's classic ten year run on the book. That's a run Marvel should trade as it would sell to old fogies like me for sure. Teen Cap and Wolf Cap fucking rocked. Also Captain America number 50/600 comes out in a few weeks now on a special Monday shipping here in the US, and Marvel has already gone back to press for a rather large second printing before the first printing has even shipped, so that might mean something kinda big.

Spoiler: Click here to view

Steve Returns? There was a teaser image released about two to four weeks ago that featured the girl Bucky from the Heroes Reborn world and the copy "Girl Without A World" and referenced Cap 50/600, so obviously she will play a part as well.

As for Steve dtaying dead, won't happen. Not only because he has a movie coming out in the next few years, but because Steve Rogers is Captain America. It has been a very good story and it has really worked well, but he won't stay dead anymore than Batman will, Superman did, Wonder Woman was replaced, Reed Richards was dead, or Spidey wasn't Peter Parker. Eventually the status quo returns, becasue these characters are iconic and the faces of a company. Replacing Barry Allen with Wally West for twenty years or Kyle Raynor taking over for Hal Jordan for a decade is more workable because while they are iconic, they are not the ones that most non fans know of.Captain America, Spidey, and Wolverine are Marvel's Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and as such they must always remain recognizable to non fans, even if for awhile they aren't.

[GRIFT]

Ok, so like I said I've been playing a lot of catch up lately and I've moved on to Planet Hulk. Now, I haven't read much Hulk outside of the really early stuff (my ol' man had pretty much every Hulk comic until the 80's) and I have a question: When did Savage Hulk start putting together full sentences? Did it just start happening or was it explained? Is he growing up? I miss the broken English!

Also, I read Hulk: Gray recently and I have to say it was one of my favorite limited series ever. The art was amazing, the psychological portrait of Banner was brilliant, and execution of the storytelling was flawless. I can't stress how much I loved it. Hell, one of the cover's is my wallpaper now. The art was such a neat and understated, beautiful throw back.

[RoyWill Rumble]

That article is ridiculous. The cartoons of yesteryear also had a coyote running around trying to blow up a roadrunner, a cat trying to eat a bird, and a hunter trying to shoot a rabbit. Fuck off.

[GhostMachine]

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/robliefeld.html :lmao: (Y)

[I Don't Mind]

Epic Lulz. I can't believe he still gets work.

[GRIFT]

While there are a few valid points, I thought the entire thing was overly nit-picky.

[Guest King Waldorf]

Why does the latest ASM cover have Spidey fighting a mattress?

[StevenRichardsRules]

He's taking a stand against insomnia?

[TeemuFoundation]

The Clone Saga. The Spider-Man storyline everybody seems to hate. Well, personally, I didn't, but everybody besides me certainly seem to. I've been re-reading a lot of the Clone Saga comics during the past few days and I suddenly came up with something I simply have to share with you. What if Norman Osborn had returned a lot sooner and what if it had been Norman who had reveal that Ben is, in fact the one, true Peter Parker?

Now in retrospect, this is something I would have liked to see.. May gets sick and the long lost clone Ben Reilly returns to New York. Everything until the Smoke and Mirrors storyline will happen the way it happened in the comic books. But during the Smoke and Mirrors storyline, Jackal will hint that he is actually working for someone else, but manages to escape before the two Spider-Men are able to find out who his employer is. Also, there will be no 3rd Peter Parker. Two Peter Parkers and Kaine are enough. The Death of Aunt May will also remain untouched, as Amazing #400 was breath taking in so many ways. Ben, believing himself to be the clone, does not get the chance to be at his aunt's side when she passes away. This is robbed from him. After May's funeral, Peter is arrested for a murder committed by the first Peter Parker clone, Kaine. Now, instead of switching places with Peter, Ben promises to clear Peter's name, as well as his own, since Peter was convinced that Ben was the one responsible for the murder. Now, the fact that Peter and Ben never switch places gives the readers a good chance to get to know Ben and the writers can give some more personality to him. In the end, Ben makes Kaine admit to the crimes, as he never wanted Peter to end up in jail (Kaine loved Peter like a brother, remember?) So, Peter is out of prison thanks to Ben and the two "brothers" now start to develop something of a friendship.

This is where, instead of the whole Maximum Clonage clusterfuck, the two Spiders would go after the Jackal and his "employer". In the final chapter of the "Revelations" storyline (which would occur a lot sooner than it did in the real saga) Peter and Ben would be blindsided by the mysterious shadowman behind the clone mess. Later, Ben wakes up at the bridge where Gwen Stacy died wearing the original Spider-Man costume and is confronted by the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. Osborn would explain how he is still alive and how he orchestrated the clone saga, robbing Peter five years of his life and that Ben is, indeed, the original Peter Parker. Now, storyline wise, it would be effective to just kill off the clone Peter here, but realistically thinking, it would never be accepted by long-time readers so we keep Peter alive. But Norman does explain that the clone can't help Ben here, as the clone's spider powers are now gone. So, it's just Ben and the Goblin. Just like it was in Amazing Spider-Man #122.

Also, Norman would still have a reason to kill MJ's baby, since it was the clone Peter who, in Norman's eyes, killed Harry. So, he has a reason to hate both of them. Sure, there were a lot of folks who would never accept Ben Reilly as the real Spider-Man, but I'm one of those who really liked him. This kind of speculation is pointless, since the story has been buried a long time ago, but I thought I'd share my thoughts.

[GRIFT]

Ok, so The Black Fox playing Wii in the The Irredeemable Ant Man is pretty much the best thing I've seen happen in comics for ages.