The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[the machine]

Just re-read Busiek's run on Avengers from the late 90's to 2002: it holds up really well as some great "Avengers" comics (more proof that good stories aren't magically made bad later). I liked how Busiek was able to "put over" (to use the wrestling term) new names on what was at the time a top selling title: he created Triathlon and Silverclaw, and helped build up Justice and Firestar. He also showed a solid character arc for Hank Pym and Wasp, building on Wasp's run as chairperson in the 80's. His run gets accused sometimes of being too "retro" because it does have some connections to the book from the 1970's (like, for instance, the same artist). But it built on other stories without reading like a term paper and told some great stories in the meantime. The Kang War story in particular I remember not liking because the art gets inconsistent after Alan Davis leaves after a very brief run, and it just seemed to go on and on. But re-reading it, it's easily the best Kang storyline out there because it tells a great story without depending on time loopholes or deus ex machinas from cosmic beings: it was just the Avengers responding to a global catastrophe and winning a war against a villain with near unlimited resources.

It stinks that a few years later the book was handed off to an atrociously bad writer, and then to someone who was disinterested in writing "Avengers" comics. Between the two of them they managed to undo a lot of forward progress for a lot of these characters, regressing Hank Pym, turning Scarlet Witch into a psychotic, over-powered thing, making Wasp a flighty moron, and then forming a new team that consisted of the biggest names in the company and some Claremont characters with nostalgia value. But that doesn't make the stories Busiek wrote any worse: it just kind of makes reading them a little more bittersweet when he takes great pains to establish a character like Scarlet Witch as a strong, independent leader.

[TGC]

I think the Geoff Johns 12 or so issues after Busiek but before the god awful Chuck Austen shit were pretty decent as well. But after Johns there was no real Avengers book, as far as I am concerned, until Dan Slott took over Mighty Avengers. That was as close to the real Avengers as Marvel has had for about 8 years now I guess, and it didn't last nearly long enough.

[the machine]

Yeah at the time Johns' work on Avengers didn't wow me, although I enjoyed "Red Zone," but looking back it was far and away better then what was coming. I don't like to just hate on Bendis or any creator out of hand, as I think he has done some good work, but his Avengers comics are by and large not good. He either doesn't get or doesn't care about how to give everyone a unique voice and/or role, and his long-term stories end up being really dull and padded for trades. Secret Invasion was such a bad idea with such terrible execution it's hard to believe Marvel okayed it.

[GoGo Yubari]

I think Bendis is a great street-level comics writer who has unfortunately been shoehorned into being The Guy for Marvel. He writes a great Spider-Man, he writes a great Daredevil, but I wish they'd keep him away from the Avengers.

[TGC]

As GoGo said, his Daredevil and Ultimate Spidey are/were awesome. Alias was really really good. If he cared about The Avengers I could give him a pass on some of what he has done, or wanted to do, but I don't think he does. That said, I was stoked to hear he was going to be doing Moon Knight, as it seemed to really be a great fit for him, until I read what his take was going to be. Can't say I care anymore now.

Speaking of Daredevil, man I thought Andy Diggle was going to be good on the book as he seemed such a great fit, but his shit, especially Shadowland, was just so bad and/or bland.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

As GoGo said, his Daredevil and Ultimate Spidey are/were awesome. Alias was really really good. If he cared about The Avengers I could give him a pass on some of what he has done, or wanted to do, but I don't think he does. That said, I was stoked to hear he was going to be doing Moon Knight, as it seemed to really be a great fit for him, until I read what his take was going to be. Can't say I care anymore now.

Speaking of Daredevil, man I thought Andy Diggle was going to be good on the book as he seemed such a great fit, but his shit, especially Shadowland, was just so bad and/or bland.

I don't really care much for Moon Knight, but just out of curiosity, what's Bendis' take on him going to be?

[TGC]

As GoGo said, his Daredevil and Ultimate Spidey are/were awesome. Alias was really really good. If he cared about The Avengers I could give him a pass on some of what he has done, or wanted to do, but I don't think he does. That said, I was stoked to hear he was going to be doing Moon Knight, as it seemed to really be a great fit for him, until I read what his take was going to be. Can't say I care anymore now.

Speaking of Daredevil, man I thought Andy Diggle was going to be good on the book as he seemed such a great fit, but his shit, especially Shadowland, was just so bad and/or bland.

I don't really care much for Moon Knight, but just out of curiosity, what's Bendis' take on him going to be?

Classic Moon Knight had multiple personality disorder. Well Bendis plans to bring that back big time, except the new personalities are...his fellow Avengers. So now residing in MK's head are Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cap, Luke Cage, etc etc etc. Total shit.

[Your Mom]

I thought Moon Knight was on the one I read. That has nothing to do with Spidey and all them

[Johnny Latino Heat]

As GoGo said, his Daredevil and Ultimate Spidey are/were awesome. Alias was really really good. If he cared about The Avengers I could give him a pass on some of what he has done, or wanted to do, but I don't think he does. That said, I was stoked to hear he was going to be doing Moon Knight, as it seemed to really be a great fit for him, until I read what his take was going to be. Can't say I care anymore now.

Speaking of Daredevil, man I thought Andy Diggle was going to be good on the book as he seemed such a great fit, but his shit, especially Shadowland, was just so bad and/or bland.

I don't really care much for Moon Knight, but just out of curiosity, what's Bendis' take on him going to be?

Classic Moon Knight had multiple personality disorder. Well Bendis plans to bring that back big time, except the new personalities are...his fellow Avengers. So now residing in MK's head are Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cap, Luke Cage, etc etc etc. Total shit.

That's just... weird. Could turn out to be cool if he channels Squirrel Girl, though.

[TGC]

I thought Moon Knight was on the one I read. That has nothing to do with Spidey and all them

Moon Knight is on The Secret Avengers I think. So yeah, he's not even hanging with those guys. It went from a "wow I am so going to read this" to a "wow this does not sound good at all".

[Avenged Probably]

If anyone is interested I have a number of UK trades on Ebay up for auction which will be ending tonight (among various other items). Ultimate Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Ultimates, Ultimates 2 and almost a complete set of Ultimate Spidey too.

My Ebay

[Noah]

So I somehow missed issue 19 of Batman and Robin (found out because I just got #20 in the mail the other day). Anybody care to tell me how the story line with The Absence ended?

Also, I just saw "Old Man Logan" in paperback last Friday. I'm so glad I bought the hard back version, because in the hard back edition, they scaled up the whole run to Giant-Size, whereas in the paperback, they scaled down Wolverine: Giant-Size Old Man Logan to regular comic size.

How long has the last Old Man Logan been out?

I have loved the series so far but I never saw the final issue anywhere and I'm assuming it's been out for quite a while now?(and even taking into account the normal delay in comics coming down to Australia, I feel it'd have to have been too long by now and I have definitely missed it )

[Johnny Latino Heat]

So I somehow missed issue 19 of Batman and Robin (found out because I just got #20 in the mail the other day). Anybody care to tell me how the story line with The Absence ended?

Also, I just saw "Old Man Logan" in paperback last Friday. I'm so glad I bought the hard back version, because in the hard back edition, they scaled up the whole run to Giant-Size, whereas in the paperback, they scaled down Wolverine: Giant-Size Old Man Logan to regular comic size.

How long has the last Old Man Logan been out?

I have loved the series so far but I never saw the final issue anywhere and I'm assuming it's been out for quite a while now?(and even taking into account the normal delay in comics coming down to Australia, I feel it'd have to have been too long by now and I have definitely missed it )

According to Wiki, the last title in the Old Man Logan storyline, Wolverine Giant-Size Old Man Logan, came out in September 2009. That's probably in the USA, don't know what the delay is in Australia.

[Maxx]

Tim Seeley, creator of Hack/Slash has agreed to be a guest on my podcast, I'm pretty stoked and completely surprised. If you guys have any questions for him, let me know and I'll be sure to ask him.

[TGC]

Ask him if he is jealous that Bendis has Powers at FX and Chew is now a series at Showtime when Hack/Slash is infinitely better than both. And if he says no ask him why he is a liar. Okay maybe not the second part.

[Maxx]

I was planning on asking him if he thought Hack/Slash would be better suited to be a tv series than a movie.

[TGC]

I think it would.

[Maxx]

I agree completely. I think it's most likely that it will go the Buffy route and start as a movie before eventually getting turned into a series.

[GhostMachine]

As him if he would rather hack or rather slash.....

[Hewey]

Is Ultimate X-Men worth checking out? I been looking into it, and there's 19 volumes, but by like, the tenth book, the reviews are pretty bad over on Amazon. I just ordered Astonishing X-Men, and if Ultimate X-Men isn't any good, can anyone recommend any other X-Men stories for me?

Also, I been looking for any good Fantastic Four stories, I looked into Ultimate Fantastic Four, but I'm looking just for a couple of books, not a whole series, are there any one shot stories you guys would recommend to me?