The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[I Don't Mind]

Moon Knight Vol 1 (2014, #1-6) by Warren Ellis is just six issues of one-off, street-level badassery.

Black Panther: The Client (1999, #1-5, though I've heard the whole run is amazing) by Christopher Priest

Hawkeye (2014, the entire run) by Matt Fraction

Anything Daredevil by Mark Waid if you like fun, Brubaker or Bendis if you like grit

The Punisher Max series by Garth ennis or Jason Aaron

[JasonM]

Also if you wanna read a smashingly good Iron Man run, get the one written by Matt Fraction. As a whole, Matt Fraction just gets 'it' when writing characters and he just delivers great stories.

[K]

Cheers guys, those are all great suggestions. Not even sure where to start. Maybe here:

On 8/19/2017 at 12:39, I Don't Mind said:

Moon Knight Vol 1 (2014, #1-6) by Warren Ellis 

Since I know almost nothing about Moon Knight. It'd be cool to try something completely new. I've got a few comics at home to get through then I'll get started on all your suggestions. cheers.

[violentnewcontinent]

Did anyone grab the Dark Nights Metal #1 this week? I've seen people freaking out about the big reveal at the end, but I was a little underwhelmed if I'm honest, but admittedly I did have it spoiled last week.  For those who didn't read it, the big reveal at the end was...

Neil Gaiman's Sandman is going to be involved, and revealed himself on the final page when he surprised Batman. I believe there is a gentlemen's agreement between DC and Gaiman himself that they'll only use Sandman on special occasions when it really counts.

[Your Mom]

13 minutes ago, violentnewcontinent said:

Did anyone grab the Dark Nights Metal #1 this week? I've seen people freaking out about the big reveal at the end, but I was a little underwhelmed if I'm honest, but admittedly I did have it spoiled last week.  For those who didn't read it, the big reveal at the end was...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Neil Gaiman's Sandman is going to be involved, and revealed himself on the final page when he surprised Batman. I believe there is a gentlemen's agreement between DC and Gaiman himself that they'll only use Sandman on special occasions when it really counts.

 

I read it. I think it was pretty awesome and I am down for a good event comic and have no faith in Marvel when it comes to those

[violentnewcontinent]

13 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

I read it. I think it was pretty awesome and I am down for a good event comic and have no faith in Marvel when it comes to those

I thought The Casting was incredible. I ended up buying both covers. It felt like Scott Snyder just threw everything he could at it, and most of it worked. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the event, just not as excited by the final reveal of issue 1 as others are in some other forums I visit. 

[=BK=]

Is the current All-Star Batman a different continuity than the regular Rebirth Batman

[violentnewcontinent]

On 22/08/2017 at 09:12, =BK= said:

Is the current All-Star Batman a different continuity than the regular Rebirth Batman

No, it's all set on the same Earth. The stories don't cross over though. There is currently Batman, All-Star Batman and Detective Comics all running at the same time on the same earth. I believe All-Star is due to end, if it hasn't done so already.

[=BK=]

Re: Dark Nights Metal #1 ending.

Spoiler

Well, that was a shock. I'm not sure how I feel about Sandman characters being thrown into this type of story though. I don't mind them interacting with Heroes and villains but to be directly involved with one of Batman's adventures feels off. I do want more stuff like Lex meeting Death though so maybe this will open doors to more of that. It's also a comfort to know Gaiman likes the plan for Dream's role in the story.

 

[=BK=]

Catching up on Rebirth Harley. I like how they're writing Joker so far. Even when he's being civil and peaceful he's still a creepy bag of shit.

I am going to be pissed if Harley falls for his "I'm a new man!" act in the end though.

Oh, also Harley almost killing Batman and Joker throwing her out a window for it is now canon to the Harley comics at least.

 

 

[=BK=]

Finally all caught up on Harley. 25 is a great issue and a start of a three-part story for Harley's 25th Birthday. All the characters featured or made in this run pretty much show up. It looks like the story is mostly going to be Harley, Ivy and Catwoman focused. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Batman shows up. He was the only featured character from the run not in this party issue.

[K]

captain britain's origin is really dumb

[=BK=]

Dark Knight Strikes Again is a big ol' pile of "What the fuck?"

There's some really good ideas and cool stuff but that whole mess needed to be run through someone who had a grasp on most of DC's characters.

[Avenged Probably]

8 hours ago, K said:

captain britain's origin is really dumb

Getting your powers from Merlyn is quite British. 

[=BK=]

Read Dark Knight III. Much, much better than 2 in story. Art felt bland though.

Spoiler

I'm so glad Bruce and Robin/Catgirl/Batgirl/Batwoman didn't start boning after Bruce got the pit. I was anticipating/dreading that from the moment young Bruce returned to the cave in nothing but the cowl and cape.

 

[Colly]

I'm still doing my Marvel read through. The issue of Daredevil where Uri Geller helps him beat a psychic baddie is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. 

Also any issue with the Sons of the Serpent is terrifyingly relevant now. How come they knew white supremacists were bad in 1975 but we don't now? 

[GhostMachine]

Regarding Marvel, I've said a few times (elsewhere and to other people, but not here yet....I think) that the problem with DC is they reboot too often, while Marvel's problem is they need to reboot but won't.

I've since rethought that, but it would be a long road to fix what's wrong with Marvel. 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by GhostMachine

[JasonM]

14 hours ago, Colly said:

I'm still doing my Marvel read through. The issue of Daredevil where Uri Geller helps him beat a psychic baddie is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. 

Also any issue with the Sons of the Serpent is terrifyingly relevant now. How come they knew white supremacists were bad in 1975 but we don't now? 

How many comics have you read at this point? Must number into the thousands?

13 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Regarding Marvel, I've said a few times (elsewhere and to other people, but not here yet....I think) that the problem with DC is they reboot too often, while Marvel's problem is they need to reboot but won't.

I've since rethought that, but it would be a long road to fix what's wrong with Marvel. 

 

 

 

You see one issue I see with Marvel rebooting is that Marvel as a whole has so many more bankable characters than DC has. DC as a whole is much more condensed in how many 'stars' they have running out there, meanwhile Marvel has literal shitloads of characters getting limited runs and being put in team-up series.

It's much easier for Marvel to alter things by just putting new (pre-existing) characters in the place of an old one, rather than reboot every 10 years and be forced to re-establish so many characters.

Looking at my comicrack list, these singular character runs they have going on...
X23, Peter Parker, America Chavez, Ben Reilly, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Cable, Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers, Daredevil, Deadpool, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), She-Hulk, Cho-Hulk, Iceman, Iron Fist, Dr. Doom, Jean Grey, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Cap. Marvel, She-Thor, He-Thor, Ms. Marvel, Nick Fury, Old Man Logan, Punisher, Rocket, Riri Williams (Ironheart), Spider-Gwen, Spider-Miles, Spidey, Thanos, Wasp and Venom

Those are just runs built around a specific character, mind. That's not even mentioning all the things built around teams like Avengers, Inhumans, Ultimes, X-Men, and all the other ones.

If there's one thing DC does better than Marvel, it's not drowning the fanbase in a bajillion different comic books, and building their brand around a core of characters instead.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[Skummy]

Yeah, my kind of go-to summary of both companies is that DC can often be stronger with individual characters - Batman is a far stronger brand than 99% of Marvel Comics, and probably has more great stories, and a stronger Rogue's Gallery than the vast majority of Marvel, and Wonder Woman and Superman are equally iconic - but Marvel do a much better job of creating a shared universe.

[Twist]

So having re-signed up for Marvel Unlimited they now appear to list certain story arcs with all the relevant comics in reading order (amazing).

What are some runs that I should read? (I've only ever dipped my toes in comic books).

I've just started the Clone Conspiracy (Spidey) as Marvel suggested it. Any that are must reads?