The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[Gabriel]

5 minutes ago, Twist said:

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?

I suggest it every time, but the original Thunderbolts run and X-Factor Vol. 2 (Havok taking over the team) are two of my favorite runs ever.

[I Don't Mind]

• Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron
• Inhumans by Paul Jenkins
• Vision by Tom King
• Madrox by Peter David
• Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction
• Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern
• Marvels by Kurt Busiek
• Moon Knight by Warren Ellis
• Deadpool by Gerry Duggan
• Black Panther by Christopher Priest
• Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan
• Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski
• Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen
• Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

[=BK=]

I find Marvel so hard to read because they have a billion books and they constantly crossover with one another.  They go out of their way to prevent you from following a single character easily. When I read DC and decide I want to Follow Harley all I have to read is Harley Quinn, Gang of Harleys and Harley's Little Black Book. I don't even need to read Suicide Squad because they seem to be separate continuities. I don't need to go find Batman 20 and Wonder Woman 24 or something between Harley issues to avoid missing plot or story development that'll be referenced later.

[JasonM]

7 hours ago, =BK= said:

I find Marvel so hard to read because they have a billion books and they constantly crossover with one another.  They go out of their way to prevent you from following a single character easily. When I read DC and decide I want to Follow Harley all I have to read is Harley Quinn, Gang of Harleys and Harley's Little Black Book. I don't even need to read Suicide Squad because they seem to be separate continuities. I don't need to go find Batman 20 and Wonder Woman 24 or something between Harley issues to avoid missing plot or story development that'll be referenced later.

And this is my main peeve with reading Marvel, really. I have gotten used to it somewhat, but it can still be frustrating and jarring when you're 12 issues into a run and you suddenly need to start picking up three other runs just to get the whole story.

And since I got all of them on my list, technically, I must read them from where i left off up to the point where it crosses over so that I have the COMPLETE narrative of all the characters involved.

So any issues that don't cross-over feel like an absolute breath of fresh air in that regard.

[=BK=]

Reading Rebirth Batman. There's a part earlier on where Bruce almost dies and afterwards reflects on his mortality. He says to Alfred something along the lines of "Someday there will be crashing plane or Alien invasion I can't stop and I'll die then Dick will replace me and he'll die too. Then what?" And it made me think about the line of succession for the cowl and how I'd rank it nowdays.

Bruce

Dick

Barbara

Tim

Jason

Damian

I put Dick after Bruce because duh. It's the natural order. I put Barbara above the other three because she's as closely connected to Bruce as Dick and never really strays. Tim above Jason and Damian because Jason is damaged in ways that'd make him a bad Batman and Damian is too young. Jason before Damian to give him more time to grow up if he needed to by the time it got that far.

[K]

On 19/08/2017 at 12:39, I Don't Mind said:

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

 

This was bonkers, but I really liked it. Cheers for this. Is it worth getting volume 2?

[I Don't Mind]

You have to taper your expectations, as it's quite a step down, but it's still not bad

[K]

16 hours ago, I Don't Mind said:

You have to taper your expectations, as it's quite a step down, but it's still not bad

Oh that's a shame.

[=BK=]

Reading Batman Rebirth. This kid in the yellow batsuit Bruce is training. Where did he come from? What comic? Pre-Rebirth Batman?

[JasonM]

12 hours ago, =BK= said:

Reading Batman Rebirth. This kid in the yellow batsuit Bruce is training. Where did he come from? What comic? Pre-Rebirth Batman?

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Duke_Thomas_(Prime_Earth)

He debuted Batman Vol. 2 #21 in 2013

Edited September 12, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[HailtotheYo]

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 06:36, Jasonmufc said:

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.

See ... I'd rather there be MORE availability of the characters/universe.  In DC 51 books hit the shelves (rough count of DC brand not Vertigo/Young Animal) and 20 of them directly feature one or more of the Trinity OR are extensions of the Super/Bats galleries/characters.  Another 2 (the Injustice books) do as well even if it's alternate characterization.  They've got another 6 limited series that follow suite with this mold.

Since I was a kid the biggest issue I've had with DC is that they've essentially 1980's WWF'd their universe.  You've got Hogan (Supes), Savage (Batman), and your Warrior/Steamboat/Piper insert other hot name here (Wonder Woman) ... and damn near everything revolves around them as though they're the end all be all.  So many characters get lost or minimized because of the established norm and refusal to get away from it.  Part of what makes Marvel so expansive and fantastic is the depth and the layers the universe has.  Wolverine is as popular a character as you get outside of the holy 5 or so in comic book history.  There are literally DOZENS of characters that could wipe the floor with him but nobody gives a crap.  Outside of Batman on occasion, the DC Trinity never jobs in a meaningful fashion.  However, it's actually his getting his asked kicked that has helped make Wolverine the popular character he is.  I mean hell, the ANTI-MONITOR SHOULD be a bad ass no bullshit THANOS level-ish character ... but he's not, and never will be because "superman" is all you have to say.  That doesn't fly in the Marvel universe.  Just look at the Villains for Spider-Man, FF, Cap, and even a team like the XMen.  Batman and Flash have good rogues galleries but really that's it. 

Meh.

 

 

[=BK=]

In Superman Rebirth they've really shown that Superman isn't invincible to all things.

Spoiler

New 52 Superman is dead. Like, dead-dead, not healing coma-dead.

 

[HailtotheYo]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 17:41, =BK= said:

In Superman Rebirth they've really shown that Superman isn't invincible to all things.

  Reveal hidden contents

New 52 Superman is dead. Like, dead-dead, not healing coma-dead.

 

It is my understanding that the Rebirth and New 52 versions "joined" into one new Superman.  It was the one that was presented in Lois/Clark and was the Pre-Flashpoint/Convergence SM and the New 52 one .... essentially the one that "died" was really just like a half of Superman, or something.

I could be way the hell of here as I don't read, but rather, keep up with the books.

[=BK=]

Random comment I've been meaning to make: I just love 80's and early 90's comics. The colors, styles and the way they were still printed was just magic. I can appreciate modern comics being super smooth and well-printed with realistic colors but the older stuff has a charm to it. I noticed this the past few years reading all the Green Arrow books, Sandman and starting Hellblazer. 

[JasonM]

Having read a bunch of late 80s early 90s X-Men stuff, I fully agree with you. Whilst some of the art could be really overwhelming and over the top, they did seem to go all out in making panels larger than life in every way.

I also like the more sober and straight up drawing of some of the modern stuff (Aja's Hawkeye was great), but I sometimes come across some pencilers that to me just aren't good, at all. Whether it's just bland artwork, or generally just weird drawing as a whole. It's also a problem with Marvel running fifty-thousand serials at the same time, so for the ones down the line barrels are scraped for artists.

But yeah, I do feel the modern stuff misses that to some degree, because the 'realistic' drawing does get a bit boring after a while.

[JasonM]

Just finished up Secret Empire and their respective tie ins. And after nearly a hundred comics read between the build up and the finale, all I can say is... ok?

It wasn't terrible, but at the same time they wrapped it up so overly neatly that they really undermined their whole idea of 'shaking the Marvel Universe at its core forever ever' what they had set out upon. A few names got removed from the playing field, but none that were truly monumental in the grand scheme of things. And the final two issues of the main Secret Empire serial of 10 issues were just very poor and left something that was enjoyable into just a letdown with a deus ex machina to make it all 'good' again.

At this point, Marvel really needs to put an extended halt on crossover events as a whole, but they probably won't and we'll see the next event crop up in february/march next year or so. But they simply don't add enough breathing room between everything happening, and as a whole all teh 'big moments' are reduced to 'moments', much like how WWE loves to make everything huge that causes the little thing to no longer register.

But with four (semi-)big events happening in a span of just over one year (Avengers: Standoff, Civil War 2, Secret Empire, Inhumans Vs. X-Men), it's clear that they have ran out of steam creatively. And the best thing they could do is take it easy for a year or two, focus on building characters and teams up again, so that the next 'event' will actually mean something again.

All in all, it wasn't bad, but if I had paid for every comic i've read through i'd be pretty damn annoyed at the price tag of it all.

[=BK=]

Back when it started I read that they were promising this was the last huge event for a year. 

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Amazon is having another Marvel sale for Kindle.

[HailtotheYo]

I've got a soft spot for the "newsprint" comic days.  Just something about them.

Eh, I think Marvel had a combination of trying too hard, poor finishing, and fanboy reaction going overboard when Marvel actually attempted what the fanboy said they wanted:  The entire thing with the Inhumans, IMO, was a great IDEA ... Yes, I know the whole pushing "X" over to the side has nothing to do with the comics, BUT I felt they'd found a nice way to do it in the books.  The very "X" like Inhumans were a ready made thing to step into that light.  I actually thought the whole Terrigen wipes mutants out etc was pretty solid.  But fanboy shit all over it.  The concept was never given a chance.  Too bad.

I liked the PREMISE of the Standoff deal with the "good guys" acting like "bad guys" in what they were doing to the incarcerated villains.  It was just done in a piss poor fashion.

CW2 just didn't do anything for me at all.  So they screamed really loudly about the eternal question over using powers ... yawn. 

Marvel attempts a true shake up with Cap ... immediately shit on.  There are characters being redone and changed all over the place for what, 5 years now but GOD NO THIS WITH CAP IS TOO DAMN FAR AND A BUNCHAFUCKINBULLSHIT!!!!!  Get out.  Again, I loved the idea of it, but it was poorly done. 

At the very least Marvel has TRIED to implement change in ways other than simply REBOOT/REDUX/ETC ... which I won't fault them for.  Actual effort has been a long time coming from them and I won't poo poo them for giving it. 

 

.... should all be reading VAULT's line of comics anyway

 

 

[=BK=]

Just read an interesting bit in a flashback in a recent Batman book. Deathstroke and Deadshot start fighting and Bruce can't stop them because he's only been Batman for a year and just isn't good enough so he has to chase them for 5 days and shuffle bystanders away and rescue survivors while they go to war until they're so worn out from it he's finally able to step in and put them both down. It took him 5 solid days to be able to end it.